One pitcher has the Kool-Aid and one the truth.
Stop drinking the Kool-aid, of political rhetoric, the ideology of extreme left or right.
Stop believing out of hand what you read on social media.
Consider that what you want to believe, what you have been taught to believe may not be supported by facts.
Spend some time doing your own fact-checking before accepting what you are told.
Think more about the middle ground, compromise, long term consequences of actions taken or policies followed.
Think in terms of all Americans. Your fellow citizens are not the enemy, your government is not the enemy. The government is your fellow citizens.
The wealthy are not taking from you or blocking your opportunity and neither are the poor who need assistance.
Don’t accept name calling, bullying or vindictive behavior from anyone. Honest, fact based civil discussion and dialogue are necessary, and require a rationale environment.
We need to welcome discussion around different points of view, not seek to quell them or ignore them.
Nobody should be targeting anyone or any group.
Seriously consider for yourself what constitutes a great country, a great society that respects every individual.
We have issues to resolve that must be resolved in a manner that considers all participants and future generations.
We must consider we are not equal in abilities, or resources and that some segments of society will always require support from others.
Doing both of the above is part of being a great society.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
“The wealthy are not taking from you or blocking your opportunity and neither are the poor who need assistance.”
True(ish), however… “Free” enterprise should eventually, gradually, level out income and wealth somewhat.
My Dad probably borrowed his “common wisdom” from some unknown source, but when he explained capitalism (as opposed to communism?), to me, he said that a man who works harder, or smarter, should earn, and keep more than others.
“But it’s hard* to imagine someone working TEN THOUSAND TIMES (emphasis mine) harder than I do.”
Reagan was wrong. Bring back the much more progressive income tax.
“In 1941, Roosevelt proposed a 99.5 percent marginal rate on all incomes over $100,000. “Why not?” he said when an adviser questioned him.”
My income is above average, and I’m OK with a tax increase for me. And you.
*impossible, IMHO
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But it’s not about working harder, it’s about working smarter, taking risk, creating new things, investing wisely.
Or in the case of many of today’s billionaires a combination of several and creating wealth or having it been created for them by the stock market and the stock in what they created.
As an old saying goes, you will never be rich working for someone else (not always true, of course)
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Not ‘just’ the billionaires. I mentioned my income was above average. I double checked. Actually in the top ten percent, both before and after retirement.
I worked hard, not ashamed of my lifetime efforts and production, and I have nearly half a million in assets. My Dad, and many others, worked much harder and died in debt. He, and they, for the most part were neither lazy nor stupid.
Perhaps any –one– of those poorest people could have become millionaires.
“Anyone can grow up to be President.”
But –everyone– can’t. It’s the math. It’s the system. The U.S. is one of, or –the– most economically unequal developed countries in the world, and not because the poorest are dumb or lazy.
….Obama, July 13: There are a lot of wealthy, successful Americans who agree with me — because they want to give something back. They know they didn’t — look, if you’ve been successful, you didn’t get there on your own. You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. There are a lot of smart people out there. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else. Let me tell you something — there are a whole bunch of hardworking people out there. (Applause.)
If you were successful, somebody along the line gave you some help. There was a great teacher somewhere in your life. Somebody helped to create this unbelievable American system that we have that allowed you to thrive. Somebody invested in roads and bridges. If you’ve got a business — you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen. The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet.
The point is, is that when we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together. There are some things, just like fighting fires, we don’t do on our own. I mean, imagine if everybody had their own fire service. That would be a hard way to organize fighting fires.
So we say to ourselves, ever since the founding of this country, you know what, there are some things we do better together. That’s how we funded the GI Bill. That’s how we created the middle class. That’s how we built the Golden Gate Bridge or the Hoover Dam. That’s how we invented the Internet. That’s how we sent a man to the moon. We rise or fall together as one nation and as one people, and that’s the reason I’m running for President — because I still believe in that idea. You’re not on your own, we’re in this together.
…
TaxTheRich
Tax me. And you.
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Al Lindquist:
Roosevelt and 99.5% marginal rate–sure when you started to close in on that part of your income that would be taxed at 99.5%+ what fool would work for that income–say you had income of $5,000 in excess of the almost top marginal rate so, you get to keep $25.00.
Why do you need a tax increase?? There is a form you can use to add to your tax burden so send in extra $ and the form–bet you won’t–big hat no cattle.
I pay federal–state–property–sales–excise–gas and even more I think, so I refuse to pay a penny more if I can help it.
I agree with Quinn about checking the facts before believing the propaganda being fed to us–like there were not millions crossing the border–the border was closed–Russian disinformation was responsible for Hunter’s computer so there’s nothing to see—nothing physically or mentally wrong with our leader it’s cheap fakes promulgated by Fox News.
As usual those who holler the loudest are the ones who were sucked right in.
WOW!!! No Hitler–Fascist—Nazi–maybe the shooting of 2 illegals and ICE agent in Dallas has created a zone of common sense around some folks.
WOW–An American Flag!!! I am shocked again!!!
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I agree. Our first Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, warned us of the danger of domestic extremism in 1837. Quoted below from Wikipedia:
Main Arguments
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