The other "fairness" doctrine

"That's not fair!" Those of us who have children have heard that phrase often. Most of us probably said it at some time when we were kids. Across the generations, the most common response has probably been "life's not fair, get over it".
Politicians, especially those of a liberal bent, just can't seem to get over it. They speak constantly about how hard they are working to create "fariness". The problem is that, for all their talk, they cannot define exactly what "fairness" means when it comes to enacting policy. And that's where the danger lies for the American people. "Fairness" apparently means whatever the liberal politicians want it to mean at whatever time they utter the word, so they use the pursuit of "fairness" to justify all kinds of destructive policies.
The most common context in which liberals use "fairness" is as it relates to taxation. In a recent interview Sen. Tom Harkin said that corporations and "the rich" need to pay "their fair share" of taxes. Both of my Senators, Warner and Webb, have responded to letters I wrote them by mentioning their pursuit of "tax fairness". None of them, however, can say specifically what that means. Apparently it simply means "more".
We now live in a country where nearly half the population will pay no federal income tax. And many of those will receive "rebates" of taxes they never paid. Apparently that is still not "fair" enough for Congress and this administration.
In 2006 the top 10% of taxpayers earned 47% of the income but paid 71% of the federal income taxes. Mayor Bloomberg recently said that "in 2006, 5,000 people paid 30 percent of the taxes in New York City." Over 8 million people live in New York City - and 5,000 of them pay 30 percent of the taxes. Is that "fair"?
"Fairness" is a wonderful concept, but a dangerous one when used by liberal politicians in search of more money to spend. When they talk about how they are pursuing it, they should be held accountable to define exactly what "fairness" means and exactly what they would do to achieve it.