People who earn more should pay more for the greater good...

Why? Because the people with more wealth and higher incomes have more to lose if the social order breaks down. And what controls the how smooth our society runs? Our taxes at the federal, state and local level.

Really, a guy living at the bottom, eking out a base life is not going to see all that many changes in his "life style" if things go south. On the other end of the socioeconomic scale, there is tremendous room for a downslide.

The more you earn, the greater your stake in society.

of a free-enterprise system supported by trillions of dollars in defense spending.

They should pay to support the system that enables them to make money. Plus, they can afford it. Corporations too, of course.

It is a point that is not discussed often enough, especially in the neo-con, "I've got mine, Screw you" philosophy. Social Darwinism is their best friend.

The neocons push lies that this kind of thinking will lead to "socialized medicine" - the worst of all possibilities - and other social support options that they do not want anything to do with...even Medicare is too "socilaized" for them.

The sad - and scary- part is how many people who would benefit from more "socialized" options are too stupid to know that they are voting against their own best interests when they adopt these attitudes, and support the neocons..

arguing that creating a situation where the poor have nothing to lose has historically been shown to end in either anarchy or revolution.

Furthermore, what enables people to become rich is the society they live in, and the relative economic stability of its citizens. If more and more people cannot afford your product, you are hurting yourself by denying them living wages, etc., just as cutting taxes reduces government ability to maintain infrastructure - and without said infrastructure, good luck ever being successful.

I'd like to see just one self-described bootstrapper go to an island with nothing and no contacts or society and emerge a rich man. Actually, can we send the lot of them to an island?

We (my husband and I) pay plenty, and except for the illegal, immoral war being waged in our names, I have no problem paying more than folks with lower incomes...

It's the price of living in a civilized society.