Tag: Democrats

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS DON’T NEED VOTER FRAUD TO LOSE WHEN DEMOCRATS CAN SIMPLY CHANGE THE RULES

CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS DON’T NEED VOTER FRAUD TO LOSE WHEN DEMOCRATS CAN SIMPLY CHANGE THE RULES

When a 14-point Republican lead disappears

By Shawn Steel, Former Chairman of the California Republican Party and Republican National Committeeman from California to the RNC
November 27, 2018   The Washington Times

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

Young Kim was poised to become the first Korean-American woman elected to Congress.

Her 14-point lead was the lone bright spot on an otherwise dismal night for Orange County Republicans. But, over the past week, Republicans have watched the first-generation immigrant’s lead evaporate. With thousands of provisional ballots left to count, her commanding lead is now underwater.

She lost one week after the election.

Continue reading “CALIFORNIA REPUBLICANS DON’T NEED VOTER FRAUD TO LOSE WHEN DEMOCRATS CAN SIMPLY CHANGE THE RULES” →

A LIST OF DISGUSTING CONGRESS MEMBERS WHO WILL NOT ATTEND TRUMP INAUGURATION

A LIST OF DISGUSTING CONGRESS MEMBERS WHO WILL NOT ATTEND TRUMP INAUGURATION

Here is the list of people who are so small morally that they put their hyperpartisan leftist extremism ahead of doing what is right for their country. This is a time when we are showing the world that in the United States, we have an orderly and peaceful transfer of power even when the transfer is to another political party.

Continue reading “A LIST OF DISGUSTING CONGRESS MEMBERS WHO WILL NOT ATTEND TRUMP INAUGURATION” →

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS REALLY ARE DIFFERENT

DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS REALLY ARE DIFFERENT

By Ezra Klein

MSNBC asked Benjy Sarlin, its reporter on the Republican race, and Alex Seitz-Wald, its reporter on the Democratic race, to flip jobs for a week and write up what they learned. Their conversation is worth reading in full, but something Sarlin wrote caught my eye:
Continue reading “DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS REALLY ARE DIFFERENT” →

California Results: This is not Defeat!

We were naturally discouraged at the poor showing of our California Republican candidates this election.  For your information the registration numbers in Los Angeles County at the time of the election are:

Democrats     2,260,449    51%
Republicans   1,048,609     24%
D-T-S             911,394     21%
Other parties    215,556      4%
Total           4,436,008

Democrats outnumber us by better than 2 to 1 in this County.


Statewide, the numbers are:

Democrats       7,615,452    44%
Republicans      5,353,264    31%
D-T-S             3,505,527    20%
Other parties      811,640      5%
Total              17,285,883


This is only one battle in a long war. 

Keep in mind that George Washington lost every battle he fought until the Battle of Trenton.  It would have been very understanding if he and the revolutionary troops had given up.  But despite losing every battle, many soldiers lost in battle, and huge numbers of desertions, Washington kept going until he succeeded.  We need to emulate that.

Redistricting will help in 2012.  We have to increase Republican registration, which we have found is not easy to do, but we must figure out how to do it.  We also have to convince Democrats that our policies work because we can’t win with Republicans only in California.

Jerry Brown, the Democrat legislature, the passage of the proposition where Democrats alone can now pass a budget will likely put California into a fiscal bind we will not be able to easily get out of.  I am not wishing for that, by the way, just the opposite.  I am just saying that is a likely outcome.  That may give us an opportunity in 2012 to come up with a plan to fix the state that will resound with non-Republican voters.

Big government, spending beyond our means, trying to take care of everyone who needs it, supporting the public service employee pension plans, putting unrealistic restraints and higher taxes on businesses, raising utility rates to pay for AB 32, growing the state government are all programs that are unsustainable.

We need to field a good group of California candidates very soon who will be prepared to do what they have to do to win in 2012.

The national scene was much rosier.  We have taken back the House with a substantial number of seats (possibly 65).  


We will be in a position to stop Mr. Obama’s reckless deficit spending and perhaps to reverse some of the terrible legislation that he was able to pass under the 111th Congress.  We will be in a position in 2012 to gain a majority in the Senate and to take back the White House if our elected legislators stick to our principles and do what they were sent there to do. 

