TAXATION: A National Dilemma

You've seen it before - you're going to see it again - and again! We're talking about tax protestors demonstrating in the streets, at meetings, online, on TV. The theme is a constant. Taxes are too high. Taxes are lowering the standard of living. Taxes are unfair.Taxes are politics without concern for the people. Taxes are the government's only 'know how' to govern.

So much for what you can see with your own eyes and ears. Now, where oh where, are the millions who pay taxes regularly and rarely complain - publicly? Where are the dedicated citizens who recognize, albeit with some dismay, that taxes are the fundamental base for running the government? -Any government - anywhere?

Do the protestors really believe that our government should stay out of our lives? Is there any recognition of the essential programs introduced and maintained over the years to protect and safeguard us as citizens? - our safety on the roads? in the air? our health and well being? - what we eat and drink - the medication we use to ensure a longer life, overcome disease, search for cures and elimination of the most devastating assaults on our body from cancer to muscular dystrophy, and everything in between?

Will the millions who vote along party lines that call for "...taking back America..." be satisfied to forego all of the above, plus the unspoken needs for security in the form of an Army, Navy, Airforce,  and all the subdivisions thereof? Do they want some government services, on a limited scale, subject to a miraculous commonality amongst those voting for change as to which stay and which go?

ViewPoint believes that there is waste in the ongoing expenditures ostensibly established to provide some solace for a member of the House or Senate. We think much can be done to reduce the deficit, to plan and budget more sensibly, to determine to live within our means - to seek a balance whereby the possibility might always include a surplus in our treasury - and allow that surplus to remain invested in our 'piggy bank' just in case another unexpected economic  turndown should occur, we will be ready to face it without new deficits or taxes.

We say to the tax protestors, reduce the rhetoric, not the size of government. Be specific about what should be 'returned to the people' and see if the suggestions are widespread enough to be supported by voters - tell all of us how the programs you would like to remove from government might be managed by the private sector, by corporations, by business, by Wall Street, by local community boards. Protesting tax increases is a legitimate reaction and there are undoubtedly 

good reasons for the protest. Demanding that taxes be eliminated is another matter entirely. Watching protest marches, listening to speakers who harangue the crowd rather than enlighten them is not unAmerican. It is all too often a means to an end - not necessarily one that Americans can be proud of!

There are so many problems for our president and his administration to tackle, here and abroad,  that it is mind boggling that any well informed group would take the time and trouble to focus on taxation - the relationship being a political movement that has jolted many out of their lethargy, to call it "The Tea Party".  Before the Fall elections are over and done we may be hearing more about the plans and politics of the Tea Party - and you should not be surprised to note references to how much better off America was when the protestors of the time showed their wrath by dumping tea in Boston Harbor. About the only dumping that has been mentioned so far is the need to dump Washington politicians - maybe into the Potomac River! 

Finally, we have all seen how effective and meaningful the private sector can be when challenged. Certainly we see it now in the Gulf - BP! Or, we saw it recently when the market tanked - try Morgan Stanley! Or, consider the energy maven of the century - Enron! A tiny sampling of the private sector at work. Granted, Washington has had its share of stupidity. We simply want to point out that change alone is not likely to create or establish new beginnings, or lean and mean government, and new faces can have the same hard wired brain malfunctioning that is the target of the 2010 protestors.

This country has survived every major disaster since its founding. It has never been necessary to go back in time, or in government to accomplish new levels of achievement. The future is as bright as ever. All it takes is American ingenuity - plus a helping of faith and patience!

Richard Carlton

June 2, 2010

Issue No. 11