Bernie Sanders Rocks My World!

[DeistPaladin]

*sigh*

Equality doesn't mean people should be the same, it means people should be treated the same. The world doesn't work if you just take money form the rich and give it to the poor, for various reasons. Ignoring the fact that this behaviour is unfair in the first place (what right do you have to take that money, and what right do the poor have to it?), the main problem with spreading the wealth is that you remove any incentive to actually work. What is the point of working when you know the government will just give you free money? What is the point of inventing a new product if you know you can't sell it and take a decent profit? The market will just stop working, and without the market, you won't have anything being produced, so good luck actually feeding and clothing your population.

I certainly don't advocate "spreading the wealth", by which I mean taking money from the rich and simply giving it away to the poor. That's not what taxes necessarily are. Taxes are the method by which society gets the funding necessary to run its basic services, including law enforcement, fire departments, road construction and other infrastructure, garbage pick up, etc. I would also add medical care and schools to that list of basic social services. The rich benefit the most from a functional society and so they need to pay a greater percentage of their income.

Also, remember that part of what distinguishes America and other developed nations from the 3rd world is a skilled middle class. That middle class is disappearing in America.