Israel Support Stronger By Republicans Than Democrats

Jeff Jacoby, in an article in the Boston Globe, analyzes the result of a Gallop poll:

But look at the disparity that emerges when those results are sorted by party affiliation. While support for Israel vs. the Palestinians has climbed to a stratospheric 85 percent among Republicans, the comparable figure for Democrats is an anemic 48 percent. (It was 60 percent for independents.) And behind Israel’s “Top 5” favorability rating lies a gaping partisan rift: 80 percent of Republicans — but just 53 percent Democrats — have positive feelings about the world’s only Jewish country.

Similarly, it is true that 333 US House members, a hefty bipartisan majority, endorsed the robustly pro-Israel Hoyer-Cantor letter to Hillary Clinton. But there were only seven Republicans who declined to sign the letter, compared with 91 Democrats — more than a third of the entire Democratic caucus. (Six Massachusetts Democrats were among the non-signers: John Olver, Richard Neal, John Tierney, Ed Markey, Michael Capuano, and Bill Delahunt.)

From Zogby International comes still more proof of the widening gulf between the major parties on the subject of Israel. In a poll commissioned by the Arab American Institute last month, respondents were asked whether Obama should “steer a middle course” in the Middle East — code for not clearly supporting Israel. “There is a strong divide on this question,” Zogby reported, “with 73% of Democrats agreeing that the President should steer a middle course while only 24% of Republicans hold the same opinion.”

Taken as a whole, America’s identification with Israel is as stout as ever — the “special relationship” between the two nations still runs deep. But the old political consensus that brought Republicans and Democrats together in support of the Middle East’s only flourishing democracy is breaking down. Republican friendship for Israel has never been more rock-solid. Democratic friendship — especially now, in the age of Obama — is growing steadily less so.

I am not sure why Republicans are more supportive of Israel than Democrats, but the results of the surveys are interesting. Perhaps someone will come up with an explanation.

Read the whole article.

Congress health care vote: a dark day for freedom in America

The following are great comments about the health care vote by Nile Gardner writing in the Telegraph in the UK:

The passage last night of Barack Obama’s health care reform bill through the House of Representatives is yet another blow to freedom in America inflicted by the Obama administration. The legislation, which comes at a staggering cost of $940 billion, will hugely add to the already towering national debt, now at over $12 trillion. It is yet another millstone round the necks of the American people, already faced with the highest levels of unemployment in a generation.

It is also a great leap forward by the United States towards a European-style vision of universal health care, which will only lead to soaring costs, higher taxes, and a surge in red tape for small businesses. This reckless legislation dramatically expands the power of the state over the lives of individuals, and could not be further from the vision of America’s founding fathers. It has also been rushed through Congress without proper scrutiny, in the face of overwhelming public opposition, and with not an ounce of bipartisan support.

Above all the health care bill is a thinly disguised vanity project for a president who is committed to transforming the United States from the world’s most successful large-scale free enterprise economy, to a highly interventionist society with a massive role for centralized government. The United States has thrived as a nation for over 230 years precisely because of its love for freedom and its belief in free markets.

What we have just witnessed is a massive slap in the face for limited government and the principle of individual responsibility. Its net result will be the erosion of freedom in America, and a further undermining of the country’s economic competitiveness. This may be a political victory for the president and his supporters in Congress, but it is in reality a defeat for America as a great power, and another Obama-led step towards US decline.

The Democrat Light Brigade Rides Into The Valley of Death

The Democrat Light Brigade Rides Into The Valley of Death

Bill Saracino, writing in the Political Vanguard has an article about the Democrats and their drive to oblivion.

For one thing, the interests of re-electing Obama in 2012 might in fact be served by having a Republican-controlled congress as a foil in 2011 and 2012– more on this in a future column. Be that as it may, the opportunity for leftists to socialize 17% of the American economy does not come around often. To the true-believing socialists in Ms. Pelosi’s caucus and Mr. Obama’s White House – and there are many – such an achievement is worth sacrificing individual political careers, especially since most of the casualties will be among the less liberal members of the Democrat caucuses. Their thinking is that even a small step forward on health care will be the camel’s nose under the tent – irreversible in the future and certain to grow, as is the history of virtually all government entitlement programs of the past.

