Robin Hood, Alive and Well in Todays World?

Being a weekend I am feeling a bit lazy, so I will take the opportunity to ramble on about one of my pet peeves, taxation/wealth redistribution. No stats quoted, no hard numbers, no video clips, just some of my thoughts on the issue

All of us from an early age are taught that as good citizens we must pay our fair share of taxes to maintain and improve our society. It is explained to us in detail how our taxes are used by different levels of government to ensure that we all have the opportunity to live in a safe society where all are treated fairly. The concept is great and anyone would be hard pressed to argue against the notion of  "all pulling together and everyone contributing a bit to make for a better society".

Unfortunately somewhere along the line the concept has gone astray, like many concepts that got off to a simple start this one has grown wildly beyond anyone's dreams, if fact in some cases to the point where it consumes a large portion of an individuals efforts.

Not sure if this is Robin Hood or one of our
current government leaders, either way he'll do.

In today's world taxation has evolved into a government run system of  "wealth redistribution", maybe we could jokingly compare the government to Robin Hood, taking from the rich by force and giving to the poor. But as I recall Robin Hood was considered a thief and a bandit and along with throwing a few pounds to the pheasants, he always made sure his own band of merry men were well stocked with food, ale, and wenches (no doubt one of the reasons they were "merry"). On second thought......maybe the comparison is a good one after all.
 So lets explore this analogy a bit more. One of the issues Robin Hood certainly faced is that he needed the support of the common man, and as long as kept throwing them a few pounds they had his back when the Sheriff of Nottingham came calling looking for Robin. Now in order to do this Robin had to keep going back to his only source of revenue "the rich", unfortunately he didn't have too much time to sort out who was actually taking advantage of the poor, and who was doing their best to use their wealth to help out the underprivileged. It was far simpler to just take from anyone who appeared to have anything, distribute it to the poor (or at least the ones that appeared poor or claimed to be), and garner their support and undying devotion. No doubt Robin's intentions when he started were noble, help out the underprivileged, but unfortunately it got away on him and soon everyone demanded more, resulting in Robin having to take more. Wow, it seems the comparison between Robin Hood and our own government is more appropriate than even I imagined.

Ouch, I think I have rambled on enough for one day, my head is starting to hurt, probably yours as well. So until next time, Adieu