Quote of the Day

Voltaire in 1770:

"In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other."

Voltaire was writing well before the 1789 French Revolution, but what he said is still accurate. Once you have a democracy, this redistribution is known as "buying votes," and once elected as "buying perpetual incumbency with other people's money."

Anyone who wonders about the origins of the benefit extravaganza that is bankrupting states and municipalities need look no further than this:  Democrats staying in office by buying public employee union votes with benefit contracts to be paid for with money to be extracted from taxpayers. 

A handy model for that three-part arrangement might be this:   A leech (the Dem officeholder) stays alive by sucking the blood of a vampire bat (the union) that has attached itself to an artery on the neck of a sheep (the taxpayer).  Every attempt by the sheep to shake off the bat and its slimy rider is met with outrage at such selfishness and lack of concern for fairness and equality.

Byron