Sadly that may be true, and as such is bad news in the long run, but likely very good news in the short run for Republicans. President Obama and Ms. Pelosi appear content to treat Democrat members of Congress as the famed British Light Brigade of the Crimean War was treated by their commanders. The Light Brigade (cavalry) was ordered by incompetent officers to attack entrenched Russian and Turkish artillery. The result was a predictable slaughter of the cavalry.

Alfred Lord Tennyson immortalized the charge of the Light Brigade in his eponymous poem. Reading it again, it is difficult not to see recalcitrant Democrats in Congress in the poem’s stanzas, being ordered by their commanders onward, ever onward, to attack the entrenched artillery of vehement voter resistance to Obamacare.

“Half a league, half a league, half a league onward, into the valley of death rode the six hundred. Forward the Light Brigade, was there a man dismayed, not though the soldiers knew, someone had blundered. Theirs not to make reply, theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do or die, into the valley of death rode the six hundred.”

There are currently 314 — not 600 — Democrat members of Congress. Those who have not drunk the Pelosi/Obama Kool-Aid will shortly have to decide if they want to follow orders, vote for Obamacare and thereby ride into the valley of death that the voters will prepare for them this November. It will be fascinating to watch. Enough Democrats to defeat Obamacare know it is fatally flawed, know that “someone has blundered,” those someones being the President and Madame Speaker.

If those Democrats decide that the time has come to “make reply” and “to reason why,” they will stand firm and Obamacare will lose in the House. If, howeverb they decide that theirs is “but to do or die,” some form of Obamacare will pass, and the Democrat congressional majority will likely ride into the valley of death this November.

Go here to read the whole article.

My Interview with ArtChix Magazine

My Interview with ArtChix Magazine

I was interviewed by the editor of ArtChix Magazine. In it I express my opinion on Barack Obama, Sarah Palin, 2012 Republican Presidential candidates and much more.

Excerpt:

Q: How do you think this perception became so entrenched?

The perception of Republicans come from two places, I believe. One is the Republicans of the past. Republicans in the first half of the 20th century were the wealthy. They were the captains of industry and the members of elite country clubs. John D. Rockefeller comes to mind. The Democrats were the party of labor – the working man. That is the way it was. That is not the way it is.

These days, the super-wealthy in this country are Democrats and the working middle class are mostly Republican. Roles have essentially been reversed, but the old perceptions persist. The public doesn’t realize that most major public company Presidents are Democrats. They probably don’t know that virtually all the Wall Street moguls are Democrats. Most investment bankers are Democrats. The 25 most wealthy on the Forbes 400 list are Democrats. The presidents of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are Democrats. The four wealthiest men on the planet, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, George Soros and Larry Ellison are all Democrats. Republicans are the shop owners, the engineer, the accountant, the small business owner. In other words, the middle class. Democrats are now the upper class and the lower class. The very wealthy and the very poor, for the most part. Republicans are in the middle.

If you ask the average man on the street he will tell you that Republicans are rich and greedy. He will tell you that Republicans control all the corporations and wealth and Democrats are the struggling middle class. He will be totally wrong. Ask him to identify a wealthy, greedy Republican, however, and he will not be able to do it. It is all perception, and a very inaccurate one at that.

The other reason is that the press continues to paint Republicans as being rich, greedy and, yes, mean-spirited. The preponderance of newspaper reporters and newspaper owners are Democrats, or are independents who vote for and support Democrats. Republicans do not get fairly represented in the average newspaper or TV news station.

Read the full interview here.

We Have Just Begun To Fight!

We Have Just Begun To Fight!
Having trouble viewing this email? Click here
San Fernando Valley Republican Club
We Have Just Begun To Fight!
December 24, 2009
Dear Gary,

 

The U. S. Senate passed two bills this week, both of which will significantly reduce your freedom and one which will drastically remake the America we have known.


The Senate, in a strictly partisan vote in which all Republicans voted NO, raised the national debt ceiling by $290 BILLION.  The National Debt ceiling was $12.1 TRILLION.  That means more taxes will be necessary to cover the interest payments on the increased debt.
Harry Reid
The other bill, also passed only by Democrats (and two independents) was a healthcare bill that is estimated to cost at least $1.2 TRILLION over the next 10 years.  Since you can always be pretty safe multiplying original government estimates by the power of three, it is likely the healthcare program, in its present form, will cost well in excess of $3 TRILLION.  In order to sustain that kind of expenditure, taxes will have to be greatly increased on all Americans.  The bribery, arm-twisting, special favors, threats and intimidation of each Democrat Senator by their party leaders to get the bill passed were unprecedented in American legislative history.


