Monday, April 17, 2006

Did You Render Unto Caeser?

With the weekend, our beloved tax holiday is stretched a little further than normal. Check Mike Kole's site and his discussion of the Fair Tax for a good start. For a followup, examine these quotes. I know that any good Leftist will only cheer if Marx is properly and reverently quoted, and jeer if "the revered fossils", as I've heard the Founding Fathers called, are quoted, but this is my little corner of the blogosphere. So...no Marx allowed.

"To take from one because it is thought his own industry and that of his fathers has acquired too much in order to spare to others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry and skill, is to violatee arbitrarily the first principle of association, the guarantee to everyone the free exercise of his industry and the fruits acquired by it." - Thomas Jefferson

"The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny will commence. If "Thou shall not covet' and 'Thou shall not steal' were not commandments of Heaven, they must be made inviolable precepts in every society before it can be civilized or made free." - John Adams

"It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption that they contain in their own nature a security against excess...If duties are too high, they lessen the consumption; the collection is eluded; and the product to the Treasury is not so great as when they are confined within proper and moderate bounds." - Alexander Hamilton on why consumption taxes (like the Fair Tax) were superior to taxes on things like income.

All courtesy of The Federalist...

The reason it is important to quote and quote and quote again the men who founded this country is that they give us the best ideas regarding the noblest of intentions that went into the framing of the Constitution and the direction they felt (correctly) was best for our government. That the forces who wish to see us most follow the socialist path of Old Europe or the communist path of much of Asia spend all their time belittling and minimizing the significance of the Founding Fathers should give you an idea of the true value of their words.

These were not perfect men, nor the smartest most educated men to ever live. But these men took the words and ideas of the greatest thinkers of their day and molded a nation with them. They took the best of the experiment of The Republic and gave us a heritage that, although battered and torn, still stands to this day.

One of the most egregious assaults on that legacy has been the Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution authorizing the creation of the dreaded Income Tax. The Amendment was nothing more than a graft scheme. It was ratified, dubiously, on the promise of kicking back the money to the states without the states having to appear the bad guys in collecting it. It is a time-honored system of corruption still practiced to this day and worthy of the heritage of crime from which it was birthed.

Another April has come and gone and again we have collectively lost a fortune to the Federal government to be wasted on all manner of worthless endeavors. Whether you're a liberal or conservative, there are areas of government you see wasting money that should rightfully be used elsewhere. Although some of you may be thinking of some pet cause or other, be it education or welfare or what have you, the best place it can be used is in the families from which it was ripped.

This government survived and thrived without an Income Tax system. The country was a booming juggernaut. Even saddled with the Tax, we have become the world Superpower. Imagine how far we could've gone without the Tax or its hidden children (in regulation and corporate welfare). Its legacy is one of the proverbial albatross around the neck of our society. We can only do good by getting rid of it.

There are viable alternatives. Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX) recently proposed a funding system that would eliminate the Income Tax, shut down the IRS and fund the U.S. government at 1990 levels, before welfare reform and at the height of the Cold War spending, when our armed forces were at their peak. The bill never got to the floor. If you can answer why and it doesn't send you voting out your current Congressman or Senator because of it, every single one that saw that that bill didn't get a fair vote, then you might as well move to Canada, Cuba, Europe or China, because they could use a few more good socialists.

We need Americans. We need Americans like Jefferson, Adams, and Hamilton. Unfortunately, if they were in power today, they'd be stuck in Ron Paul's shunned caucus. How far have we fallen? Think on that as you write that tax check this year. In fact, think on it every year until you get so nauseated at the thought that you have no choice but to act. Maybe then, someday, we can return this country to those ideals and the dreams of those patriots. Until then, make sure you signed and properly dated your check.

1 Comments:

Blogger Mike Kole said...

Funny, I think of Marx as one of the revered fossils of the 19th Century, in the same spirit as how many seem to regard the Founding Fathers.

Thanks for the citation and the linkage!

-Mike

10:20 PM  

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