Have all of you tax protesters agreed not to accept any of the services that your taxes pay for? What? I'm sorry, I didn't hear your answer?
You know what? I'll get quiet and listen. Shhh! All of us will now be quiet so we can listen to your very cogent explanation as to why you are protesting your taxes after Bush gutted the whole economy and ran up all of the deficit. No, really. It's your turn.
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I agree with your sentiment (about how taxes are necessary to pay for all that they pay for), however, I also heard calls for protests based on same-sex couples not being able to file their taxes jointly - e.g. annoyance over checking the "single" box when part of a long-term committed couple. I didn't participate in a protest myself, but wanted to add this perspective.
Where and when were there any protests by homosexuals about limited choices for checking marital status on income tax returns? Where did you hear that? What is your source for that?
The tax day protests are against both parties, because they are BOTH spending us into oblivion.
Just to name a few of the 'services' I don't want to pay for:
I do not accept food stamps there are plenty of churches and privately funded food pantries; I do not have medicare or medicaid; I do not use Rx drugs, so I don't need Part D; I have job, but if I didn't, I don't want collect unemployment for 40 weeks because I am not 'too proud' to work at McDonalds, or WalMart or the grocery store; I don't need bike paths or museums; I already own a car and drive past plenty of dealers with cars available so I don't want to bail out the auto industry the demands of the Unions have done enough damage; I don't want to travel on a new speed rail system; I don't want to pay for someone else's foreclosure because the government required banks to make risky loans. The government needs to stay out of private business and let bad businesses FAIL.
I love and appreciate the military and all that they do to serve and protect the Constitution and this Great Nation. I will pay taxes to support the military.
I love and believe in the Constitution. I believe that America is good. We're not perfect, but good and strive to be better.
I believe in God and He is the center of my life.
I believe that my family is sacred. That my spouse and I are the authority, not the government.
I believe that justice is blind and no one is above it. If you break the law, you pay the penalty.
I have a right to life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results.
I work hard for what I have and I will share it with Who I want, When I want. The government cannot force me to be charitable.
It is not unAmerican for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. There is a difference between unAmerican and antiAmerican.
The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me.
The tea parties are a stronger attempt to get Washington to listen to us. They didn't hear our individual, repeated phone calls or emails. They donated our individual bricks instead of building a fence on the border. We hope that they were able to see just how many thousands of us are fed up with all of this ridiculous spending and they must STOP. We are no longer 'hoping' for change, we are demanding it.
I agree 100% with the comment made by dmboo.
OK dmboo, I've heard you. I think I understand where you're coming from: you don't want any of your tax money to pay for anything that you don't directly receive in services from the state. I think that's selfish, but OK.
You don't need museums or bike paths? Interesting little civilization you're hoping for there. You don't need food stamps or medicare so perhaps your thinking is why the hell should you pay for it. There's too much to pay for and why should there be even more money taken out to pay for failed businesses?
Are there any services that you currently don't need, but that you see society needs? Is there anything that you see as a common good, that as a civilized society we must ensure exists for everyone?
Like, would you be willing to pay some taxes so that kids get nourishing food daily? Have you been to poor neighborhoods or slums or ghettos? Do you know that Walmarts aren't there? They don't have grocery stores either. There are no jobs in those areas, no jobs for people to be "too proud" to take, no businesses moving into blighted areas. Would you be willing to have your taxes go to enterprise zones in poor areas to help there be employment, so reducing crime and dependency on welfare programs and food stamps?
There are countries around the world where there are absolutely no safety nets, where people rise and fall on their own merits or good luck alone or entrenched corruption and hopefully you're not born into the wrong caste or color or ethnic group. There are no social security type programs, certainly no state sponsored food programs. There might be charities, but lots of people suffer greatly when a society decides that it's every man and woman for themselves. It's cold and cruel and bitter and not very "Christian", and although you didn't say that you are Christian specifically, I somehow get the feeling that that is so.
What does your God instruct you to do in terms of your neighbor? Your fellow citizens in this country are your neighbors. For all of that, so are the members of the entire rest of humanity.
What are you called to do in following the words of your God?
You said,
"The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me."
Damn straight--I totally agree with you in that. But, I would add that we are all in this together as we are all Americans. Out of many, one. E Pluribis Unum. We answer to each other.
You seem to feel like it is thievery to take taxes from you . It is not. It is the social compact we all made being born American. Our collective moneys will go for things that we don't always agree on but that are for the common good.
They get it wrong some of the time, but overall I don't begrudge taxes taken.
I'll quit hoping my taxes go for museums and bike paths when you quit hoping they go for fences and missiles.
Deal?
dmboo,
Great comment. My biggest issue is having to bail out people who decided to borrow more than they could afford. Why should responsible citizens bear the burden of irresponsible citizens?
Thanks Nickie,
I agree. So many of us ARE responsible, but are getting the raw end of the deal because of those people who are not responsible.
Laura,
Yes, there are things that I think taxes should be used for: security on our borders, military might to protect our nation (tread softly, but carry a big stick), highways, postal service, education (but even that needs a major overhaul).