Both of these bills are now Democrat Party bills.  When the public wakes up to the harsh reality of the adverse affect of these bills it will have only the Democrats to blame.
THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER
We have just begun to fight

Do not despair yet. Despair is as premature as is the victory that the Democrats claim. Let the Democrats do their victory lap.  The bill now goes back to the House for reconciliation with the Senate version.  Remember how close the House vote was.  If three Democrats had voted no instead of yes, the bill would have been defeated in the House.

Congressmen now will have the chance to reconsider their initial vote.  There is a strong likelihood that some of the “yes” votes the first time around might switch their votes.  The pro-life Democrats won’t like the Senate version.  Other Congressman may be reading the polls and decide they don’t want to be on the wrong side of public opinion.  Others may have heard a lot of anger from constituents.  We have a chance to kill the bill in the House.  If we can get three previous “yes” votes to the other column, and if all previous “no” votes hold their position, the bill gets defeated.

We cannot give up.  We must now resolve, more than ever, to fight.  I can’t think of more appropriate quotes at this time than these from Winston Churchill.

 

“WWinston Churchille shall not flag or fail. We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and the oceans, we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be. We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

and this one:

 

Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.




COURSE OF ACTION BETWEEN NOW AND MID-JANUARY

Congress is now on vacation until mid-January.  Here is what needs to be done between now and then.  Your Congressman will most likely be in the district for the next few weeks.  Let him or her know how you feel.  You should, every day, send faxes, make phone calls, write letters to your Congressman.  Let him hear from you.  Let him know that passing this bill is not in the best interests of his constituents, the country or of his re-election.  Go to his local district office where you live.  Organize demonstrations at his office. (Note: for the feminists and gender equality warriors among you, I am following the timeless tradition of using the masculine form to include both masculine and feminine genders) Organize Tea Parties. Write letters to the editor.  Write articles on Facebook.  Write blog articles.  Tweet. Discuss with your neighbors.  Speak up at your book clubs and bridge clubs.  Do not be silent.  Let us make our voices heard.

We now have three weeks to get our opinions out and to lobby Congressmen. We can turn some votes.  Let your Congressman know that it will take great hubris, unmitigated arrogance and complete disregard for public opinion for him to vote this bill in.

If there was ever a time for action, now is the time.

 





THE MEDIA AND TALKING POINTS

We have allowed the left and its media lapdogs to frame the argument and to label Republicans as “obstructionists who don’t want healthcare reform.”  I have seen Republican Senators go on talking head programs and allow the host to make Republicans seem like they are opposed to healthcare reform and are opposed to seeing the uninsured get healthcare coverage.

I don’t understand why our representatives don’t say that Republicans are NOT opposed to healthcare reform.  There have been several Republican proposalsNorman Thomas to reform the healthcare delivery system in a way that will not involve the government and which will be considerably less costly than the Democrat plan.

Further, this bill has nothing to do with reforming healthcare coverage.  Don’t let anyone tell you it is.  It is all about enabling the government to take control of the healthcare system in America.

The healthcare system represents about 17% of the gross national product of the country.  If Democrats can gain control of that segment of the economy they will be well on their way to controlling the entire economy of this country.

That is what this is all about.  It is about controlling people and controlling the economy.  Government control of the economy is something the Democrats have been after for decades.

The passage of the Democrat “healthcare” bill will result in a few more people getting insurance coverage, but the rest of us will pay dearly in higher insurance premiums, higher co-pays, much higher taxes, and rationed medical coverage.  It would actually be much less expensive to just have the government give those who are uninsured and want insurance a voucher to enable them to buy the insurance.  But, that won’t accomplish what the Democrats want.  It isn’t about the uninsured.  It is about control.

By the way, does it make a difference if your medical insurance premium is somewhat lower but you have to pay much more in taxes as a result?

