AMERICAN TAX PIE
Thank you Mr. James Fraynes for expressing your disbelief over the way our governments operate and waste incredible sums of the tax dollars we contribute to support some mighty inexplicable and disastrous decision making. Your piece touched a nerve of mine that has long been festering as I have helplessly watched (along with so many of you) my tax contributions go to support inane research studies, futile attempts to stop drug trafficking, special interests, backdoor subsidies i.e, oil, logging, mining, pharmaceuticals, farming, etc.-the list goes on and on..
However-take heart dear neighbors!
I believe that I have stumbled upon a very simple solution that takes the power and responsibility of decision making and allocating money away from the coercion of special interest groups, away from corrupt politicians who are often in bed with those groups as well as woman who are not their wives (I love it when my tax dollars go towards supporting our leaders extramarital sexual escapades). As a matter of fact, with my simple plan we could actually do away with our so called “representatives” altogether and represent ourselves from the comfort and ease of our own backyards..
Wouldn’t it be nice to do away with the unnecessary and supremely ineffective
politicians who besides making excellent livings replete with hefty expense accounts, life long health care and extravagant pensions who get paid to argue, disagree and blame “the other guy” across the aisle for all of our nations troubles.
Here it is!
At tax time the IRS sends us each a pie chart. We figure out what we owe for taxes and then divide and allocate a percentage of our contributions to areas of our own choosing. For example; I allocate 35% to education, 20% to infrastructure, 10% to social services, 15% to military, and 20% to naked mole rat erectile dysfunction, (just kidding with that last example) Every tax payer determines their own priorities and then the government tallies the results and legislates plans and policies determined by a truly Democratic process where every vote carries equal weight. Then the next task would be to insure that government spending remained within the size of the coffers. That could be achieved by assigning real people struggling on limited incomes that job since they have been forced to learn how to do it.
I’ve heard the argument that WE are not well enough informed to make the best decisions and we require well informed political agents (experts?) to take so many things into account before arriving at an educated opinion. Well, correct me if I’m wrong but it appears to me than when the dust settles between party issues all our well informed representatives seem to arrive at the same 2 conclusions; the Democratic position or the Republican one. How effective has this system of non-collaborative, antagonistic, black and white thinking worked?
I’m sure that with all the publicized political furor and finger pointing regarding bank and auto manufacturer bailouts, economic stimulus plans, CEO salaries and Bailout Bonuses, unprecedented housing foreclosures, skyrocketing unemployment, record setting oil company profits, man-made environmental crisis, and the like- I am certain that we average regular working folk living in what we like to call “reality,” could certainly do as poor a job as our leadership has done over the past decade at all levels of government.
I know I would have no problem deciding where to put my tax dollars to work. With a whole year to inform myself, corroborate with neighbors and friends, listen to a variety of fresh unaffiliated opinions I feel confident in my ability to decide what things are most important to me and to my vision for my country. . Maybe it’s time to uncomplicate things, get rid of unnecessary beaurocracy and keep it simple. I’m ready Uncle Sam-maybe the solutions are as simple and American as good old Apple Pie.
THE UNENDING PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS
I think it’s unfortunate that we here in the good ol U.S of A. have a holiday designated to remind us once a year to be grateful for all we have and are provided with. I think of the prior Native American cultures and their practice of thanking plants, animals, water, wind, etc. for nurturing and sustaining their lives and those of their families; every day of the year was Thanksgiving. Their simple acknowledgement of the interconnections between themselves and Earth’s abundant resources providing them with abundance resulted in the ritual expression of gratitude and prayer.
I think the practice of gratitude has far reaching effects on the lives of those who entertain it. I personally was raised with the “glass half empty” perspective and have spent a large part of my adult life letting go of the scarcity point of view and trading it for a “half full” point of view. The one results in a genuine and sustainable happiness, the other in discontent and restlessness. It initially surprised me to learn that gratitude precedes joy and not the other way around.
The pursuit of happiness promised us in the Constitution seems to have become a self fulfilling prophecy. Our culture is indeed addicted to a sense of scarcity and results in an addiction to consuming more and more. The adage “looking for love in all the wrong places” can be substituted with our futile search for “happiness” in all the wrong places. We are in fact, addicted and driven by marketing and societal brainwashing to continuously pursue happiness and briefly if ever, obtain it. Usually our happiness is superficial because it comes from a sort of temporary glow over our brand new, upgraded cell phone, laptop, car, shoes, etc. you fill in the blank. These purchases and accumulations don’t really get to the heart of our hearts resulting in the deeper joy and satisfaction we long for.
I have trouble with Christmas itself. The Scrooge is the icon for stingy self- centeredness. The Grinch another American “humbug” character. I wouldn’t be surprised if the origin of the Grinch was dreamt up by some marketing executive in a moment of inspiration. Let’s guilt the public into buying gifts for others in the name of generosity of spirit, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. If you really contemplate it, do you think Christ would be promoting a once a year, buying and giving spree rather then a continuous generosity born of genuine affection rooted in a daily spirit of love ansd appreciation?