When other countries start protesting our taxes, then we can talk about them, but your post was about the teaparties, so I want to respect the form.
As for cleaning up blighted areas-lower the taxes and get rid of the red tape to encourage businesses to open there and provide jobs for those people. Stop giving them the crutch of "don't worry about it, the government will provide food, housing, medial, etc for you." At some point you have to have your own ambition to pull yourself up by the boot straps, because you are solely responsible for the choices you make.
But honestly, I think we do agree that we should help others. God calls us to serve our neighbor, not pay our government to do what should be our responsibility. I can take better care of my neighbors because I talk to them when I see them out getting their mail, or walking their dog, or when I take a meal to them when they are sick. I know so much more about the needs of the people around me because I interact with them. They don't have to fill out piles of forms to receive help from me. I help because it's the right thing to do.
I certainly did not feel charitable on Wednesday, nor did I get that warm fuzzy feeling of brightening someone's day. Did you?
dmboo, a couple of things really stick out for me in you last post.
You wrote:
As for cleaning up blighted areas-lower the taxes and get rid of the red tape to encourage businesses to open there and provide jobs for those people. Stop giving them the crutch of "don't worry about it, the government will provide food, housing, medial, etc for you." At some point you have to have your own ambition to pull yourself up by the boot straps, because you are solely responsible for the choices you make.
I think that you see lots of people waiting for a handout. That's not what I see at all. I see people hopeful for a hand up. You can't pull yourself up by your bootstraps when you have no boots, or chance of getting them. The brilliant people, if they're lucky and catch a break of some sort, make it out of the ghetto. The average person stays. How would you provide for your family, if there were no jobs where you were?
It's not just inner city ghettos that are left behind and ignored and have been for decades.
How often do poor rural people have any kind of access to health care? How do you get into the city, if your car is broke down (or you don't have one) and you have no health insurance any way? Should taxes pay for thing like: book mobiles, mobile health clinics, health care, apprenticeship programs, job training, etc? What about college scholarships?
Aren't those good uses for taxes, whether you currently are in need of these things or not? Do you only think your taxes should go for you? Do you not see yourself as part of a greater society? Are you not an American? Are not your neighbors Americans?
You wrote:
But honestly, I think we do agree that we should help others. God calls us to serve our neighbor, not pay our government to do what should be our responsibility. I can take better care of my neighbors because I talk to them when I see them out getting their mail, or walking their dog, or when I take a meal to them when they are sick. I know so much more about the needs of the people around me because I interact with them. They don't have to fill out piles of forms to receive help from me. I help because it's the right thing to do.
Yes, my neighbors like it when I bring them zucchini bread (I make a mean zucchini bread), but that doesn't get a wind farm built that will decrease our dependence on foreign oil, does it? Will it ensure that our water is clean? Will it help small farmers keep their farms? Will it make sure our sewers don't back up when it rains? No.
It is nice to build community, and I would say it is vital and we need to return to that much more. But, there are things that we need as a collective group of people that require much more than neighborhood picnics. It requires cash being thrown at it, just as we've always thrown cash at new missile systems and new military equipment.
When's the last time anyone asked the military to pull themselves up from their own bootstraps? Quit whining! Quit asking for handouts all of the time.
And speaking of handouts, do you support or abhor corporate welfare? Do you think corporations should be assessed higher taxes if they outsource all of their jobs? Should they be paying more in taxes, proportionally, any way? Aren't they part of America too? Shouldn't they be neighborly and have an allegiance to fellow Americans?
dmboo, if you were my neighbor I would bake you some zucchini bread. But, I would want our taxes to go to wind farms and other forms of alternative fuels and research, and I would want them to help poor people who are out of my own neighborhood get some food if they need it.
I can't bake zucchini bread for everyone you know. But, if they put in that high speed rail, I could get to more people : )
Why do you think I am not an American? Because I think that people need to be responsible? Because I don't trust the government to use my money wisely? Because I shop at my local farmer's market to support my local farmers? Because I want to drill in Alaska for oil and put wind farms in Massachusetts to become energy independent, but environmentalists are standing in the way? Because I think you have the right to homeschool your kids because you can do a better job teaching them than your local public school? Because I believe in the right to own and use a gun to protect myself and my family?
You wanted to know what the tea parties were about. You wanted to know why we are protesting our taxes. I've done my best to try and explain that it has taken less than 6 months, and 2 presidents to double our debt, and then double it again. Both parties are at fault. How do you think they are going to pay for it? With more taxes. Whether income taxes or corporate taxes-which just get passed on to the consumer-more taxes are coming and Americans are not going to stand for it.
WE DO NOT TRUST THE GOVERNMENT TO SPEND OUR MONEY WISELY.
From the White House to the halls of Congress, show me anyone who has a balance budget, show my anyone who hasn't asked for any earmarks. Show me anyone who hasn't been influence by a lobbyist. And show me anyone who believes that the American Citizens are the one and only special interest group. Show my anyone who has voted 100% of the time to lower taxes for everyone, not just the middle class, not just the low income (who usually don't pay taxes anyway), and not just corporations.
Have you heard us now, or are you just as deaf as Washington?
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