TRADITIONAL VERSION The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself! MODERN VERSION The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he's a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving. CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper, and everybody cries when they sing "It's Not Easy Being Green." Jesse Jackson stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news stations film the group singing "We shall overcome." Jesse then has the group kneel down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Tom Daschle & Walter Mondale exclaim in an interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back of the grasshopper, and both call for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make him pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and Anti-Grasshopper Act," retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The ant is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story ends as we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food while the government house he is in, which just happens to be the ant's old house, crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug-related incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of spiders who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood. MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote Republican
Cute, but mere cover to hide the fact that it is CONSERVATIVES who take from the hard worker - heavens no, not to give to poor people, but to the "Chosen people" - the wealthy, the government contractors and the greaseball ruling class. Most in the 15% didn't get a rate cut. The bush administration uses bidding as little as possible when handing out government cotnracts. Instead of giving all brackets an across the board tax cut, they cut the estate tax which only affects estates in excess of $1.5 million and which RAISES taxes on most estates below $1.5 million. i.e. more wealth transfer from the hard worker to the chosen class - the ones roach delay has said are our betters - the coupon clippers of america.
As someone who could benefit personally from the Democrats tax plan I still dont agree with it. I definatley dont make that much money right now and could use the benefit of government help. However I dont think the answer is to tax the "upper class" to support me. If people will apply themselves and work hard they can make it without having to rely on the government. The government should be there to step in and help on a limited basis but we have too many people living off the system. I volunteer with a food closet from time to time and there are many people who come in on a regular basis who drive really nice cars and are always talking on a cell phone yet they ssay they need help with groceries and clothes. They could drive a less expensive care and do without a cell phone, which is a convenience not a necessity. I have also found one person we helped selling the groceries in parking lot of a grocery store later the same day they came to us. I will say the majority of the people we help are really in need but they are also the ones that will return what they dont need and help out when they have more than they need. As someone who plans to make it to a higher tax bracket through hard work I think there should be more equality in who pays taxes. Everybody should pay some taxes there should not be a group who gets by without paying any taxes at all--except for those that are medically unable to do any type of work that can help provide an income. I also think that if you dont pay taxes you should not vote. Hey it is always said "no taxation without representation." Why is someone able to vote on those who make tax laws when they pay no taxes. Okay I'm through.
