“Patriotic Millionaires”  Admirable Citizens?  Recently members
of the group calling themselves “Patriotic Millionaires for
Fiscal Strength” sent a letter to Pres. Barack Obama, Harry Reid
(Majority Leader in the U. S. Senate), and John Boehner (Speaker
of the U. S. House of Representatives). What made the letter
notable was that it requested that “you increase taxes on
incomes over $1,000,000”—the letter then being signed by a long
list of millionaires.  The letter claimed that the signers were
all “loyal citizens” who recognized that “Our country faces a
choice—we can pay our debts and build for the future, or we can
shirk our financial responsibilities and cripple our nation’s
potential.” The signers recognized, “Our country has been good
to us. It provided a foundation through which we could succeed.”
And in recognizing that their success was not just a result of
their personal attributes, they added that “we want to do our
part to keep that foundation strong so that others can succeed
as we have.”  They