An unintended consequence of the bill will be the reduction of incentive to innovate in the medical profession.  There are many physicians and health care providers who intend to retire if the bill passes.  Incidentally, have you asked your doctor if he supports it?

There is an article in the Wall Street Journal today titled, “What Doctors and Patients Have to Lose Under ObamaCare – Changes to Medicare will give the Feds control of surgical decisions.”  It outlines how the government will now be between the patient and his doctor.  Is that a desired result?
There is much more in the article that describes how the practice of medicine in this country will be forever changed and how that will result in a lowering of the quality of medical care for Americans in the future.

About the “Healthcare” Bill

For those of you who might think that healthcare insurance reform is a good thing, as I do, should know that this bill does not do that.  If you want to know more about the healthcare bill I am including several links to articles that will give you information.

Go to The Heritage Foundation where you will find many informative  and specific articles about the ObamaCare bill.

Another good place to get information is Docs4patientcare.org.

Having read a lot about the bill, and much of the bill itself, I can tell you that the result of the passage of the bill will be:

a) Higher taxes, increasing every year that the program is in effect.
b) Eventually higher insurance premiums
c) A reduction in the number of doctors
d) A lessening of the quality of medical care in this country.
e) A rationing of medical care, particularly to seniors.
f) A reduction in medical care innovation, and new pharmaceutical innovation.
g) The imposition of a value-add tax in addition to the income tax
h) A significant change in the role of government in this country
i)  Unsustainable national deficits that will devalue the dollar and cause hyperinflation, creating additional economic hardship on American citizens.
j)   A reduction in personal freedom in the United States

There will be many more adverse affects of this bill, some not even considered yet.   One important one is the question of how many illegal immigrants will be covered under the plan and what will the effect of that be on the planned expenditures?  The CBO has not even considered that cost in their estimates.  Since we don’t really know how many millions of illegal aliens are in the country, it is impossible at this time to estimate the effect on the new healthcare expenditure budget.

We must do what we can to get this bill defeated in the House.  We cannot let the Marxists in the Democrat Party take over and change forever our beloved America.
Passage of the Obamacare bill benefits no one except those Senators and Congressmen who got massive payoffs and bribes for their vote with taxpayer money.


Call, write and pester your Congressmen.  We just have to convince a handful of Congressmen to vote no.  We can do it, if we are persistent and don’t falter. 


Let’s head to victory in 2010.  Victory means defeating the Democrat’s Obamacare bill in the House, and getting conservatives elected to Congress and the Senate so that the Democrats aren’t, any longer, in a position to be able to pass odious legislation that expands the role of government despite Republican and public opposition.
Sincerely,

 

Gary Aminoff
President
San Fernando Valley Republican Club
http://www.sfvrc.org

SFVRC_Logo

Company Picnic Speech – A Lesson in Economics

Company Picnic Speech – A Lesson in Economics

[Neal Boortz created this fictional talk of a small business CEO to his employees. While it may be fictional, it conveys some important lessons about economics. GA]

Transcript of remarks made by Leo Carrington (who doesn’t exist) to a mandatory meeting of all employees of Carrington Automotive Enterprises, Inc. (which doesn’t exist either) on August 17th, 2009 at the Royal Payne Hotel (a purely imaginary place) in Norfolk, Virginia (which does, in fact, exist).

I would like to start by thanking you for attending this meeting, though it’s not like you had much of a choice. After all, attendance was mandatory. I’m also glad many of you accepted my invitation to your family members to be here as well. I have a few remarks to make to all of you, and then we’ll retire to the ballroom for a great lunch and some employee awards.

I felt that this meeting was important enough to close all 12 of our tire and automotive shops today so that you could be here. To reassure you, everybody is being paid for the day — except me. Since our stores are closed we’re making no money. That economic loss is mine to sustain. Carrington Automotive has 157 full time employees and around 30 additional part-timers. All of you are here. I thank you for that.

When you walked into this auditorium you were handed a rather thick 78-page document. Many of you have already taken a peek. You were probably surprised to see that it’s my personal tax return for 2008. Those of you who are adept at reading these tax returns will see that last year my taxable income was $534,000.00. Now I’m sure this seems rather high to many of you. So … let’s talk about this tax return.

