I think I'm just gonna adopt this column as my motto!

"As I have pointed out in the past, there's no law on the books preventing them or any of their left-wing cronies from donating all they like to Uncle Sam's coffers. I'm sure he'd appreciate it, and I know the rest of us would enjoy a respite from their self-righteous rants."

This is the very reason to push for at the very least a flat tax. EVERYONE pays, no need for the IRS,(or at worst a very trimmed down one), no deductions, no loopholes, 10% each week of your earnings. As the saying goes if 10% is good enough for Jesus, it should be more than adequate for the libs.

I guess I wish I coulda shoulda woulda been a writer but wasn't.

But I fantasize about it.

How would a book go about a Patriotic General's final plans to take over and give democracy a time out, just in time?

How about a futurist piece about kids on the way to the moons of Saturn, brilliant charming kids, the result of a culture that had finally shuttered all it's government schools, and let the fourth graders teach the third graders?

I wrote a half decent "Not A Ghost Story" after 9/11, about a man on a plane and agonies greater than death and sweeter than the births that never were, of his conversations in those last moments with the emphemeral co-passengers who would have been his grown children and the heroes of the day, had he not insisted years before upon their pre-natal demise.

This morning I started with a title: "The Man Who Was Sinless For A Minute and More".

It had to do with an articulation of the difference between fantasy and thought.

Which gets me back, I guess, to why I wasn't.

Having been raised a liberal in a matriarchal household, most of my life's revolved around fantasies of approval. I practice none of the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

But I get by.

I love and am loved by my wife.

My two living children are approaching age 30 and find themselves bemused that they actually now seek my opinions seriously (sometimes).

I have a relationship with Jesus Christ that I pray is not another lie in a world of endless lies. And yes, I left Socialism in the dust bin of my past years ago, thank God.

Here's the thing.

Liberalism is a fantasy.

It's Joe Biden believing we have to borrow more money to keep from going broke.

It's white liberals wanting to be seen as good hearted without having to analyze the destruction wrought by the statist policies they support.

It's a world where we can get all the stuff we need and all we have to do is get rid of those mean guys who actually create it.

It's a metaphysic needless of thought, because there is no God to seek, no eternity for which to prepare, merely a series accidents to enjoy.

Conservatives are not immune to the same tempting fantasy that is the ground base of Liberalism.

Half of Congress obviously yearns for the approval of their opponents. How rare is the leader who can think and communicate thought without the muddling fear of rejection.

Great as usual Burt. Any deep intellectual investigation of the lefts beliefs results in the conclusion that chaotic emotionalism dictates their words and actions. It is reflected by those who elected our President, our tax code, most government programs, our educational system, Unions and our so-called modern culture.That is why I'm a Conservative and believe in limited government, the rule of law, private property, and that rights are bestowed upon us by our creator. It is so much clearer.

"In simple terms, I've found that when you're right, you're right, and when you're left, you're wrong."

I love it!! And it is so true.

Doctor Riktor: I would prefer a national sales tax. I don't see how a flat tax eliminates a need for the IRS. It might work on salaried employees, but for people like George Soros or the Kennedys, who get their money from trusts or off-shore accounts, I suspect IRS bloodhounds would be required. But a 10% tax on everything bought or imported should work. At least it would help prevent the sort of shenanigan employed by John Kerry when he bought and docked a yacht in another state simply to avoid paying sales tax in his home state of Massachusetts. Liberals are always for higher taxes except, of course, when they have to pay them.

Rickety Old Man: No adopting allowed. You want to use my column as a motto, you can either rent it or buy it. Terms can be negotiated.

Regards, Burt

Judging by your last comment, Burt, you ought to be a strong supporter of the FairTax, a national sales tax (REPLACING ALL INCOME-RELATED TAXES) paid by everyone on everything. Check HR 25 for details like:

- No corporate tax (corporations don't pay taxes anyway; you pay their taxes when you buy their products or services).

- No tax on used goods (they've already been taxed once; that's enough).

- No tax on books or tuition (education is an investment).

- No tax on the minimum essentials (the truly poor - living at the poverty level - effectively pay no taxes at all).

Check FairTax.org for more info.

