My LTTE in the local paper today. What do you think?

[fishguy]

Here is my LTTE in the local newspaper that was published today. The state rep in question is a far right wingnut. He is farther to the right than Rick Santorum(I reside in PA), if you can believe it. The legislator in question is not the state rep for my district(Thank God), just one in my county.
This is not one of my better LTTE, just wanted to see what DUers think of it.

Avoid selfish attitude(Title newspaper gave to my LTTE)

After reading some recent letters to the editor, mainly by Aaron Simmer, state Rep. Daryl Metcalfe and some of his cronies, that railed against those most able to pay taxes doing so, a quote by President John F. Kennedy came to mind.

JFK, the first and only Roman Catholic president, stated, “If a free society cannot help the many who are poor, it cannot save the few who are rich.”

These recent letters to the editor spoke of the “taxpayers” of Pennsylvania instead of the “citizens” of the commonwealth.

What is the difference between a taxpayer and a citizen? A taxpayer views taxes as “my” money being taken away from “me” — in effect, a selfish attitude. A taxpayer views himself as being in conflict with the government.

A citizen understands that the role of government is the promotion of the common welfare and common good and that taxes contribute toward that end.

Metcalfe stated in a recent letter to the editor that the taxpayers are Pennsylvania’s largest constituency. I wholeheartedly disagree with him; the largest constituency in Pennsylvania are the citizens of the commonwealth.

The Founding Fathers of this country established this great nation as being one where Americans thought of themselves as citizens first, not as taxpayers. I hope everyone reading this letter can agree that it is much more important to have “citizens” than “taxpayers” in our great state.

Citizens work toward a common goal, while taxpayers think only of themselves.

These recent letters to the editor also demonstrate a dangerous, slowly growing trend to subtly condemn those who become economically disenfranchised, who pay the least in taxes, who live day by day on the very tenuous safety net, and judges them a burden.

Network Lobby, a Catholic social and economic justice organization, of which I am proud to be a member since it bases its views and stances on the principles of Catholic social justice, includes a wealth of information on its Web site about the Catholic, — which is essentially the Christian — view of taxation.

The Web site address for this organization is www.networklobby.org

[LeftCoast]

1. Good letter!

Got a link to the paper's website?

[fishguy]

2. Newspaper link

www.butlereagle.com

[glitch]

3. Very nice!

Reminds of the time I was startled to hear a republican congresswoman refer to her constituents as 'consumers' on NPR. I kid you not.

They are trying to de-legitimize words like citizen and constituent. And commonwealth? Forget about it, you will never hear that word pass their lips. I imagine they equate it with communist.

[RazorNY22]

4. At some point...

a "citizen" who is willing to pay taxes for the common good becomes a "taxpayer" because the government does spend the revenue created by taxes in a responsible way.

I live in Nassau County , Long Island under what is probably the highest tax burden in the country.

Until the government can show a track record of spending "MY" tax money responsibly, I will fight and scream everytime a politician tries to raise my taxes.

Razor

[RazorNY22]

5. Oooops!

I meant "does not spend " money responsibly.

[fishguy]

6. The letter was not about "your" taxes

It was about a couple of right wingnuts who wrote that paying taxes was tantamount to communism.

[lebkuchen]

7. You said "it takes a village" without saying it.

Very well worded. Kudos.

[tabasco]

8. Really great!

It's frustrating to see so much selfishness. I think many people don't realize how bad capitalism can be without protecting thee less fortunate.

[fishguy]

9. Thanks for the compliments

Actually, I broke the golden rule of writing a LTTE, which is "Don't just sit down in anger and type away" when I wrote this one.
I got tired of all these wingnuts writing these letters about how rich people pay too much in taxes(yeah, like Paris Hilton could ever pay too much in taxes) and that it is nothing more than a "redistribution of wealth", i.e. communism.
The state rep is so far right he makes Hitler look moderate.
He organized all of these "Support the War", I mean "Support the Troops" rallies last April and early May, but suddenly stopped a few days after "Mission Accomplished".
The worst part about these rallies was that he had them at parks or on church grounds RIGHT AFTER church services on Sundays.
Talk about fascism at its best(or worst).