Anybody Got an Aspirin? Those darn Republicans! How dare they get in the way of the progressives plan to transform America? Who do they think they are? Well, the answer is simple. The Republicans and all of the other conservatives are the only hope that we have in stopping the madness and it still may be too late. Ms. Foley's article last week was a doosey. It was very well written and just full of stuff to point out just how wishy washy those Republicans can be. Fortunately, I have not lost hope. A Gallop Poll posted in June of this year shows only 20% of Americans consider themselves liberal or very liberal. 35% considered themselves moderate and 42% consider themselves conservative. I will be the first to agree that there are Republicans that have become lost and have forgotten or possibility never understood that they work for us! I believe that we can begin fixing this at the polls. The philosophy that I feel certain Ms. Foley and I will never agree on is that people of wealth somehow have an obligation to give half of yearly income away in taxes? Figures posted on the National Taxpayers Union website for 2007 show that 97.11% of personal income taxes come from the top 50% of taxpayers. The top 1% pay 40.42%!  In 2007, people with an adjusted gross income of $32,879 only paid 2.89%. As my old friend use to say, "Go Figure". Of course let's not fail to mention those shady and unethical businesses that do their best to take advantage of our tax laws so that they only pay the least amount of taxes required by those laws. I believe especially today that those companies that are not watching their bottom line are either out of business or have been bailed out by the government.

This week I have been asking myself why? You know, like why does our President thinks there is a point where a person earns enough money? On April 28th President Obama said at one of his many campaign stops, "I do think at a certain point you've made enough money."  I'm sure the employees and investors in Microsoft are rather pleased that Bill Gates doesn't feel that way! Or, the charitable organizations that have received or have been pledged billions of dollars by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  Why do the progressives continue to paint the picture that capitalism is evil? Personally, the only time I have ever worked for a poor man is when I was donating my time to a charitable cause. People of wealth are directly or indirectly the employers and by design try and increase that wealth with help or services provided by employees. It would be accurate to say that just about everyone has the opportunity to become wealthy in this great nation, but common sense will prevail and only the one's that are willing to work hard and dream big will ever meet that objective. Many of those will still fail and remain a part of the average working class. Of course let's not forget the lottery!  A 1999 survey by the Consumer Federation of America and Primerica found that 40% of Americans earning $25-35, 000 per year, thought that the lottery would give them their retirement nest egg. The same study found that number to increase to 50% when the income is $15-25, 000 a year. One source that I found stated that you have 6 to 45 times more chance of being struck by lightening than winning the lottery. The odds are very slim that you will win anything, but to those of you that play, good luck, you'll need it! Thank you for reading and please vote on Tuesday, November 2. Please remind Congress that it is still "We the People".

"History, in general, only informs us of what bad government is."  Thomas Jefferson

May God Bless…

Ron Phillips