As President Bush unveiled his economic stimulus plan, Democrats danced like the Rockettes, with all knees jerking in unison to the tune of "Tax Cuts for the Rich."

"His proposal is an assault on the middle class to the benefit of the wealthy," Representative Charles B. Rangel, Democrat of New York bellowed. "He says it will give the economy a shot in the arm. I think it will give the economy a shot in the foot," Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle hyperventilated.

"To use the need for an immediate economic stimulus as an excuse to enact costly new permanent tax breaks for the wealthy is a cynical and disheartening ploy," said one of the wealthiest members of the Senate, Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts. Joseph Lieberman weighed in with this diatribe, "[Bush] has put forward an irresponsible, ineffective, ideologically driven wish list."

By reading from the same old shabby playbook, Democrats are making a huge mistake. They have assumed the only investors on Wall Street are "The Rich."

While criticizing the president's plan, principally because its centerpiece is the elimination of taxes on dividends, they are ignoring the numbers of middle class people who invested in the stock market over the past ten years.

These investors will benefit greatly from the elimination of double taxation on stock dividends. They have suffered cumulative losses approaching $7 trillion in the stock market's swoon. These people also vote, by the way.

Tax cuts aren't for "The Rich;" they are for those who pay taxes. It's simple third-grade arithmetic to understand that people who pay the most in taxes should benefit the most from a tax cut. There is nothing immoral about this concept; it's morally neutral.

Democrats love to demagogue this to death. Once again they have assumed the role of God. They alone are the saviors of the middle-class. Only they can determine what is fair.

If only God Himself could intercede, then maybe reason would prevail.

But God has spoken explicitly on the issue of "The Rich" and has implied what He considers "fair" in terms of a person paying his "fair share."

The writers of the Bible were more concerned with the intentions of a person's heart regarding money than the amount that person had in his bank account. The apostle Paul wrote that it is the "love of money," not money itself, that is "the root of all kinds of evil."

It is also instructional to note what God considers fair in terms of a person paying his fair share.

Imagine if on April 15, Americans filled out God's 1040 EZ return instead of the one the IRS provides. This is how it would read:

Although God calls it a tithe, not a tax, His idea of what is fair is a flat rate of 10% applied across the board. During the Old Testament period, the person who earned a million dollars was expected to tithe $100,000 of his income. Similarly, the person who earned $50,000 was expected to tithe $5,000.

Please note that the million-dollar wage earner's tithe is twenty times larger than the person who earned $50,000.

Abraham, one of the richest men of his day paid a tithe to Melchizedek, the King of Salem, and everyone was happy with that arrangement, including God.

Of course there were no Democrats back then to demagogue the issue.

It has finally come to this: The Democrats think they know better than God what is "fair" when it comes to paying taxes.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com. Visit our website at www.amyfound.org.