For decades, the Democrat Party has successfully shafted minorities and the poor - the disastrous Welfare State created by liberal Democrats has virtually destroyed the African-American family. Yet the same people who suffer the most from their policies keep electing them. African-Americans continue to blindly vote for anyone with a (D) after their name - over 90%. Not even Hugo Chavez get's that kind of a majority. And lower income white and Hispanic voters are not much different.

Why? Because Democrats tell them what they want to hear.

Obama's phony "tax cut for 95% or Americans" is merely the latest in a long line of Democrat Party moves that claim to "help" the poor. But in reality, the opposite is true. Not only are his "cuts" actually welfare checks to people who already pay no income tax at all, but the increase on that "top 5%" will hit the poor the worst.

You would think that eventually, even the stupidest voter would be able to see the light. But no, time and again, the people at the bottom of the economic ladder put in office the very same people whose policies continue to keep them poor.

So, why do they keep falling for the same Democrat policies that keep THEM poor? Simple, the primary technique for duping the poor is to use envy, jealousy, and sometimes, even downright hatred. Keep 'em angry at those who have more than they do, and you can keep them from thinking too much.

Democrats have been bashing "big business" and demonizing "the rich" since Franklin Roosevelt. They aren't even subtle about it - they constantly explain their tax increases as OK because they "only affect the wealthy" (as if targeting the wealthy is somehow a good thing in the first place). And the economically illiterate buy into it.

But the harsh reality is quite the opposite. For example, raise tax rates on a business and guess what you force the business to do - lay off workers, or, if the tax burden becomes totally untenable, move the company to another state, or even to another country.

I ran into an old neighbor of mine the other day. He was on his way to the airport to inspect his company's brand new manufacturing facility - in Ireland. Why? Because the United States has an outrageously high corporate income tax (39%) while Ireland's corporate tax is...12.5%. Talk about a no-brainer.

And when this happens, do the layed-off workers blame the Democrats who drove the jobs off-shore? Oh, no, they blame "business" and "those heartless rich guys." Out-sourcing is nothing more than an economic decision - a reaction to increased costs, whether labor costs or taxation.

Small business owners, too (you know, those "rich guys" like Joe the Plumber, who make over $250,000 a year) can be forced into the same choices. Remember, he (or she) probably has anywhere from half a dozen to a hundred employees - and increased taxation will mean that two or three of those workers will have to be let go. Anyone want to guess who those pink-slipped workers voted for?

Even taxes aimed squarely at the wealthy often backfire. Everyone older than 40 remembers the ill-fated "luxury tax" on boats. Yeah, let's stick it to those guys with their expensive toys. Right?

Well, as anyone with even a modest understanding of economics could have predicted, the result was that many of the wealthy stopped buying boats. What followed was a downturn in sales of boats, leading to layoffs of blue-collar boat builders, as well as staff cuts at marinas and other businesses that support the boating industry.

Once again, whose bumper stickers do you think were on the cars of the laid-off boat workers? Yep - Democrats.

And it doesn't stop there - countless taxes enacted by Democrats hit the poor disproportionately. Gasoline costs consume a much larger percentage of the budgets of lower income workers. So when Democrats announce that they are going to "stick it to Big Oil" they are in fact sticking it to you. But hey, it's "only another nickel a gallon" right?

Taxes on liquor, cigarettes, and other such "sin" taxes always hit lower income people the most. Ditto taxes on jet-skis, snowmobiles, and other "unnecessary" recreational equipment - last time I checked, there were a lot more moderate income folks than millionaires riding ATVs.

I remember many years ago a tough old Chicago truck driver (a Democrat, oddly enough) who once said; "People ain't stupid because they're poor - they're poor because they're stupid." He was right.

But hey, if you're poor and want to stay that way, just keep voting Democrat.

Just remember the old axiom: "Insanity is continuing to do the same thing, and expecting a different result."