Rope salesmen

Legal Insurrection notes the strange plea of some millionaires for higher taxes, drawing attention to an organization called Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength. Some of these patriots appear to be a little shy, since a few signed an open letter to Obama, Reid and Boehner with their initials, only (not a great credibility-builder; puts me in mind of those testimonials one sees in discount gift catalogs: “Best potato peeler I ever owned! – R.W., Frog Pond, N.C.”).

But most signatories give their full names, which creates an opportunity to conduct a little research into their backgrounds and world views. One concerned millionaire is located not far from the Paco Command Center. He’ s the president of what appears to be some kind of investment management firm. I’ve no idea what sort of commercial ventures his company takes a flutter on in the normal course of business, but he himself is certainly bullish on Democrats, investing almost $34 thousand in them in 2010, alone. And he’s not at all parochial in the distribution of his largesse: he has showered money on Democrats far and wide, including Russ Feingold, Joe Sestak, Patty Murray, Barbara Boxer, Act Blue, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee…the list goes on and on.

And then there’s a woman who is involved with several non-profit organizations (naturally) who donated $17.5 thousand to a passel of Democrats and liberal organizations in 2010 (although, unlike our first example, she seems to prefer spending her money closer to home).

And there's another woman, employed by an investment management company (in a clerical position, mind you) who contributed over $65 thousand to Democratic politicians and environmental organizations in 2010 (and $59 thousand in 2008 and $109 thousand in 2006). Throwing this much money at Democrats is bound to lead to higher taxes. Have a little patience, ma'am!

Rich people are entitled to their opinions, the same as anybody else, and there’s no reason why we should assume that they would necessarily all think alike. But the support many of the well-heeled offer to liberal politicians who are beavering away at the construction of the nanny state reveals a profound - and profoundly ironic – ignorance of the destructive capacity of Big Government when it comes to economic liberty and economic growth; in fact, it is perhaps the strange inability of rich liberals to see the nexus between the two that is most baffling.

One begins to see a pattern. In my opinion, what we’re seeing here are rich people who are so thoroughly insulated, economically, from the effects of liberal fiscal policy that they can afford to assuage their consciences or stoke the fires of their self-esteem or preen themselves with the false assumption of moral superiority, by supporting the “humanitarian” builders of the provider state. And yet they would have us believe that taxes should rise in order to reduce the crushing debt that their own favored politicians have done so much to create. If they’re admitting to complicity in our potential financial ruin, then they are free to make amends by paying as much as they like, over and above their regular taxes, to the U.S. Treasury. I urge them to do so, and leave the truly productive class alone. If, as they claim, they are trying to “give something back” to the country that permitted them to thrive, and think that the way to accomplish this is to shovel more money into the federal maw, then they have made the horrendous and really inexcusable error of confusing the “nation” with the “government”.

Oh, and why hasn’t Warren “Raise My Taxes (Just Kidding!)” Buffett signed the open letter?

Update: If you’ve got the stomach for it, you can watch some of these Democrat Patriotic fat cats calling, in their own words, for higher taxes in this video.