So glad to finally read your stuff again Burt! I clicked on a link from Weasel Zippers and was overjoyed find your writings and partake in some of your reason, logic and good ol' common sense. Well done "My Captain."

There is one problem with the fair tax, the crooks and/or mental midgets would adopt it and keep the income tax. The other problem, they would still confiscate the same amount of money from us. The only answer is to demand our servants (isn't that what they are supposed to be?) abolish or repeal all agencies, bureaus, departments, laws, regulations, rules, etc. not authorized by the Constitution. This would cut the budget by 90% or more. It would also give us our freedoms back. Did anyone say snowballs chance . . . ? Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry call your office.

Howard: Unfortunately, you're right about the snowball.

Colt1911: Where were you? In jail? I never stopped writing. It's you who have been AWOL. Weasel Zippers?!

Burt

Burt,

As always, I love your no holds barred, straight forward punches at the liberal ways and their ever increasing hypocrisy.

As I near the finish of my program to become a psychotherapist, I read and understand more of the concepts of pathology in human interactions, thoughts and behaviors. The more I research and understand, the more I am convinced of the pathology of the liberal mind.

I have used some examples in the past of why liberals display pathological behaviors, but will use another example I recently came across that puts another psychological bend on liberal dysfunction.

Not sure if you ever heard of Bowenian theory regarding "differentiation of self," but I will try to explain in simple terms.

As a key concept in Bowenian theory, there are two aspects to the differentiation process. One, the differentiation of "self from others," and two, the differentiation of "feelings processes from intellectual processes."

The theory, although taken minimally out of context for the purpose of describing pathological thought and behavior, distinguishes between people who are "fused" and those who are “differentiated. “

Obviously the preferred character is differentiation, a process in which individuals are engaged intra-personally as they seek to transcend not only their own "emotions" but also those of others around them. On the other hand, those who are “fused,” cannot disengage from earlier childhood dependencies, dysfunctional interactions, dependent behaviors, and emotional and physical dependencies.

The bottom line is according to Bowenian theory, people who are differentiated are flexible, adaptable, and self-sufficient in life. In contrast, people who are undifferentiated tend to be more rigid and emotionally dependent on others for their well being.

I am sure you could plug into the above those who are the undifferentiated (unhealthy psychologically) people in this country and who are the differentiated (healthy psychologically).

My studies and therefore beliefs over the years continue to point in one direction, and the evidence is almost irrefutable; liberals by and large are the undifferentiated (fused) for reasons of unhealthy upbringings, inconsistent childhood manners, conflicting early and late parental bonding issues, challenging organic influences, and a host of others injuries in childhood and early adulthood.

So there you have it; liberals by and large are the loons of society, as you so expressively pointed out.

Thanks again for the great article!

Burt;

I could go with a national sales tax as well, although I feel flat tax would be easier to pass. Either would be fine by me.

Fed Up: A conservative psychotherapist? Who the heck will you be able to talk to at parties?

Doktor Riktor: I am for just about any plan that ends the need for me to hang on to every damn receipt until tax time rolls around.

Regards, Burt

Have you seen the photos of an elephant pushing a VW (looks like Passat) off a dirt road? The photos seem to illustrate how conservatives get pushed around, take it for a while, and then push back. Seems a shame to suspend the fat kid - or the elephant - for stopping an irritating pest.

- quiet fan of your work - Thanks for the humorous twist on depressing subjects!

The real problem is not the leftist liars but the literally millions of Americans who believe them. By now, only the least attentive understand the utter intellectual dishonesty and moral decreptitude of all the leftist nomeklatura. However, I'm dismayed to hear friends and family repeat their nonsense and willfully ignore facts and data - even date generated by the US Government itself - to keep their cloud cuckoo land world view intact. After two years of Obamanation; I've bascially given up trying to change any of these deluded souls' minds, figuring if they can't see it for themselves; I can't help them.

Leftists are professional and unrepentant liars but, those who believe their lies - often to their own destruction - are to be pitied.

Burt,

Yes a conservative psychotherapist (ha ha). I don't imagine I will have too many to talk to at parties. Besides being a conservative, retired military man, hunter, outdoorsman, and independent minded academic, finding like minded professionals at parties to converse with would currently be a hopeless effort in futility. As you know, psychotherapist and conservative is an oxymoron in the field.

