Thoughts of the Eve of Tax Day

Some random asides:

Bill Whittle has some great quotes from the Founding Fathers on the proper place of government in our lives. My favorite is from Patrick Henry:

“Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel. Unfortunately, nothing will preserve it but downright force. Whenever you give up that force, you are inevitably ruined.”

I've done the taxes and Husband has paid the deficiency (poor Husband - at this time, yes, quite poor). I've also done the math, and discovered that 30% of our our yearly gross income goes right back out the door in taxes. Yes, I said thirty percent. That's higher than the 18% we spend on housing, the 11% we put away in savings, or the 6% we spend on our cars. And that, to me, is sick. It's wrong. It is, for lack of a better word, out-and-out theft.

As I noted on Facebook the other day, 47% of Americans pay no Federal income tax at all. If these people have no stake in the system, why do we continue to allow them to (effectively) run it? Why do they get to vote at all? Yes, I am suggesting that we tax "the poor". Anyone over the Federal poverty level should pay something, even a pittance, if only to remind them that it's their money the government is spending. If not, perhaps they should remain citizens but lose the right to vote. No representation without taxation? It has a ring to it ...

A related thought: we need to move Election Day to April 16th. No more of this November nonsense - we need to go to the polls with a very clear sense of how badly we've just been bent over the sink (pardon the vulgarism) and vote accordingly. This is a non-partisan desire on my part; let's vote to get rid of all of them, if they spend too much of what we've earned.

The boys and I will be at the Houston Tea Party tomorrow, having fun and taking pictures of the friendly crowd ... and any unfriendly crashers as well. Pajamas Media will be putting up a special gallery of the latter, who are also known as "useful idiots"; be sure to check it out. They'll also have coverage of the country-wide events. In Houston, AM700 will be covering the rally, with Sam Malone (if you remember him, you're as old as I am) as the emcee for the afternoon. See you at Discovery Green!

A Little More than Lamentable

Breitbart reports that the US has frozen spending on a HIV treatment program in several African countries. The program, which gives free antiretroviral therapy drugs to patients, was begun by President Bush in 2003. It was up for renewal this year, and the Obama administration decided to cut the program to the point that now it will be unable to accept new patients.

"We are heading to carnage. Carnage which had been put to a stop," [...] "There is no prevention programme that can succeed without treatment."

Your tax dollars, not at work doing good.

I'm juxtaposing this today in my head with a request I received at work. Will I review a lengthy and completely inapplicable document? asked an internal client. You see, the customer in question has received bailout funds, and one of the many strings attached to the money is that this particular agreement must be disseminated to and signed by all, no matter how inapplicable.

Your tax dollars, hand at work making scores of people deal with something wholly unnecessary.

If the Federal government doesn't revolt you, you're really not paying close enough attention.