OPINION:
President Obama’s justification for increasing taxes on the wealthy because they have earned far more than most Americans, as well as his emphasis on protecting entitlement programs because they “help those in need,” can be said in a different way.
His belief that money should be taken even more disproportionately from the wealthy is the equivalent of saying “From each according to his ability,” and his words regarding protecting entitlement programs is not unlike “To each according to his need.” When read together, they become “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.” That phrase is found in Karl Marx’s 1875 “Critique of the Gotha Program” and later was made a popular slogan by Vladimir Lenin.
Marx and Lenin both advocated taking the wealth of the wealthy to benefit those in need. They unabashedly advocated class warfare. Lenin went on to engage in the practice with the literal destruction of the class with most of the wealth, which just happened to contain the people who were the most productive.
Perhaps a better way to achieve a “fair” tax without changing our republican form of government into a form of socialism would be to have a flat tax and eliminate all of the loopholes and most of the deductions. That way, everyone would pay at the same rate and everyone would contribute equally.
Our national motto is “E Pluribus Unum,” which means “Out of many, one.” Mr. Obama’s idea of a “fair” tax based on wealth could change our nation’s motto.
JAMES M. DORN
Chino Hills, Calif.
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