But believe it or not, there are increasing numbers of my colleagues who are starting to see what I have believed for quite some time regarding complacency and acute dependence.

As you can imagine, tempering my beliefs, so as not to "insult" a professor along the way in the program was necessary for fear of unwanted confrontation and substandard grades.

The APA, ACA, and other human services professional organizations are historically left leaning. I am a member of the APA, but if they only knew my political affiliation and conservative beliefs, I believe they would bar me from membership. lol

Throughout my program I caught heck many times for my worldly beliefs, political beliefs, and philosophies on human nature.

I have been criticized numerous times for mentioning how in my residencies, practicum, and internships, how too many folks seemed to be malingerers or feigning incompetence. Based on what I seen when meeting many people in practice, I put the figure at about 35 to 40% who appeared to be just looking to abuse the system to sustain their “sick,” undemanding, minimal effort lifestyles.

Nevertheless, there is room for us few conservatives in the field. For me at least, with clients with certain mental health conditions, instead of encouraging reliance on the systems and others, I encourage and provide psycheducation on personal autonomy, self-sufficiency, appropriate cognitive restructuring, and instruction and job training for those who need to and are able both mentally and physically to get back on their feet and take care of themselves to find independence.

You would be surprised how the many I have assisted to date with my personal, independent-minded philosophy in therapy, have responded positively and appreciated the opportunity to seek personal freedom versus staying immersed in the viscous cycle of absolute dependency.

My intention for going into the field was to assist my fellow veterans deal with the effects of war and PTSD. This will be my primary clientele, since many of my fellow military veterans are like minded and are in need of working with someone who truly understands their plights and problems.

I’ll make you a deal; I will keep the conservative torch burning in the psychotherapy field, if you keep the conservative torch burning in your news broadcasts. How does that sound?

Keep them on their toes Burt, and I will endeavor to help those wayward souls find independence from the “system.”

Burt, please reconsider the language that you use, because I believe that you do actually know and understand the fundamental emptiness of liberal/socialist rhetoric and agendas relative to the fundamental precepts upon which the government of the United States was founded. "Elite" and "Elitist" are labels attached to members of a free society only by those who adhere to the egocentric fallacy some human beings are "better" than others. Typically, in the evolution of the American experiment and the proliferation of media-biased propaganda, one has been conditioned to think that one is better than another because he has accumulated wealth (by whatever means, legal, illegal, or immoral), has a superior education (Ivy League vs. any other), is goodlooking (rather than ugly), is popular (obviously, any reasonably good-looking liar can get elected to public office), has written numerous books (regardless of content), or a variety of other ego-derived descriptions...a good public speaker comes to mind. Hence, the allures and privileges of Elitism are born and perpetuated by the attitudes and behaviors of those very people who regard themselves as members of the Elite Club(s). Unfortuately, elitists have convinced many that they are, in fact, elite.

If you objectively observe the words and behaviors of the current crop of "Politically Elite" (Obama(s), Sunstein, Pelosi, Duncan, Clinton, etc...ad nauseam), I believe that you will conclude that our government is permeated with pseudo-intellectuals, each proclaiming the stature of others with similar idealogical conditioning. So, please, when writing about the politically entrenched, call a spade a spade, or more accurately - a PSEUDO-ELITIST.

PS: No racial hatred intended above.

Burt,

Thought I would provide you more on Bowenian Theory. Bowen's concepts have been applied to the developments of society as a whole.

This is where I believe, as Bowen hypothesized, that the emotional dynamics of society (seemingly inherent in liberals) resort in dysfunctional thoughts, beliefs, patterns and actions based on irrational, overly demonstrative intellectual processes.

He believed that society can "lose contact with their intellectual determined principles and resort to an emotional basis for making decisions that only offer short term relief." How many liberal programs do you think fit this category?

The obvious problem here is that legislation may typically be used as an exploitive process by liberals, as well as some others, “so that legislation, as an emotional process, tends to be a mere Band-Aid on more basic problems." Here again, seems a liberal trademark; that is, keep them entangled in the system so they end up not thinking, acting, or caring for themselves. It makes me think of our mulish friend Odin who so affectionately calls us Zombies. I believe he should have instead been referring to himself and those liberals like him who are government dependent zombies. Kind of ironic, isn't it?

