Dear Mr. Obama: Congratulations, you won. Apparently Rush Limbaugh was right — we are out-numbered. There are more of you than there are of us.
So, since I like being in the majority, I have decided to join you and your acolytes. All my life, since my junior year in college, I have supported myself and been a Producer.
Starting next year I am going to join you and your followers and be Taker.
I choose not to participate in your socialist utopia as a hard-working, tax-paying Producer. Next year I’m going to be one of you; I’m joining the Takers. I’m, as they say, “going to ground.”
Next year I will arrange to get myself laid off from my six-figure job, which by the way contributes a high five-figure income tax payment to the federal government.
I will live at subsistence level on what I have, and whatever federal Taker programs I can get qualified for. So the first loss to your socialist utopia is my substantial federal income tax payment.
I will no longer work and pay taxes. How stupid was I. Thank you for showing me the light.
I will now be a consumer of tax revenue at every level I can. I will endeavor to earn as little taxable money as I can, most certainly below the poverty level, and apply for as many of your wonderful assistance programs as I can.
Having been laid off from my job as a Producer, I will qualify for 99 weeks of unemployment, and as I made a good salary, I will get the maximum unemployment payment.
When that runs out, I don’t plan on finding a job. Instead I will apply for Social Security Disability Benefits.
And when I am denied, I will have one of those benevolent lawyers advertising on TV to sue the federal government for my benefits.
I will apply for welfare payments, as I’m sure unemployment benefits will keep me below the poverty level.
I will of course apply for food stamps, and I can’t wait to get my Obama phone. As you know the Obama phone does not pay those excise taxes and 911 user fees the rest of the Producers’ phones have to pay.
I will need a housing supplement or rent subsidy, or maybe I can get some Section 8 housing with cable TV.
My healthcare will no longer be Aetna or Humana or Blue Cross, which I used to have to pay for. I will now qualify for Medicaid, which is 100 percent paid for by your utopia.
Because I’ve never been a Taker before, I don’t even know all the programs I might qualify for, but I’m sure I’ll learn.
So … not only have you lost me as a substantial Producer and financial contributor to society, you have turned me into a net drain on society.
Think about this. Not only will I not be paying high five figures in federal income taxes, I won’t be paying any state taxes and very few of the over 60 other taxes levied on American Producers. Instead I will be consuming as many or more taxes as I was paying. So the loss to society is double.
You hated me because I made too much money. Your own words to Joe the Plumber, “At some point I think you’ve made enough money.”
Did you ever consider what I did with the money I “made”? First, before it ever touched my hands, over one-third was confiscated by the federal income tax. Another 5 percent was taken by the state. These funds supported our government, and that’s important. But what I did with the rest the money is most important.
You see, I either did two things with what was left: I spent it, or I saved or invested it.
If I spent it on needed or wanted goods and services, our society benefited by someone else having a job to provide the good or service. The more I spent, the more jobs were needed. People were employed and they consumed goods and services and paid taxes.
If I saved or invested it, our society benefited by business having more capital (a terribly dirty word for you) available to expand their business and hire more workers to provide even more goods and services. Those additional workers consumed goods and services and paid taxes.
It’s called capitalism, and it absolutely works.
But I see that’s not what you and your followers want. My friends have told me if I do what I plan, and millions more see the light and do as I plan, the nation will collapse.
As I see it, with the Takers in the majority, the collapse of the nation is assured. Why not just get it over with? We survivors will start over.
(Post-election obituary, “… All who pass by will be appalled and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land?’ … because they have forsaken the Lord.” — 2 Chronicles 7:21-22.)
Briggs Arrington
Fayetteville, Ga.
