When I see golfer Tiger Woods I do not feel any envy for him or his possessions. Yes, he is a much better golfer than I. Tiger has a plane and yacht and palatial house. I suspect he does not balance his checkbook himself or a myriad of other things I do, but I consider myself much wealthier than him.
I walk in crowds without trouble while he has dozens of photographers who will do everything possible to take his picture at all times. For him a nice relaxing walk is out because of the attention. He is trapped in his own world without any chance to experience a life without those intrusions. More to the point, there are many who say that since Tiger Woods has millions of dollars the government should just confiscate most of the money since he has more money than other people. He is the subject of envy trash talking.
Where things get sticky in our world is the progressive nature of our tax code where if someone works longer and harder or smarter the government takes more of their possessions since they possess more than those people who work less or not at all. Again, the fairness code comes into the discussion since someone has more they should give more. Really? Why, they do not take more, in fact at a flat rate they give more automatically to the government. So why give more as a percentage?
Our nation spends much of its time calculating who has more than another and how to take the legal possessions of one person and give to another for the purpose of politics. The shows on television are constructed to inspire envy which is why I do not watch them.
Nothing good comes from the political envy where someone votes for the person who says they will take the legitimate property of one citizen and give it to another for the purpose of votes.
Dr. Michael Swickard is co-host of radio talk show News New Mexico 6 to 9 a.m. Monday - Friday on a number of New Mexico