Getting back to the argument, so even though "short-term" relief is provided in the emotionally laced legislative processes, such legislation maintains an overall "chronic" nature basic to the problems at hand. I suppose this is the difference between Marxist and Democratic philosophy. Explicitly, we believe the old axiom of Teaching a man to fish, feeds him for a lifetime, but liberals believe that by giving a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but also get reelected for providing a service. Ha ha.

And to close, although there may be some "good intentions" at societal levels in these processes, without appropriate distance that allows for a relatively "objective" view of the whole patterns of society, it tends not only to be unhelpful but also fosters helplessness. Now come, doesn’t this sound more and more like our liberal opponent’s modus operandi and objectives?

Liberal don't seem to understand this, that they only encourage learned helplessness. Or do they? There is definitely pathology in liberal thought, as well as in liberal legislative dealings.

Seems conservatives have always understood this. Force the majority to learn independence, and we have a healthier, less dependent, less taxing society. So really, who are the intellectually deprived? The arguments point towards the liberal classes who continue to perpetuate the welfare classes.

Wow! I suddenly feel like I am back in college lecture halls.

Holmes: Maybe I will use pseudo-elitists, but I think that these days most people understand that calling someone an elitist is not a compliment even without the pseudo prefix.

Fed Up: Good luck with the veterans. Who'd want to waste any time attending cocktail parties filled with left-wing headshrinkers spouting their inane swill? Unless of course they were serving rumaki or those large shrimp appetizers?

Tom: The bad news is the good news. No matter how much most voters, especially those who insist on registering as Independents, try to ignore what is happening to America, 9% unemployment, rising food costs and $4.50-a-gallon gasoline, will inevitably get their attention.

AQHorse: Thanks for the kind words.

Best, Burt

Burt-

I agree the great unwashed masses may look up from their TVs and GameCubes once the realities of an overwhelmed and collapsing economy get their attention.

The question, though, is whether they draw the correct conclusion. Will they see that high unemployment, rising inflation, a weakening dollar, and exploding energy costs are (and always were) the inescapable result of Obama's Marxist policies? Or will the Democrats and the sycophantic media succeed in their inevitable efforts to paint it all as the fault of the current Republican Congress?

If the recent budget debates are any indication, apparently our congressional "leaders" will not be doing much to fight that viewpoint...

p3: The president gets the blame, whether or not he deserves it. In the case of Obama, he deserves it.

In spite of the lap dog media, the Dems got their butts handed to them last November. If gas continues to sell for $4-$5 a gallon, unemployment continues to be in the 8-9% range, and food prices keep soaring, I could beat Obama in 2012.

Burt

Burt,

I'm guessing you're a little too demonstratively opinionated, (and smart), to run for high office, but if you should decide to take the plunge, may I suggest Ted Nugent for Secretary of Defense?

Norge: On Monday, I would appoint Ted Nugent to be Secretary of Defense. On Tuesday, we'd nuke Iran.

Burt

Prelutsky2012.com is waiting.....

Burt,

You got my vote.

The national sales tax would probably be the best idea, but it would, by no means, ensure that everyone paid taxes. A sales tax is not a buyer's tax - it is a tax that the seller pays to the government and it's often underreported because smaller businesses often do not report most cash sales. It would still be a lot more fair than what we have now.

Of course, a national sales tax would be a real killer for those of us who have Roth IRAs. You think you've paid the tax once and you won't have to pay it again. Then along comes the sales tax and you have to pay and pay and pay some more.

They'll never change from income tax to sales tax. They'll just have both.

Just a little more fuel for the fire. Whenever elitist liberals are required to disclose their income tax returns, it inevitably shows what cheapskates they are when it comes to charitable giving. I recall the deductions on the Clintons' return for donated used underwear as a prime example. Similarly with Gore, Kerrey, Obama, et al. And the high incidence of tax cheats in this administration, and those who failed to clear the bar, such as former Leader Daschle. I am not a psychologist, nor have I stayed at a premium hotel chain recently, but there appears to be considerable projection by the elitists, assuming that since they do X, everybody must be doing X, since they're the smartest persons in the room and don't mind reminding you about it.

