As I and many others are socking away as much money as we can into our 401(k) and/or IRA accounts while some are spending their income as fast as they can and putting away little or nothing for retirement, I have this little nagging worry. Although there's no such bill in the works right now, I can't help but believe that, by the time I am about ready to retire, Congress will pass some kind of "retirement equity" legislation. This is especially likely if Congress is controlled by liberal Democrats at that time.

The potential bill I'm concerned about would tax people who have more than x amount in retirement assets and distribute the funds to those with less than y amount in retirement assets. Now, there's nothing wrong with helping those who are less fortunate and are lacking many of the necessities of life. In fact, that's the Christian thing to do. However, it's not government's job to redistribute wealth, i.e., confiscate money from some of its citizens and give it to others. Charity is the responsibility of individuals and private organizations.

Remember Aesop's fable about the ant and the grasshopper? As we all remember, the ant stored up supplies during the warm weather and had plenty when winter came. The grasshopper, on the other hand, lived a carefree life and played and goofed off during the warm weather and did not bother to store up anything. Therefore, he had nothing when winter came.

Well, had this story been written by liberal Democrats, the ending would have been somewhat different. They would have made excuses for the grasshopper's failure to store up anything for the winter. The excuses would have included a lack of opportunity and his natural orientation to play most of the time. Then they would have added a good fairy (and we all know how much Democrats like fairies) who magically takes some of the ant's stored up supplies and redirects them to the grasshopper.

Terry Mitchell

Terry Mitchell is a software engineer, freelance writer, blogger, and amateur political analyst from Hopewell, VA. He's been in the software development/engineering line of work for over 24 years.

He blogs and writes about various subjects such as current events, politics, cultural and social issues, health and well-being, personal finance, religion, technology, media issues, law, government, sports, humor, and trivia.

Through the BlogBurst network, his blog entries are often carried on the Website of the Houston Chronicle, one of the top newspapers in America. In addition, his columns and essays regularly appear on American Chronicle's network of 21 online magazines. They have also appeared online on American Daily, Media Monitors International, Opinion Editorials, The Washington Dispatch, Arrivenet, and hundreds of additional websites.

Terry never misses an opportunity to assail political correctness and take pot shots at the conventional foolishness. He's not a bandwagon jumper - he writes stuff that others should be writing, but are not. He thinks of himself as a kind of modern American philosopher. His blog offers commentary from a unique point of view that is not often found in mainstream media.

Terry would love to have his blog picked up and syndicated by a major news or web organization. He also plans to write a book based on his blog. But, for now, he mainly writes for free as a hobby and enjoys having his aritcles posted on as many websites, ezines, news letters, newspapers, and magazines as possible.