DAVID HARSANYI: If Washington Is So Great, Let’s All Pay For It. “Rather than shared responsibility, we have a growing number of people who rely on others to pay for their votes as they become increasingly disconnected from the cost of government. . . . If, as the enlightened voices on the left contend, the American people deeply love their federal services, their dependency programs, their regulations, their industrious public education department, let’s all pay. Why shouldn’t we take on a proportionally fair share in the joy? Even income tax-paying Americans don’t really feel the cost of government because of how we collect taxes. But let’s create better consumers. Consumers pay and demand results. Dependents, on the other hand, just demand. They have no reason not to.”

I refer readers to these 2008 thoughts of mine on “shared sacrifice.” And I note that Obama has yet to get behind my 50% surtax on post-government earnings of government officials. Why not? Aren’t these former government officials patriotic?