As many of you already know, there is a very fine line between helping someone and enabling their bad behavior. If you go too far in your helping, you do the person more harm than good. Moreover, if you take responsibility away from someone and replace it with benefit, they will give you the responsibility from that point forward.
The United States government is setting the stage for an economic class conflict. Already, nearly 50% of Americans pay no federal taxes, yet receive benefits. For them, these benefits are free. In reality, they receive these benefits because a disproportionate amount is taken from others, who often receive significantly fewer benefits. With every new tax that is being proposed, there is a desire to subsidize the responsibility of the lower income classes to pay. In doing so, the burden of paying for all government services falls to those who work hard to advance themselves in terms of education and economic status, yet who themselves see little or no benefit from the additional taxation. It is unlikely that those who are receiving benefits at no cost will ever vote to pay more in taxes, to pay more to receive more benefits. Their responsibilities for those benefits have been abdicated to the federal government, and in doing so these same people have become wards of the state. They are enslaved. Their own economic models include government helps without which they are not able to care for themselves. The things the government provides for them, they have removed from their equation of responsibility. Moreover, they will never vote for anyone who desires to reduce the size of government by either taking away such benefits or asking them to pay taxes in order to continue to receive them. This is the enslavement factor that is being put upon the lower income classes in America.
The oppression comes from excessive taxation of those who have sought to better themselves through education, thus elevating their economic status, and at the same time subjecting them to an onerous progressive tax system. It is easy to focus on the federal income tax, but we must also keep in mind that every American pays state and local taxes as well. Everywhere the wage earner and the consumer turn, the purchasing power of their dollar is being diminished by taxation. The combination of these three levels of government take from 30% to 50% of every dollar earned. This is oppressive. There is nothing fair nor right about such aggressive taxation. The government refuses to downsize. It continues to add entitlement programs. It continues to demand more tax revenues. Our own government has turned against us and is robbing us at the gunpoint of taxation.
I do not know what can be done to restore the sense of personal responsibility by every American regardless of their socioeconomic class. A flat common user tax would affect everyone by the same fractional amount. Moreover, it would encourage saving, by not devaluing the dollars that are not spent. Of course it will be difficult for those who are used to getting something for nothing to adjust to being personally responsible for their own well-being and their own welfare. They would never vote for such system; their votes have already been purchased, and therefore their condition is a threat to our democracy.
Living with liberty and freedom is risky business, I understand that. It requires checks and balances to ensure a constant and fair playing field. It does not guarantee equal outcomes. What it does not require is enslavement of certain members of our society to the government handout. I have traveled the world and I have seen very, very poor people. The poor people in America are not counted among them. Everyone in America has one unique opportunity that the poor in other countries do not have: access to a free public education. It is therefore the responsibility of each individual to take advantage of this great gift, this great opportunity, to pick themselves up and advance themselves, and live as free people in the land of liberty. Likewise, the government needs to lift the oppressive yoke of taxation from the necks of those who are working, risking, and striving to make this country great.
The United States government is setting the stage for an economic class conflict. Already, nearly 50% of Americans pay no federal taxes, yet receive benefits. For them, these benefits are free. In reality, they receive these benefits because a disproportionate amount is taken from others, who often receive significantly fewer benefits. With every new tax that is being proposed, there is a desire to subsidize the responsibility of the lower income classes to pay. In doing so, the burden of paying for all government services falls to those who work hard to advance themselves in terms of education and economic status, yet who themselves see little or no benefit from the additional taxation. It is unlikely that those who are receiving benefits at no cost will ever vote to pay more in taxes, to pay more to receive more benefits. Their responsibilities for those benefits have been abdicated to the federal government, and in doing so these same people have become wards of the state. They are enslaved. Their own economic models include government helps without which they are not able to care for themselves. The things the government provides for them, they have removed from their equation of responsibility. Moreover, they will never vote for anyone who desires to reduce the size of government by either taking away such benefits or asking them to pay taxes in order to continue to receive them. This is the enslavement factor that is being put upon the lower income classes in America.
The oppression comes from excessive taxation of those who have sought to better themselves through education, thus elevating their economic status, and at the same time subjecting them to an onerous progressive tax system. It is easy to focus on the federal income tax, but we must also keep in mind that every American pays state and local taxes as well. Everywhere the wage earner and the consumer turn, the purchasing power of their dollar is being diminished by taxation. The combination of these three levels of government take from 30% to 50% of every dollar earned. This is oppressive. There is nothing fair nor right about such aggressive taxation. The government refuses to downsize. It continues to add entitlement programs. It continues to demand more tax revenues. Our own government has turned against us and is robbing us at the gunpoint of taxation.
I do not know what can be done to restore the sense of personal responsibility by every American regardless of their socioeconomic class. A flat common user tax would affect everyone by the same fractional amount. Moreover, it would encourage saving, by not devaluing the dollars that are not spent. Of course it will be difficult for those who are used to getting something for nothing to adjust to being personally responsible for their own well-being and their own welfare. They would never vote for such system; their votes have already been purchased, and therefore their condition is a threat to our democracy.
Living with liberty and freedom is risky business, I understand that. It requires checks and balances to ensure a constant and fair playing field. It does not guarantee equal outcomes. What it does not require is enslavement of certain members of our society to the government handout. I have traveled the world and I have seen very, very poor people. The poor people in America are not counted among them. Everyone in America has one unique opportunity that the poor in other countries do not have: access to a free public education. It is therefore the responsibility of each individual to take advantage of this great gift, this great opportunity, to pick themselves up and advance themselves, and live as free people in the land of liberty. Likewise, the government needs to lift the oppressive yoke of taxation from the necks of those who are working, risking, and striving to make this country great.
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