Parker: Obama's Fairness Obsession
By Star Parker April 16, 2012 6:55 am
Give credit where credit is due. President Obama has laid out the core
message of his reelection campaign. It is a message whose claims are
blatantly false and whose point is irrelevant to what is of greatest
challenges we face. Yet it appears to be working.
In his speech at Florida Atlantic University last Tuesday, the president
discussed what he called "the defining issue of our time" -- namely,
that America is not fair.
We suffer today, he says, from "a shrinking number of people who are
doing really, really well, but a growing number who are struggling to
get by." We are not a nation (the president never tells us if we ever
were) where "everybody gets a fair shot and everybody does a fair share,
and everybody plays by the same set of rules."
Excuse me for pointing out the irony of hearing from our nation's first
black president the suggestion that America may no longer be a nation
where dreams can be realized or where someone can come out of nowhere
and make it.
Obama probably would explain his unlikely success in this unfair nation
as the result of his being an exceptional and extraordinary individual.
Which is why, by his thinking, we ordinary folk should turn our lives
over to him to determine who should have what.
But if America is unfair today, it is because politicians and government
have the power to do exactly what it is that Mr. Obama wants to do --
seize control of the wealth of some and redistribute it to whomever they
choose. The Bible that I read every day calls this theft.
The president seeks to gain political support for this redistribution of
wealth by tapping into the widespread dissatisfaction with our most
disappointing economy. But is our economy under-performing because some
have more than others, or because some succeed more than others?
At a time when Americans are looking for answers to restart our
sputtering economy, our president chooses to use his time complaining
about the wealthiest not paying sufficient taxes.
But according to the National Taxpayers Union, in 2009 the top 5 percent
of income earners paid almost 60 percent of the funds raised by the
federal income tax and the bottom 50 percent paid about 2 percent.
In the president's remarks in Florida, he defined fairness as everybody
playing by "the same set of rules." Not only are the tax rules not fair
by the president's definition, but in the name of alleged fairness he
wants to make them even more unfair.
Of course, the president's real problem is that his policies have failed
so he has to change the subject. He told us that the almost $900
billion in stimulus spending passed in 2009 would revive our economy and
reduce unemployment to 6 percent. Three years later, unemployment
stands at 8.2 percent.
There is no evidence that Obama has a clue about what why we are not on
the path to recovery. But, unfortunately, he does have a clue about how
to tap into the worst instincts of people in order to garner political
support. Sadly, he hopes to reap the political dividends of inspiring
blame and envy.
The fairness the president obsesses about has nothing to do with
fairness, nor does it have anything to do with fixing our economy. If he
really wants guidance on a fair and moral tax system, he might turn
away from his campaign spin machine and look to his Bible. He can learn
there that the 10 percent tithe on income applies to everyone.
