Yesterday, one of my Facebook friends (a former co-worker) posted a link to a Conservative Facebook page that included this graphic, and a bunch of quotes from Founding Fathers, which implied that they would be outraged to hear that their descendants are considering increasing taxes on the wealthy.
I thought about this a while, and see this meme as an extremely-effective talking point, aimed at the Social-Security-is-an-entitlement and my-wealth-is-mine-and-the-government-has-no-right-to-use-it-for-THOSE-people crowd.
The more I thought about it, I realized, however, that the above alarmist sentiment is entirely correct.
Except.
Take a look at this graph, which is one of many at this site.
A MASSIVE redistribution of wealth has been going on at an accelerated rate since the glorious days of St. Ronald. It has indeed been a theft from the 99%, cleverly engineered through tax, banking, and manufacturing policies that heavily favor the Very Rich, to the detriment of the Rest of Us.
Read any of the wonderful books by David Cay Johnston, who has been relentless in trying to expose this.
So, Dan, my friend, I am in total agreement that "Redistribution is not 'Fairness', it's THEFT". Unfortunately, I must conclude that you are confusing the Victims with the Robbers.