And then what?

What will happen on Tuesday?

It will depend on whether or not you want to live in what has been the finest nation in the known history of the world.

It is fine because everyone is born with an equal chance; an equal chance at life, at liberty, a dynamic duo which pretty much guarantees the pursuit of happiness. But first you must have life.

And life is going to be the issue on Tuesday: life and liberty. The two are not synonymous.

The unfortunate thing about most of those listening to political rhetoric is that they don't pay much attention to what's being said. If they are present at a rally, it is easy to get wound up in group dynamics: the crowd produces its own mood, its own understanding, and neither may reflect the words said.

Mr. Obama has said, in effect, that he is going tax "the rich" in order to support "the poor." Since a relative few (compared to the population) of us qualify as poor we will receive no benefit from this robbery.

What robbery, you may ask. Is there any difference between stopping someone on the street and taking his or her money, clothing, jewelry, shopping basket and car for no reason other that person has them, or taking his or her income simply because it is there? Yet this is pretty much was has been offered.

Oh, and all kinds of "free" stuff. Anyone who has responded to an ad offering free things "if you'll just … (whatever) … has learned how much free stuff really costs.

Free stuff: "free" health benefits (nationalized health care), "free" college education, "free" cash in hand. All for free. Yeah.

But someone has to pay for all that "free" stuff.

We're told that heavy taxation will affect only the rich. Is that possible? Hardly. The government has decided many years ago to tax the income of those of us who have incomes. The taxes go up and sometimes they come down, but once applied they never seem to disappear. But these tax increases will hit only the rich. Sure.

Does this mean that the government will be able to go into someone's bank account and take out what it considers to be the excess? No? Then where? If I were wealthy enough to have to worry about being the "taxable rich" and if the taxes were aimed at my income, I could simply stop having an income. If my money, placed wherever it was to earn more money, was simply removed and put into a non interest-bearing area, I would be able to live in some comfort but not be burdened by taxes. If I did that before the end of the year, I would have to pay tax on this year's income, but what about next year's? In a true socialistic society someone — the government? — might come after me and take whatever it considered excessive, and leave me with what was left.

But it will take time to do that.

Heavy taxes will destroy whatever is left of our economy, and incidentally "sharing the wealth," will, too, because if you take everything from a business or a big corporation, there is no incentive to stay in business and no money left over to pay or hire employees.

On paper, socialism (and we're talking about socialism, here) always looks good, but almost never works. Why? Because most of us need some sort of incentive. In this nation a lot of incentive came from the family. If you have a family, you want it to be well fed, decently clothed and decently educated. But if you have no control over that, why bother.

Mr. Obama denies that he is proposing a socialist society in this country, overseen by a benevolent government.

But no matter what you think he said, that is what Mr. Obama has suggested. Of course you have to listen to the words.

When the system begins to break down, what happens to all the free stuff, like medical care? Doctors won't be paid by the visit, but by the government. Ditto hospitals. And you will be told what kind of health care you are allowed. Eventually — maybe to make more room for all the illegal aliens Mr. Obama intends to legalize — you will be told how many children you can have. Abortion will be easily available and may be demanded as it is in some other places.

 Where is the liberty? And where is the life?

Doesn't all that sound wonderful.

Sic transit Gloria U.S.A.