DICK HAMES, Richland

Richard Badalamente's column (In Focus, Sept. 30) is a classic statement of liberal campaign rhetoric and ideology. Who can argue against fairness?

What this means to liberals is income redistribution and government control over our lives. Recently, President Obama has taken to speaking of this "fairness" ideology as "economic patriotism." This is simply a euphemism for income redistribution.

Obama suggests a major tax increase for those who make more than $250,000. There is not an economist -- liberal or conservative -- who does not understand that a tax hike extending to all income brackets would be necessary to start to raise enough to solve our debt problems.

The extreme of government control and income redistribution is socialism. We do not need the failed economics of most of Western Europe. We do need to create a fair tax code that all citizens pay on a progressive basis -- not just the top earners.

We need to control spending by revising our entitlement programs, including Obamacare. Part of Obama's fairness program is to raise capital gains taxes -- No! We need to keep or lower the 15 percent to encourage job creation by both small and large businesses. We need to lower the marginal rates by closing loopholes and certain deductions by all taxpayers. This is true fairness, not ideological rhetoric.