I was talking to a friend who claims not to be a liberal, and the conversation turned to the impending health care bill. Of course, I voiced my objection to the bill, and my friend expressed the sentiment that people who don't have health care coverage need some sort of option to obtain it. One of my objections was that the bill would most likely be paid for by taxing the haves and redistributing the money to the have-nots; the Obama administration is pushing this "Robin Hood" propaganda and the people are eating it up. To which my friend replied, "well it's time the rich paid their fair share."

This comment has stuck with me, and to be honest, it kind of burns me up. The liberal mindset seems to be stuck in some sort of class warfare struggle, and they have no problem with spending other people's money. The overall perception is that "rich" people built their wealth on the backs of the less affluent, and they should give more of it back. But this perception is flawed.

There is an assumption in this argument is that these "rich" people did nothing extra to earn this money; that they are recipients of undeserved wealth gained through inheritance or dumb luck. The line drawn for "rich" people is an income of $250,000 or above.

Now, many people in this income range worked damn hard to get there. A relative of mine, for example, was born poor to a coal miner in depression era Iowa. Through hard work, stoic privation and shrewd investing, she was able to lift herself out of this poverty. She struggled, at times went without, and to this day watches every penny carefully, and shops for bargains like everybody else. Her most recent yearly tax liability was $120,000. Now, she obviously does well to have that much of a tax liability, and would certainly qualify as "rich" by the liberal standards. And how did she get that way? She earned it. To insinuate that paying a tax bill of $120,000 does not meet the obligation of her "fair share" is just plain insulting. She should be rewarded for being able to contribute that much money in taxes, but no, the liberals want to take more of her hard-earned income, and insinuate that she is somehow morally inferior because she has done well for herself.

Under the current system, much of the tax money she pays goes to pay for the services of the have-nots, people who pay little or no taxes at all. She should be praised as an example of American capitalism; a system where anyone can pull up their boot-straps and rise out of poverty to become a valuable contributor to the economic well-being of our nation. How many of the people who feel the "rich" aren't paying their fair share actually contribute that much tax revenue? Few of the liberals that I know do.

Rather than castigating the "rich" for not paying their "fair share," perhaps the people who pay little or no taxes should be more concerned with "doing" their fair share.