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| Why Are Government Employees More Equal Than You? |
Kamal Jain
08/14/2008
Do you remember the novel "Animal Farm" by George Orwell?
In the story, animals on a farm join together, overthrow their human owners, and "liberate" all the animals.
The first thing the animals do is proclaim that "all animals are equal." They painted this credo on the barn in big letters for all to see.
Over time, some animals started taking charge of things at the farm, devising the rules and enforcing them. Order was necessary after all! All this seemed innocent and harmless enough until the animals in charge started to get comfortable with their power. They had cushy jobs on the farm, as did their family and friends.
Other animals worked and worked, being punished if they questioned this arrangement. The governing animals produced nothing, but took more than an equal share of feed and water, claiming it was necessary for maintaining order and productivity on the farm.
One night, without discussion or consent, the governing animals changed the credo on the barn to: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
You might say that's got nothing to do with us here in America – "Animal Farm" was about Marxist-Socialism and Communism. And you'd be right…sort of. Orwell did say that he wrote the novel as a cautionary tale about the virulent form of Socialism brewing in the Soviet Union, not against the Socialism he saw at home in England (a kinder, gentler Socialism).
But if you look around you today, you might think the animals' situation seems all too familiar, all too applicable to our lives today. And you'd be right…sort of. The key difference today is that our credo, borne out of the Declaration of Independence which states that "…all men are created equal…", has not been updated to reflect reality.
Modern politicians and bureaucrats have learned that it's best not to draw any attention to the privileged lives THEY lead – at OUR expense. But if you look back over the past few decades you'll notice something interesting: Some people are more equal than others. By law. The dividing line is the same as in Orwell's story.
Just the same as in "Animal Farm", we find today that government sector employees get higher wages and better benefits than workers in the private sector.
Why are government employees more equal than you?
Why are most government employees exempt from Social Security taxes – while you and other private sector workers are taxed to fund Social Security and Medicare every year you work?
Why are government employees able to retire at age 54 – while you and other private sector workers must keep working until age 65?
Why do average government employees get retirement pension paychecks of $25,000 to $45,000 a year, starting at age 54 – while you are forced to squeak by on Social Security payments of $1,600 a month, starting at age 65?
Why do government retirees also get high cost, high quality health insurance for life – while you are forced to make do with Medicare?
Why are government employees more equal than private sector employees?
Why are government retirees more equal than private sector retirees?
Why are the tax receivers more equal than the tax payers?
Why are government employees more equal than you?
On November 4, 2008 the voters of Massachusetts will have the chance to end the state income tax forever, returning an average of three-thousand seven-hundred dollars to 3,400,000 hard-working taxpayers in the state. This question, if passed, will not take money out of the state, it will take it out of the hands of state government – and put it back in the hands, pockets and bank accounts of the people who earned it.
For more information, please go to www.SmallGovernmentAct.org.
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