HERE IT COMES – AT 9:15 P.M. ET:  When conservative talk show hosts said this was coming, the better people laughed and sneered, and made nasty comments about I.Q. and college board scores.  But, alas, the trial balloon has gone up:

(Reuters) - The United States should consider raising taxes to help bring deficits under control and may need to consider a European-style value-added tax, White House adviser Paul Volcker said on Tuesday.

Volcker, answering a question from the audience at a New York Historical Society event, said the value-added tax "was not as toxic an idea" as it has been in the past and also said a carbon or other energy-related tax may become necessary.

Necessary for what?  That's what Americans want to know.  Necessary for programs that a majority of Americans don't want?  Necessary to pay the inflated benefits and pensions for an increasingly powerful public sector? 

Little by little, the Obama administration is turning us into Europe.  That's not what we want to be.  The majority of Americans are descended from those who fled Europe in search of something better. 

We are headed for a major social schism – a clash between the doers and the takers, between traditional believers in limited government, and believers that dynamic countries like Sweden (snore) have found the answer. 

Barack Obama ran as a moderate.  Hold the laughter.

April 6, 2010