By Christopher Cook

Our taxation system involves a really disgusting dynamic. It's basic stuff, really, but it bears repeating over and over again. Repetition is the mother of pedagogy.

A political party says to one group of Americans...

"You see that other group of Americans over there? If you vote for us, we will take money from them, by force, and give it to you."

And so, this party gets the votes of the first group, and sure enough, they take money from the other group and redistribute it.

But the other group keeps working hard and making more money, because it is in their nature. So the political party says to the first group...

"You see that other group over there? They continue to have more money than you. So, if you give us your votes, we will take more of their money away from them, by force, and give it to you."

And so they get the votes again, and take the money again, and the scenario replays itself over and over again.

Here's the cast list in this this Kabuki show we call "progressive" taxation:

• The "party" — The Democratic Party

• The first group — The bottom 50% of taxpayers, who foot about 4% of America's "bill," coupled with people who vote, but who pay no taxes at all.

• The other group — The top 1% of taxpayers, who foot approximately 40% of American's bill.

Move the percentages around if you wish. Remind people that among the "rich," there are some people who inherited, rather than worked for, their money. It doesn't change the basic facts:

The most productive people in the country are locked in a constant economic vassalage to the least productive people in the country. And the democratic process keeps them there.

This can only be described as economic bondage.

To add insult to this injury...

...people who make lots of money also give lots of money to charity, and, even more infuriating...

...Republicans are more charitable, per capita, than Democrats. Red states are more charitable, per capita, than Blue states.

This makes this economic vassalage even worse. The Democratic Party is saying to its voters...

"You see those people over there? They're already more charitable than you, but if you vote for us, we'll take even MORE of their money and give it to you."

Economic vassalage, coupled with that unjust and disturbing irony, all fueled by the democratic process.

Of course, this is not to speak ill of the democratic process. It is to speak ill of the party that has decided to make the enslavement of one group of Americans by another the key feature of what it offers to that process.

Well, I guess it wouldn't be the first time.

A few days ago, Jonah Goldberg wrote an excellent article on this subject titled The Rich Aren't Made of Money.

In it, he makes all the right points. And he uses an interesting phrase.

Meanwhile, Democrats keep telling the bottom 95% of taxpayers that all of America's problems will be solved if only the rich people would pay "their fair share" of income taxes. Not only is this patently untrue and a siren song toward a welfare state, it amounts to covetousness as fiscal policy.

It could indeed, at very least, be called "covetousness as fiscal policy." However, that phrase does not fully describe what's actually going on.

Covetousness can be transitory. This dynamic repeats itself over and over. It is a fixture of our politics and our economic policy, and it has the force of the state behind it. (Try not paying your taxes one year, and watch what happens.)

A regenerating cycle of enforced transfer of the fruits of labor from one group of people to another is not covetousness. It is slavery.