One more observation, paraphrasing Milton Friedman: There is no such thing as a fair tax. My 77 year-old father has been paying income tax all his life. Now that he is retired and living off savings and investments, a flat/FAIR tax will unfairly penalize him for spending his savings, which have already been taxed when he earned them.

Burt, I love to read your stuff because you make me, an ordinary citizen, feel courageous and powerful. Plain talk about the corrupt rascals that lie to the people to appease their masters (like George Soros) just plain makes me happy. I also get buzzed checking all the reader comments on your articles. You move the needle, Burt, and it is not because you are handsome . It must be because you are right and you are honest. BTW... May I help Ted push the button?

For all you folks who dislike the national sales tax because it means getting taxed twice, keep in mind the death tax. Not only can't you take it with you, but the IRS taxes what you leave behind.

George: Was it really necessary to add "and it is not because you are handsome"? Really? Am I to be left no illusions?

Burt

Burt, readers;

I beg to differ that the libs' overemotional mind is chaotic, i.e., ineffectual. Just look at the unconstitutional policies & laws they were able to pass - between the Wars at first - since the 60's regardless which party rules at any given time. There is a single-minded & dogged agenda in their incrementalism. The amount of damage & unraveling of the last vestiges of our Republic done by Obamination in mere two years despite his incompetence is staggering.

As many of you know by studying history & my family by experience, the Bolsheviks, Nazis & Communists were highly effective, deliberate, organized & determined in their brutality & attainment of absolute power. Just because the US/EU libs are Ivy League educated cowards & hypocrites & whiners, we on the logical Right shouldn't underestimate their soap-opera-emotionality hold on the masses (as the Roman 'panem et circenses', anyone?)

Do any of you remember Clinton's illegal midnight-land-grab signed in AZ in 1996 & applauded by R. Redford that created the Escalante-Grand Staircase N.M in UT? Its area is larger than G. Canyon N.P.!

The uber-lib & mega-hypocrite Redford owns a 5,000 acre ranch & ski resort Sundance. The UT County commissioner challenged him that since he's so concerned about the wilderness that he should set apart 500 acres of his spread to conservation. Of course, R.R. was offended & refused.

The more sinister agenda of Bubba was a large deposit of anthracite (the best, rare & sulfur-free coal there is) within the monument. It's value then was estimated at mere 3 Bil$$. In the summer of 2005, I worked for the BLM as a contractor-geologist (collided w/ the fed bureaucrats the 3rd day) in the Kane County around Kanab in S-Central UT. I found out in a report to Congress that the latest exploration estimates put the deposits - never to be mined - at 300 Bio$$!! What a huge loss to the country & to UT; here in the West, edu is partially funded from taxes on mining.

FedUp, kudos re: your help to vets & good fortune among the lib-shrinks. However, your (Bowen's) deductions re: 'childhood injuries' being among the causes of libs mental instability is flawed. Many of my friends including me have suffered political brutality/bullying at school & physical abuse at home & were active conservative already as teens.

In my case at the age of four. Four of my 14 y old friends were executed by the CZ-KGB for political pranks during the Red hysteria following the Berlin blockade.

All these trials've made us stronger & more compassionate toward the unfortunate even as atheists. My sweet maternal granny told me that the carrot/stick approach didn't work on me even at the age of two. I have been using reason, my !conscience! & my free will ever since to make my decisions. Have you read Adler, or George Groddeck? The latter coined the term 'Id' ('das Es' in German); S. Freud stole it from him.

Happy Easter/Passover everyone.

Re: Robert of Prague,

I am glad to hear you remained strong through all you endured, as well as kept your conservative values and beliefs in the end.

In general terms, not applicable to all of course, I believe Bowen's theories hold water for the majority of Americans and their ways in contemporary America. "Childhood injuries" was mainly meant as a metaphor for dysfunctional upbringings and beliefs, as well as the viscous cycle of dependence on others, both taught and learned.

Trauma, as you seemed to experience, might otherwise steal one in their beliefs and stances, as evidenced by your professed beliefs and positions.

