I’m always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt. I realize that not everybody knows everything. But people who claim to be journalists, even those who are opinion columnists, are usually educated people. Most of them went to college.

I realize that a lot of smart people go to college and come out ideologically stupid. When you have so much invested in an ideology, it’s painful to give it up. In some cases, it costs to give it up. Talk to some young conservatives in Hollywood – if you can find them. Many keep their politics quiet for fear of losing casting calls.

Then there are the politicians. If they really believe that the rich are not paying their so-called “fair share,” then they are either misinformed or corrupt. Rep Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) writes the following in a USA Today opinion piece titled “GOP Plan Fails the Fairness Test”:

“When the American people re-elected President Obama last month, they sent an unmistakable message to Washington. The wealthiest among us should pay their fair share and protect benefits that American families rely on.”

This is class warfare of the worst kind because it assumes a moral and constitutional foundation for the premise.

Mr. Ellison took an oath to uphold the Constitution. I want Mr. Ellison  to tell me where in the Constitution it says that when a majority of people vote for a President that the State can steal from people and give the stolen money to other people, in the name of what you maintain are “protect[ted] benefits that American families rely on.”

When did confiscating people’s property become fair? Why not pass out “Pay Your Fair” badges to elected officials. Any time some a politician needs extra money for a program that will get him reelected, all he needs to do is flash his “Fair Share” badge and take money from us. That’s what Mr. Ellison is advocating since a majority of voters have said this is what they want done.

I want to know who gets to define what constitutes a “fair share.” The “fair share” narrative is used for the 51 percent of Americans who are (1) ignorant, (2) low information voters (misinformation voters), and (3) those who have larceny in their hearts. These people want the government to steal for them. It keeps them from feeling guilty.

The facts don’t lie. The so-called rich are already paying the majority of taxes. An increase in the amount that Democrats and their lobotomized 51 percent want the rich to pay will not affect the debt or the deficit one percentage point. The new money raised will either go to new programs or will be flushed down the regulatory toilet.

Here are the facts

Taxes paid by highest incomes:

• The top 1% pay 22.7% of taxes.
• The top 10% pay 50% of taxes.
• The top 20% pay 65.3% of taxes.
• The top 40% pay 84.3% of taxes.

Taxes paid by lowest incomes

• The bottom 20% pay 1.1% of taxes.
• The bottom 40% pay 6.1% of taxes.

The real problem is the size and scope of the Federal Government. Ellison needs the money from the top earners (who are fewer in number) to buy the votes of low-income voters to keep him and his fellow confiscators in power. It’s not about fairness; it’s about control. Ellison and his ilk want to make the United States a colony of the Democrat Party.

A July 2012 Congressional Budget Office report “found the bottom 20 percent of American earners paid just three-tenths of a percent of the total tax burden, while the richest 20 percent paid 67.9 percent of taxes.”