There is Bon Marché, and then there is just CHEAP!

 

 

"Do as I say, not as I do!"

When my wife and I were dating, I did not have much money. Okay - I was stone cold broke. Once in a while on a very cheap or free date, she would talk French to me. It was great! After all, what young man would not like an attractive young female speaking French to him! One day, I asked her what this term Bon Marché meant that she kept calling me. She looked at me and said "It is a common word the French use when someone is cheap." Ouch!

Yesterday, the news story came out about the present Democratic Governor of this state as well as one of the Republican hopefuls who is running to unseat him. They had both just released their last year tax returns. Now, our Governor is a very rich man - his is a heir to the largest department store chain in Minnesota history. He has money, investments, trusts and so on. In true Democratic form, his charitable contributions after making over $300k in salary as well as investment returns was.......$1,000.

There was a loud gasp from many. The Governor was embarrassed that this "oversight" was disclosed. Some, including me, were not surprised at all. Why? As the saying goes, "This was not my first rodeo!"

The first time I noticed this discrepancy between (not all, but many) Democrats and Republicans, was when Al Gore was running for President against George Bush. Al Gore, who also came from a rich family, had investments as well as his salary as the Vice President. When both Gore and Bush released their income tax forms,
a startling fact was revealed. The Vice President had donated less than a whopping $400 to charity. That would include monies to church, mission work, cancer research, you name it. Less than four hundred bucks. George Bush on the other hand, gave well over 10% of what he earned.

Oh, it goes on and on. In 1995, John Kerry (who ran for President in 1994) gave $0. Kerry married into the Heinz family and has vast resources. With all that opulence, all that wealth beyond imagine - $0 for charity. I would love to hear what his pastor has to say about that! And lets not forget our current Vice President. He is married to a doctor, been in Congress since Moses was a boy, and yet he still gives way less than 1% to charity. Mitt Romney on the other hand, gave over 15%.

So the next time one of our elected Democrats wags his or her finger and scolds you for not paying more in taxes to help those who need it, just say this - "Back at ya!" There is Bon Marché, and then there is just CHEAP! The only thing worse that CHEAP is to add the word "hypocrite" behind it.