No one here I believe is not for the less fortunate, including me. But I am for the less fortunate being taught to work for and earn a living for themselves, but not off the backs of others, where they perpetuate the cycle of "victim."

You know Robert, "teach a man to fish, and feed him for a lifetime." And not, the liberal (Marxist, Commmunist, Maoist) way of, "give a man a fish, and feed him for day."

Yes I am well-versed in Adlerian and Fruedian psychology. In fact, I have a psychoanalytic and perhaps partly, Adlerian predisposition on human nature, behaviors and personality.

Thanks for your response!

Fed Up, Burt;

Good to hear from you. I was lucky to be raised in a traditional, conservative family where no one would cooperate w/ the Reds at any cost. Especially my mother was persecuted for 42 years & never budged. Burt, I was brought up by her w/out becoming a lib. My parents & both grandparents were no nonsense meritocrats; that helped.

Yep, the trauma & persecution steeled my resolve to remain true to my core beliefs & gave me a deep insight into the human condition; wouldn't change a thing.

Of course, by the 'less fortunate', I meant the feeble, ill, persecuted, aged, or those who fell on bad luck, never the freeloaders. For instance, as college students, we'd sneak into the remote corners in the woods to the fences in order to bring cigarettes to the political prisoners in the uranium death camps; it was quite a dangerous activity.

I actually dislike Freud & like Adler & used to like C.G. Jung during my yoga/meditation years under the Alps. I still follow the latest in neuroscience, e.g., "Train your Mind, change your Brain" by S. Begley. You might be surprised that I practiced some of the C. Castaneda's 'brujo Don Juan alternate reality'; it works but it's very dangerous. I hope G. Groddeck is available in E, he's well worth looking into. He was an MD who was into the psychosomatic treatment & the discoverer of 'Id'.

Burt, it is, indeed, the liberals who have given us the gift of garbage wrapped up in a expensive package we must pay for. Deceit and lies are their modus operandi. Ironically, it was one of the barking dogs of the Left, Leonard Pitts, Jr., who recently howled in his newspaper column that we Conservatives are the real "liars".

Burt,

With you as President and Gonzo as Secretary of Defense, I hereby offer my services as Director of Burtland Security!

Stoney: I live in Los Angeles. I can use all the security you can provide.

Burt

What is often the case with the left concerning setting agenda, is their need to grasp for the moral high ground first, otherwise known as framing the debate. I believe this is shown in certain polls-- how the questions are asked. It reminds me of the kind of temperment jurors are sought for duty: the tend to dismiss engineers for instance since they are rational, and choose those who can be swayed. The poll questions are intentionally meant to conceal important data for reflection and instead give a "loss of rights" theme to ellicit an emotional response. They are asked in matter-of-fact ways so that only an idiot would disagree with them. Watch when debates are scheduled; look for who the moderator is. It will be Wolfe Blitzer or some other liberal looking to steer the debate favorably to the liberal. After all, they most assuredly have their "cheering section" in the audience to react when the hapless conservative gets stumped or conversely when their liberal hero shines.

Who could have ever imagined that a TRILLION dollar budget would not even be close to having enough funds to payoff everyone.

Doktor Riktor Von Zhades, I agree 1000%,

BUT ...

Fed will take 10%

State will take 10%

County will take 10%

City will take 10%

School district will take 10%

Out of the remaining 50% they will all ask for donations because they STILL don't have enough money to pay police, fire, EMT, Veterans benefits, Social Security, ad infinitum.

I suggest a total of 15% for 5 years divided thus:

Fed 7%

State 4%

County 4%

At the end of 5 years the total drops to 10% spread:

Fed 1%

State 3%

County 4%

and the balance of 2% to a REALLY untouchable Fed investment fund to be used only in case of national emergency like Katrina or 9/11. Interest earned will be used first with only Congressional approval, to tap the principle will require a national vote.

Jimmy D

Let me see if I have you right. A little over half of likely Republican primary voters doubt that Mr. Obama is a US citizen, and a similar percentage insist that health care reform is actually an Obama conspiracy to destroy democracy and yet you think its the liberals who live in a fantasy world???

Really?

As long as we are suggesting candidates for 2012, how about Chuck Norris for Secretary of State?