Carrington Automotive Enterprises is what we call a Sub-S – a Subchapter S corporation. The name comes from a particular part of our tax code. Sub-S status means that the income from all 12 of our stores is reported on my personal tax return. Businesses that report their income on the owner’s personal tax return are referred to as “small businesses.” So, you see now that this $534,000 is really the total taxable income – the total combined profit from all 12 of our stores. That works out to an average of a bit over $44,000 per store.

Why did I feel it important for you to see my actual 2008 tax return? Well, there’s a lot of rhetoric being thrown around today about taxes, small businesses and rich people. To the people in charge in Washington right now I’m a wealthy American making over a half-million dollars a year. Most Americans would agree: I’m just another rich guy; after all … I had over a half-million in income last year, right? In this room we know that the reality is that I’m a small business owner who runs 12 retail establishments and employs 187 people. Now here’s something that shouldn’t surprise you, but it will: Just under 100 percent … make that 99.7 percent of all employers in this countries are small businesses, just like ours. Every one of these businesses reports their income on a personal income tax return. You need to understand that small businesses like ours are responsible for about 80 percent of all private sector jobs in this country, and about 70 percent of all jobs that have been created over the past year. You also need to know that when you hear some politician talking about rich people who earn over $200,000 or $500,000 a year, they’re talking about the people who create the jobs.

The people who are now running the show in Washington have been talking for months about raising taxes on wealthy Americans. I already know that in two years my federal income taxes are going to go up by about 4.5 percent. That happens when Obama and the Democrats allow the Bush tax cuts to expire. When my taxes climb by 4.5 percent the Democrats will be on television saying that this really isn’t a tax increase. They’ll explain that the Bush tax cuts have expired .. nothing more. Here at Carrington we’ll know that almost 5% has been taken right off of our bottom line. And that means it will be coming off your bottom line.

Numbers are boring, I know … but let’s talk a bit more about that $534,000. That’s the money that was left last year from company revenues after I paid all of the salaries and expenses of running this business. Now I could have kept every penny of that for myself, but that would have left us with nothing to grow our business, to attract new customers and to hire new employees. You’re aware that we’ve been talking about opening new stores in Virginia Beach and Newport News. To do that I will have to buy or lease property, construct a building and purchase inventory. I also have to hire additional people to work in those stores. These people wouldn’t immediately be earning their pay. So, where do you think the money for all of this comes from? Right out of our profits .. right out of that $534,000. I need to advertise to bring customers in, especially in these tough times. Where do you think that money comes from? Oh sure, I can count it as an expense when I file my next income tax return .. but for right now that comes from either current revenues or last year’s profits. Revenues right now aren’t all that hot … so do the math. A good effective advertising campaign might cost us more than $300,000.

Is this all starting to come together for you now?

Right now the Democrats are pushing a nationalized health care plan that, depending on who’s doing the talking, will add anywhere from another two percent to an additional 4.6 percent to my taxes. If I add a few more stores, which I would like to do, and if the economy improves, my taxable income … our business income … could go over one million dollars! If that happens the Democrats have yet another tax waiting, another five percent plus! I’ve really lost tract of all of the new government programs the Democrats and President Obama are proposing that they claim they will be able to finance with new taxes on what they call “wealthy Americans.”

And while we’re talking about health care, let me explain something else to you. I understand that possibly your biggest complaint with our company is that we don’t provide you with health insurance. That is because as your employer I believe that it is my responsibility to provide you with a safe workplace and a fair wage and to do all that I can to preserve and grow this company that provides us all with income. I no more have a responsibility to provide you with health insurance than I do with life, auto or homeowner’s insurance. As you know, I have periodically invited agents for health insurance companies here to provide you with information on private health insurance plans. The Democrats are proposing to levy yet another tax against Carrington in the amount of 8 percent of my payroll as a penalty for not providing you with health insurance. You should know that if they do this I will be reducing every person’s salary or hourly wage by that same 8 percent. This will not be done to put any more money in my pocket. It will be done to make sure that I don’t suffer financially from the Democrat’s efforts to place our healthcare under the control of the federal government. It is your health, not mine. It is your healthcare, not mine. These are your expenses, not mine. If you think I’m wrong about all this, I would sure love to hear your reasoning.

