I am Joe the Plummer and I don't need your stinking socialism!

[Generic Other]

Wrong Joe. You learned to read and write because someone subsidized your education. Your folks got welfare payments. You should be grateful to the American taxpayer who supported your family through hard times. Thanks to Aid to Families with Dependent Children, a program funded by generous taxpayers, you were housed, given food and medicine. You were not forced to work grueling hours because other citizens passed child welfare legislation to protect you. You ate because the government gave you food stamps, and the schools gave you free lunches.

Today, you drive on roads paid for by taxpayers, have electricity because the citizens of your community pooled their resources to create public utility districts. When your house is on fire or someone tries to break in, your taxpayer-funded local fire and police departments come to your rescue. Your elderly parents receive checks from the government as well as free medical care. In the event your area is hit by a catastrophic and life threatening disaster, charitable organizations will offer you a helping hand. Many a church congregation will open a food pantry to take care of you or your family in your time of need.

When you say, as you have Joe, that making the rich pay their share of taxes sounds like socialism to you, it sounds like you don't think much of what the rest of us have been doing to help you. If you become rich in this country, you will not do it on your own, anymore than you did it on your own when you were poor. Your livelihood will depend on others. You are not the Omega Man, Joe. You need us as much as we need you.

Remember what JFK said about asking and doing? Think about it, Joe.