RIGONOMICS:Let's look at the Peters and Pauls

I never expected to write about the candidates for the presidential race. It's not exactly local news, but after hearing the Democratic candidates' debate on CNN two weeks ago, I've been annoyed by how out of touch they are with reality.

Listening to the Democratic presidential candidates, you would think the U.S. economy is in the tank, people are dying in the streets from lack of health care, we have no middle class — just haves and have-nots — and only the government can fix the inequities of society.

Of course, the only way the Democrats know how to fix these inequities is to take from Peter and give to Paul. Peter won't like it, but you will always get Paul's vote, and there are a lot more Pauls than Peters. They always try to put Peter in the worst light by making him or her a sleazy executive from some Enron-type company that gets rich stealing money from poor widows.

The reality is that the Peters (or Patricias) are the most productive citizens. I am sure there are some Peters who are lazy rich kids living off of grandpa's hard work, but for the most part, the ones I know are not. The vast majority are self-made, very hardworking and honest to a fault. They work a lot more hours than most Pauls, and they are very disciplined. They understand the concept of delayed gratification and are willing to wait for things if it will help them in the long run.

At the risk of sounding politically incorrect, let's talk about Paul (or Paula). Before I go any further, let's take off the table the Pauls who have real physical or mental disabilities and children who through no fault of their own are being raised by Paul. In that case, Peter has been more then generous in giving to Paul. In fact, Americans give the disadvantaged around the world more money per capita than any other country on earth — and, by the way, "red" county Peters give more than "blue" county Peters.