Try to understand what I’m telling you here. Those people that Obama and the Democrats call “wealthy Americans” are, in very large part, America’s small business owners. I’m one of them. You have the evidence, and surely you don’t think that the owner of a bunch of tire stores is anything special. That $534,000 figure on my income tax return puts me squarely in Democrat crosshairs when it comes to tax increases.

Let’s be clear about this … crystal clear. Any federal tax increase on me is going to cost you money, not me. Any new taxes on Carrington Automotive will be new taxes that you, or the people I don’t hire to staff the new stores I won’t be building, will be paying. Do you understand what I’m telling you? You’ve heard about things rolling downhill, right? Fine .. then you need to know that taxes, like that other stuff, roll downhill. Now you and I may understand that you are not among those that the Democrats call “wealthy Americans,” but when this “tax the rich” thing comes down you are going to be standing at the bottom of the mud slide, if you get my drift. That’s life in the big city, my friends … where elections have consequences.

You know our economy is very weak right now. I’ve pledged to get us through this without layoffs or cuts in your wages and benefits. It’s too bad the politicians can’t get us through this without attacking our profits. To insure our survival I have to take a substantial portion of that $534,000 and set it aside for unexpected expenses and a worsening economy. Trouble is, the government is eyeing that money too … and they have the guns. If they want it, they can take it.

I don’t want to make this too long. There’s a great lunch waiting for us all. But you need to understand what’s happening here. I’ve worked hard for 23 years to create this business. There were many years where I couldn’t take a penny in income because every dollar was being dedicated to expanding the business. There were tough times when it took every dollar of revenues to replenish our inventory and cover your paychecks. During those times I earned nothing. If you want to see those tax returns, just let me know.

OK .. I know I’m repeating myself here. I don’t hire stupid people, and you are probably getting it now. So let me just ramble for a few more minutes.

Most Americans don’t realize that when the Democrats talk about raising taxes on people making more than $250 thousand a year, they’re talking about raising taxes on small businesses. The U.S. Treasury Department says that six out of every ten individuals in this country with incomes of more than $280,000 are actually small business owners. About one-half of the income in this country that would be subject to these increased taxes is from small businesses like ours. Depending on how many of these wonderful new taxes the Democrats manage to pass, this company could see its tax burden increase by as much as $60,000. Perhaps more.

I know a lot of you voted for President Obama. A lot of you voted for Democrats across the board. Whether you voted out of support for some specific policies, or because you liked his slogans, you need to learn one very valuable lesson from this election. Elections have consequences. You might have thought it would be cool to have a president who looks like you; or a president who is young, has a buff bod, and speaks eloquently when there’s a teleprompter in the neighborhood. Maybe you liked his promises to tax the rich. Maybe you believed his promise not to raise taxes on people earning less than a certain amount. Maybe you actually bought into his promise to cut taxes on millions of Americans who actually don’t pay income taxes in the first place. Whatever the reason .. your vote had consequences; and here they are.

Bottom line? I’m not taking this hit alone. As soon as the Democrats manage to get their tax increases on the books, I’m going to take steps to make sure that my family isn’t affected. When you own the business, that is what you’re allowed to do. I built this business over a period of 23 years, and I’m not going to see my family suffer because we have a president and a congress who think that wealth is distributed rather than earned. Any additional taxes, of whatever description, that President Obama and the Democrats inflict on this business will come straight out of any funds I have set aside for expansion or pay and benefit increases. Any plans I might have had to hire additional employees for new stores will be put aside. Any plans for raises for the people I now have working for me will be shelved. Year-end bonuses might well be eliminated. That may sound rough, but that’s the reality.

You’re going to continue to hear a lot of anti-wealth rhetoric out there from the media and from the left. You can chose to believe what you wish .. .but when it comes to Carrington Automotive you will know the truth. The books are open to any of you at any time. I have nothing to hide. I would hope that other small business owners out there would hold meetings like this one, but I know it won’t happen that often. One of the lessons to be learned here is that taxes … all taxes … and all regulatory costs that are placed on businesses anywhere in this country, will eventually be passed right on down to individuals; individuals such as yourself. This hasn’t been about admonishing anyone and it hasn’t been about issuing threats. This is part of the education you should have received in the government schools, but didn’t. Class is now dismissed.

Let’s eat.

© 2009 Neal Boortz