Monday, April 21, 2014

Yay... A Cry for Revolt...

In yet another text book move, hard-lining conservatives are calling for a revolt against the government.   What now?  I mean I think it is weekly or even daily that someone over there in Kool-Aid land is calling for such.  Is it Cliven Bundy... Well given recent history it would be him, but no.  "Obama-care" well, no.  Abortion...  Nope.  The War of Christianity, thats got to be it, right?  Maybe? 

Yeah, I figured it was one of those, but no, he telling people that if taxes get higher they should revolt.  Tell you what, I walk into a store to buy some food, and I am paying 10 bucks for a 3 pound pack of hamburger, I'm going to revolt.  I'm just going to find a way to Washington DC, and defecate myself in chambers, so they can smell all that crap.  It would work too, if there wasn't so much of it flying around the House and Senate chambers. 

Alright, lets be fair here, at least for a minute.  He didn't say that people should revolt against the government over taxes.  He just said when it reaches a certain point, we should merely consider revolting.  He also added some point in the question and answer session that we should be allowed to burn the flag as a sign of protest. 

But, of all the things to throw a revolt over, taxes?  I mean look, I could see it if there was a gun grab, a real gun grab.  I might even buy into it if all of a sudden we went full Christian law.  I could see it if the lowest 47% of people were sleeping in cars, tents, under bridges, and on park benches, at that point I would likely revolt as well. 

But taxes, which are at some of the lowest historical points in United States history.  I mean third or fourth lowest in two hundred years.  I can throw charts out there, I can throw studies out there, I can reference the fifties when taxes were massive, to say the least.  They would all have merit, they would all have detractors, and both sides would be correct.  The problem is, these people want all the modern conveniences, but they don't want to pay for them.  +Larry Dillon was onto something with his Facebook rant, you should listen to it when you can.  He is talking about an entirely different subject, but it does fit with Americans today.

Look, taxes are not the horrible thing that conservatives want to say they are.  Sure, you can over tax, but really you need balance.  Moderation in many things, but the problem is, their moderation is next to nothing.  Our taxes ensure that roads, bridges, and dams are safe to be around.  Our taxes pay for the guys pushing tin, and let me tell you 777's falling out of the sky aren't good things.  Some of our taxes ensure we have income when we are elderly, they pay for the police (both good and bad) who protect us.  They pay for the fire fighters who attempt to save your home when its burning, they might even have to come drag you out of the house.  Here, they respond before the paramedics in cases of emergency.  They pay for libraries, they pay for the education of children.  Sure, when I was younger I resented paying for that, but one day it dawned on me, if everyone refused to pay to educate children, we would be surrounded by uneducated idiots, rather than somewhat educated idiots.  There would be no boarder controls, any Tom, Dick or Jerry could go to any store and buy just about any type of gun they want.  That will end badly if you are curious.  Not to mention the state and federal agencies that regulate our environment.  Of course, regulations don't matter, if you don't care what you breath, eat, or drink.  Taking medications that, while harmful enough already, would be worse. 

Honestly the only group I wish to see taxed into oblivion are churches.  I mean Joel Osteen alone brings in twenty six million dollars a year, most of which goes into his pocket, and to maintain that mega-church he stands in every week.  Just about every other night I hear these guys begging for more money from people who have as much as I do.  But corporations are just as bad.  My understanding, GE and Verizon paid nothing in taxes.  People who would have to pay that 39% ship money off shore to avoid paying their share.  See thats the problem, I willing pay taxes because I like driving on safe bridges, breathing air that is fair to moderate quality (really is should be pretty damn good).  I am happy for the fact that the local gang banger can't legally buy a fully automatic Tavor, I see that as a very good thing. 

Man...  IF we really need a revolt, and I do feel it is coming, I can feel it, it needs to be against a government that has been bought out by corporations.  We need to revolt against lower wages, and longer hours.  We need to revolt against a for profit society, which is nothing more than the death cult of capitalism.  We need to revolt over the fact that we are putting kids into the real world, who have no ability to properly function in it.  A world where they do not understand some of the most basic concepts.  We need to revolt against a media that does nothing more than spew propaganda in favor of what ever flavor exists at the moment.  We need to revolt against a Supreme Court that says money is speech, and spending more money means you get more speech.  It would take the entirely of everyone we in the lower 98% had just to compete with the top 1%.  We need to revolt against income inequality, and the people that tell us we should just be happy with what little we have, because people in other cultures have it worse.  They neglect to tell people, no cultures are perfectly identical, and not having a closet, air conditioning or a refrigerator in Africa means something entirely different than not having them in the United States.  Its like saying that because you have a car in the sticks means you are rich, because people in your income bracket who live in the city do not.  If he had said we need to revolt against people who trample the poor, or anything else I just listed in this paragraph alone, I would be standing there going all "Stone Cold" Steve Austin in agreement.  But no, he is railing against taxes, which the first duty they are used for, outside of more bombs is... Paying the national debt that just about all my conservative/teabagging acquaintances rail against. 

So, for those of that leaning who managed to get through this, what says you?  Lower taxes higher debt or... Higher taxes and lower debt?  Which do you want, or are you going to be a hypocrite about it?

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