"Tax the rich!"
"Eat the rich!"
"You didn't earn that!"
How many times have we heard Leftists say those things, or some variation thereof? Far too many to count, of course. The driving impetus behind most of what the Democratic Party does boils down to two things: power and greed. They want power because they're greedy. They're greedy for control over our lives, and they're greedy for money, luxury, and the material things they'd deny the rest of us if they could.
They'll argue that taxation is necessary because without it, there would be no one to repair the roads or fund the schools. That, too, is a lie. Roads were built and maintained before the federal income tax was introduced, and we somehow managed to educate the generations that built America without wasting billions on a failing public school system.
The Left also argues that taxes are what give us nice things in public. But spend any time in a high-tax, Democrat controlled city, and you'll see that's a lie, too. President Trump just got some of D.C.'s fountains turned back on after years of neglect and — despite Democrat bloviating — is repairing the reflecting pool outside the Lincoln Memorial after the Democrats who run the city left it to become a brackish cesspit of algae and trash.
Because they're all driven by power and greed, but can't openly admit that, Democrats also have to pretend that it's noble to tax the rich and that nothing good comes from private philanthropic efforts. Unfortunately for Democrats, they're also woefully ignorant, such as this gentleman who used Central Park as an example of the success of taxation.
hmmm the taxes might be worth it? pic.twitter.com/KJsjcL8nFq
— nihal (@nihalmehta) May 17, 2026
There's just one problem with this, of course: Central Park is not managed by local government. Thank goodness, or it'd be a massive encampment for homeless meth heads.
Central Park is instead managed by the Central Park Conservancy, a group that took over the park in the 1980s after gross mismanagement by the government in an alarming state of decay. It operates on donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals.
In short, the rich.
Whoops.
Realize the game here. Much in the same way Zohran Mamdani plans to use smoke-and-mirrors socialist math the prop up government-run grocery stores in the city, Leftists will let public spaces fall into disrepair, the private sector will clean up the mess, and the Left will try to take credit for it as the work of taxation.
It's as dishonest as it is transparent.
Capitalism and the free market work because people have skin in the game. When you are sending your money to conserve Central Park, you expect your money will ... conserve Central Park. If the private sector fails to provide the services promised, customers will find another business that will.
Not so with government. As we've seen time and again, the government makes promises, spends billions of our tax dollars, and fails to deliver. Karen Bass, who was not a political neophyte when elected Mayor of Los Angeles, vowed to end homelessness in her first term. Now that her first — and hopefully only — term is coming to an end, Bass is pretending she didn't know how bureaucracy works.
Please.
What we get instead of the promised goods and services from the government is waste, fraud, and abuse. Then Democrats get on television and blame the rich, claiming billionaires didn't really earn their wealth, but stole it off the backs of workers, as AOC did recently.
It's all a long con for the Left, one they use to justify confiscating our wealth to line their pockets, buy votes, and reward their political allies.
And that's why they have to lie. Central Park is not beautiful because of taxes; it's beautiful because the government has been removed from managing it. Instead of being grateful, the Left wants to eliminate the rich.
There's a lesson in this, if we're smart enough to learn it.