The American Dream has needed defending in the past against attackers from outside our borders. Today it is coming  under attack from within. Some of the attackers are those we elected to protect it.

People from around the world have immigrated to America for the freedom to create and pursue opportunity. This morning a Canadian woman told CNN she moved here with the hope of getting rich. “Being rich isn’t bad. Money represents opportunity.”

She’s right. The current commentary from Washington suggesting class oppression is wrong. Those who made money legally and ethically did nothing wrong; they took risks and worked hard. Those who made ill-gotten gains hurt everyone, the rich as well as the poor. Nobody is trying to protect them.

The rich are already taxed disproportionately. And today our President says they must be taxed more. My wish is that Washington would reread the story of the golden goose, because irresponsible and oppressive taxation and spending are about to kill it.

The rich are those who don’t chip in $25 for the expenses of their kid’s softball team; they buy the jerseys for the entire team. Wealthy people don’t contribute money to the church or synagogue building project; they underwrite the lion’s share of the cost.

“Not all rich people are so generous!” you say? True, but current legislation is aimed at America’s wealthiest, and that includes the generous as well as the stingy (and poor and middle class people can be generous or stingy too.)

Have no empathy? Then consider this: spending money that Washington doesn’t have mortgages your future and makes it harder for you to live and American dream by taking away the incentives of hard work and success and burdening the system that enables you to better your situation. Are you willing to trade short-term and uncertain security for long term opportunity? That is a choice being made for you by legislators right now.

The threat is two-fold: current thinking and action by our leaders wants to first further penalize the wealthy (the most productive sector of society) who have done nothing immoral or wrong and second create a tenuous safety net–not an opportunity–for those with limited means.

Don’t buy into the something-for-nothing talk coming out of Congress. Money comes from somewhere; in Washington it comes from your wallet or purse not just now but in the future. Congress wants to spend money you and I haven’t made, and money our kids will someday earn. That’s not hyperbole, but fact.The growth of the deficit is on a scale never before experienced much less contemplated.

As a trained economist, I assure you that even if there is some measure of success from the current stimulus package–and despite my disagreement with the means, like you I want to see it succeed–the price will be future inflation that will be economically crippling.

Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, rich, poor and middle class, we are all the beneficiaries of the American Dream. When it is diminished so are our opportunities, both now and in the future. To keep it healthy, we must focus on creating opportunities for all, not taking the easy and expedient route of spending money we don’t have.

Washington has surmised that what got us into this economic fix was irresponsible spending by individuals, banks, mortgage companies and other financial institutions.

The solution, they tell us, is more irresponsible spending.

Let’s spend money we don’t have on an economic stimulus. (Those of you who read my blog know that I believed, and still do, that the badly chosen term “Wall Street bailout: was really a much needed economic stabilization plan. It has morphed into something decidedly bigger and different than needed. There’s enough pork embedded in the plan to feed Washington for the next hundred years. So much for change.)

With the biggest deficit in history, government has decided to spend money like a drunken sailor (my apologies to sailors for this comparison). Let’s give money not to those who will save it–that won’t stimulate anything–but to those we know will spend it whether they need to or not.  Let’s reward the irresponsibility of signing a mortgage by offering taxpayer assistance to those who can’t fulfill obligations and simultaneously punish those who believed the amount and type of mortgage you choose should be based on your income rather than a naive pipe dream. Let’s give money to those who don’t pay taxes and increase taxes on those who already pay the most, thus penalizing the productive sector of society.

Ironically, if you give money–though tax cuts or other incentives–to high net worth individuals, they won’t spend it right now. Despite President Obama’s efforts, the market continues to sink. Few are willing to put money into the downward spiraling stock market. New money will sit on the sidelines. So as perverse as it seems, giving money to those who won’t save it is one way to stimulate the economy.

But what would happen if government provided incentives to jump start the market? Why has nobody advocated a tax credit for those who put a positive bet on America’s future? Provide a tax credit for each new dollar invested in the stock market. You get what you reward. I’d rather see incentives for investment than unneeded consumption.

Instead, like the drunk the morning after who treats his hangover with what caused it, government has chosen to solve the problem of irresponsible spending with more of the same.

Here’s to the hair of the dog that bit you.