Are we so consumed by the modern frenzy and speed of life on an average day? Alvin Toffler wrote “Future Shock” way back in the early sixties. Have we stopped to notice the effects on our own health and well being of others from our over stimulated, compulsive “doing” and manically over-achieving society? The symptoms of depression and anxiety are seen in our ever growing dependence on pharmaceuticals to mask and manage these symptoms.
How would life here be different for us all if we began to be satisfied with owning the same car for 8 or ten years? Buying a house just large enough for the size and needs of our families instead of some extravagant castle? Working only 40 hours a week and leaving ourselves time and energy to spend with our families in activities that nurture our bodies and souls?
Is it time to wake up neighbors? Wake up perhaps and see that the solution to the dilemmas we face economically, environmentally, physically, psychologically and spiritually are driven by our unbalanced manic racing towards “more, better, faster”. When is enough enough? How is your peace and serenity doing?
Another obvious and fatal result of our frenzied lifestyle in our alleged ”developed nations” is our life threatening addictions like drinking, smoking, lusting and over eating to name just a few. On the other end of our dis-ease we are greeted by debilitating and/or fatal afflictions such as heart attacks, cancer and the myriad forms of illness that all to some degree or another suffer from.
We are the only animals on this planet that do harm to ourselves, that knowingly practice unhealthy behaviors. How bad do things have to get for us all before we are willing to collectively stop, and take a united and realistic assessment of how our behaviors, beliefs and habitual ways of thinking are driving us toward extinction? Call me an alarmist or a curmudgeon like Scrooge and keep your head buried in the sand but if we don’t awaken to our unmindful self defeating actions now, we will continue to pay the price until perhaps we are no longer around to pay at all.
SCARED AND DISCOURAGED OVER OUR OWN COMPLACENCY
I don’t get it, I really don’t. There is a mere 2% to 5% of our population that would be impacted if the tax cuts to middle and lower class folks are not extended to them. Their tax burden would go back to where it was when we actually had a balanced budget and those of us hit hardest would achieve some sorely needed financial relief. Yet I heard yesterday on NPR that nearly all Republicans and many Democrats as well, are for extending tax cuts for rich along with the rest of the struggling population. 2 million unemployment checks are at risk of terminating although each dollar of that endowment brings 2 dollars back into the economy. Not so with the corporate myth of creating more jobs and growth if loopholes and cuts are extended.
We are currently in the worst economic downturn nationally and globally since the Great Depression and yet, this small percentage of fat cat million and multi millionaires through their ownership of politicians and media are able to control what legislation is passed and what is not passed. Evidently “advertising” works.
This is not news to the average person. And evidently, the average person doesn’t bother to read or investigate the accuracy of political claims any more than they take the time and effort to notice that the generic Ibuprofen product setting right next to the “Advil” costs 40 to 50% less and is identical in chemical ingredients and number of caplets. This is what scares the hell out of me.
Product and service marketers have known for a long time that it is well worth the millions and millions of dollars spent on making their product, service or political candidate a familiar household name. We do not read the ingredients on packages, or fine print in our service agreement contracts nor do we educate ourselves as to what a particular politicians stands for and supports. Even so, it is virtually impossible to vote independent of either of the Big Two and have any serious impact on policy other than insuring your “non-reelection” next time around.
Unfortunately, what the media and marketing does express to us about competing candidates and proposed legislature is what is wrong, dishonest or just plain name- calling ugly. If you think about it, there is more leeway granted to the campaigning of politicians and proposed policies than in product and service commercials. Evidently, they learned that demeaning your competition doesn’t get enough bang for the buck, except in politics.
So as per usual, all we hear about is what is wrong with proposed solutions to problems such as, unemployment, the deficit, useless wars, the housing collapse, bailouts, Wall Street and bank and political corruption, health care, environmental degradation, a failing education system- (don’t worry, after we’re taught to read we don’t read anyway) and we never hear the “better idea” as to what will indeed work. We have resourceful people who designed a remote exploratory device that lasted 2 years past it’s estimated durability on the planet Mars for Gods sake but we can’t design an automobile tire that gets more than 20, 000 miles before wearing out or find a few brilliant experts in their specialized fields to offer up well thought out solutions to the enormous problems facing us today?!
It’s discouraging to observe that the systems and institutions that once worked so well for our country no longer do work and that most proposed changes to these systems are shouted down, obstructed or diluted to the point that they are ineffective. It’s terrifying to note that common interest and common sense seem absent entirely, from governance replaced by immature schoolyard antics and finger pointing from both the left and right sides of the aisle; our representatives are accomplishing next to nothing and we are paying them well (lifetime benefits and pensions) and investing our trust in this buffoonery; worse, as a collective society we are uncollected and doing nothing about this. The complacency is downright despairing. Where is our outrage?
Beyond our over simplifying two party system, where is the third or fourth perspective from which to view and solve our dilemmas? Or would that make information too complicated to digest for those of us who won’t even take the time in our own self enlightened interest, to compare the value between the name brand product and the identical generic one...?
