Fund Your Utopia Without Me.™

19 May 2012

Mr Obama, Build Up That Wall!



M2RB:  The Dave Matthews Band






Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby

Nobody's laughing now

God's grace lost and the devil is proud
But I've been walking for a thousand miles
One last time, I could see you smile

I hold on to you

You bring me hope, I'll see you soon
And if I don't see you
I'm afraid we've lost the way

Stay, beautiful baby

I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby







By Andrew Klavan


In order to avoid throwing his money into the maw of an increasingly oppressive and spendthrift government, Facebook co-founder and about-to-be gazillionaire Eduardo Saverin has renounced his U.S. citizenship in favor of Singapore. To put an end to such sensible behavior, Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey have proposed a punitive tax on any wealthy Americans who try to escape the clutches of Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Bob Casey by leaving the country.

But I have a much better idea, a much simpler and more effective idea. Why not just build a wall? Come on, this is a great, creative approach! How could it not work? We build a wall around the country and anyone trying to escape with his money or his brain power or his hard work, we capture him and bring him back. Or shoot him, if we have to.

This wonderful solution to the Saverin problem is not just perfect for the United States in general — it’d work in individual states as well.  Take California — please!  As City Journal’s Steven Malanga reports, businesses are leaving the golden state in droves.
As California has transformed into a relentlessly antibusiness state, [its] redeeming characteristics haven’t been enough to keep firms from leaving. Relocation experts say that the number of companies exiting the state for greener pastures has exploded. In surveys, executives regularly call California one of the country’s most toxic business environments and one of the least likely places to open or expand a new company. Many firms still headquartered in California have forsaken expansion there.
This shouldn’t be. Not when the answer is right there in front of us! Just build a wall along the border of the state and anyone who tries to get out gets the old bang-bang-you’re-dead treatment!

I mean, the Communists did this in Berlin, right? That worked well! Did you think the reds just slapped that sucker up because they were evil? Did you think they just did it for the joy of shooting their own citizens? Of course not. The Communists were smart people, logical people. They knew that when the state encroached on human freedom by taking the fruit of people’s labor, by demanding power over people’s productivity and creativity, those people would naturally, sensibly come to understand that the contract between citizen and state had been violated, and they’d take off. And you just can’t have a socialist state if all the creativity and productivity and other people’s money leave.  So the Communists built a wall. 

It made perfect sense.

And so we should build a wall! And keep job-and-wealth-creating people like Eduardo Saverin from leaving! What other solution could there possibly be? I mean, if smart guys like Senators Schumer and Casey can’t think of one, I sure can’t.

So this is the country you made, President Obama — and in only three short years too. So don’t you wait. Don’t hesitate. Don’t bother with punitive taxes or big speeches or any of that stuff.

Mr. Obama, finish the job! Make this the America you want it to be.

Mr. Obama, build up that wall!


 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++


Sophie:

"I will merely note that for some people, their citizenship is worth everything they have to give."
- David French, The Corner, National Review


Nice words, but is that really true? Doesn’t your country owe you something in return? Were Germans, who opposed the Nazis, wrong for immigrating to the US and becoming citizens? Were Russians, who left the Soviet Union, wrong for defecting, renouncing their citizenship and becoming Americans? 

If the Federal government decided to impose a 90% income tax on everyone, would you still believe that your citizenship is worth 9 out of every $10 you earn? Really? What else would you give at that point? Your wife, if El Presidente demanded her? Your firstborn son?  Would you begin to kill your neighbours if your country demanded that of you?  Better yet, were the Founding Fathers wrong for declaring their independence from England because of high taxation, taxation without representation, and the tyranny of King George III?  Were they unpatriotic?

No, Saverin and people like him are renouncing their citizenship because being an American doesn’t have the same value as it did as little as a decade ago when I became one. The country has the most progressive income tax system in the world; yet, the 50% of the populace, who does not pay a dime in Federal income taxes, believes it is entitled by right to the property of others. The dollar is on its way to being as valuable as an old Reichsmark. The national debt will enslave generations. Neither party is capable of or willing to address the real issues.

In addition to the most progressive income tax system, we also have the highest corporate tax rate and are increasing dividend and capital gain tax rates while expanding economies are cutting them. Further, the bureaucratic tangle of red tape answers the question “Where are the jobs?” They are overseas because the US government has created a hostile environment to job and business creation. It isn’t at the stage of Greece — where a stool sample is required of some people before they can obtain an operating licence to start an internet business — but it is rapidly following in the country’s footsteps.

The question shouldn’t be whether Saverin is a bad guy for renouncing his American citizenship. The question should be "Why has the US decided that it doesn’t want to keep people like Saverin and attract more of them?" Obviously, it doesn't want Saverins. If it did, it would make itself competitive.

Senators Schumer and Casey, among others, claim that people like Saverin are unpatriotic and they are probably correct, but how patriotic are they?  Is it patriotic to debaunch the currency of your country?  Is it patriotic to spend your country into bankruptcy?  Is it patriotic -- and moral -- to enslave future generations to unsustainable debt obligations?  Is it fair, patriotic, or moral to steal the futures of generations yet unborn while taxing them without representation?

Would Americans be unpatriotic if they wanted to insure that their children were not enslaved by the debt and unfunded obligations of their forebears by raising them as citizens of another country?  Is that really selfish?  How much do your future children and grandchildren owe the greedy, irresponsible people of today?

When I tell the Progressive Movement to "Fund Your Utopia Without Me™", I mean it.  If the Progs want to recreate the French Revolution -- with or without the blood -- and they manage to be successful, in whole or in part, why do I owe the country anything?  Why do you?  Must we stay around and pay...and pay...and pay...and pay to satiate the envious cravings and most base desires of humanity?

California has 1/8th of the country's population, but 1/3rd of all of the country's welfare recipients.  Is it doing anything to attract new business or relocations?  No.  It continues to pass higher taxes, fees, and more regulation, while giving more to union workers and welfare recipients.  Businesses and the productive class are leaving.  Why would anyone think that this would not happen on a national scale should Obama succeed in turning all of America into California?

Great civilisations do fall.  Hopefully, the United States will not, but if it does, you do not have to go down with the ship.


BTW:  I can't wait to hear the hypocritical screeching from Senator John Kerry, who parked his boat in another state to avoid paying Massachusetts state taxes.


American Baby by Dave Matthews Band


If these walls came crumblin' down
Fell so hard, to make us lose our faith
From what's left you'd figure it out
Still make lemonade taste like a summer day

Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby

Nobody's laughing now
God's grace lost and the devil is proud
But I've been walking for a thousand miles
One last time, I could see you smile

I (I) hold (hold) on (on) to you
You bring me hope, I'll see you soon
And if I don't see you
I'm afraid we've lost the way

Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby

I (I) hold (hold) on (on) to you
You lift me up and always will
I see you in life
Hope I don't get left behind

I (I) hold (hold) on (on) to you
You bring me hope, I'll see you soon
And if I don't see you
I'm afraid we've lost the way

Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
I hope you
Stay, beautiful baby
I hope you
Stay, American baby
American baby 



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