Yet, funding for a federal government has to come from somewhere.  In general, I do believe in government help, even if it does reach too far in some cases.  I believe in balance in government involvement vs. no government involvement, which means some give and take from the populace.

In general I’m a free-market supporter, and as such I generally favor less taxes and less government programs.  However, I think some people who share my views have gone too far.  The free market is not perfect, as much as I’d like it to be.  The problem is that it is unfair at an individual level.  In general, it is fair because people who work hard and make wise decisions succeed–in general.  However, there are certainly exceptions: people who struggle because of circumstances beyond their control.  In a pure free market, those people would be trampled.  Ideally, I think it would be great if Americans would be charitable and organized enough to take care of their own–cover medical expenses for people who fall ill and can’t get insurance, support the widow with kids who’s husband died prematurely, etc.  I’m even in favor of having some mercy to those whose misfortunes were their own fault (after all, we all make mistakes), even if by doing so we do weaken somewhat the driving force of the free market–we should at least make sure people have basic needs covered.  So far, charity is not big and organized enough to cover most of these needs.  Until they are, I’m in favor of government picking up the slack.

So, I agree that income tax is not all bad.  But of course their are limits.  I wonder, sometimes, when the progressives will be satisfied that the tax system is progressive enough.  Even after Obama implements his tax policy, there will still be rich people and poor people (maybe even more poor people, if trickle-down economics really was right).  So will the cries for fairness end?