Taxes are forced garnishment of our wages and should be abolished altogether. No, I'm not kidding. I realize we are supposed to live and work together so that we as a country can thrive and prosper, but I don't think I should have to pay for things that I don't use via taxation. Now I'm sure more than a few of you are asking me "Well genius, how would we pay for everything?" The answer is simple. Everything should be paid for with user fees. If I use it, I get a bill for it.
For instance, in our current system, if I call an ambulance to take me to the hospital I will get a bill in the mail. In most localities, this currently is not paid for with taxes and works just fine. Is it a little expensive? Yes it is, but you pay for it
once when you actually use it instead of in every single paycheck. Moreover, nobody else is paying for
your ambulance ride. I think the police, roads, and schools should all be taken care of the same way. If I call the police, I get a bill. Criminals' fines that they pay would go toward funding law enforcement as well. A benefit to this is that it would stop the Gestapo-like practices that police employ these days to be "proactive" (stopping people in their cars for no reason and running the license plates of regular law-abiding citizens through our Big Brother system just to hand out a ticket and generate revenue) because police would only show up when they are actually needed.
Also, roads would be paid for with toll money. I pay for useless roads that I never drive on so other people have a quicker commute to work, and that is just stupid. If you want to use that road, you pay for it, not me. Does it mean higher tolls? Yes, it does. However, once again that money is not coming out of your paycheck so it evens out anyway and people who don't use those particular roads don't have to pay for them.
As far as schools are concerned, private schools seem like the way for us to go. Why should someone with no kids have to pay for someone else's kids to go to school? I want to pay for my kids to go to the school I pick for them and not have to pay for someone else's child to go to school. Sure, people say, "But you're investing in our country's future!" What if that kid drops out at 15 years old and goes to prison? There goes my "investment." Statistically, children who go to private schools do better on standardized testing and have a lower dropout rate than their public school counterparts. Why is this? First of all, classes are smaller, students get more attention, and the teachers are supposedly better due to a higher pay scale. You are also able to have a lot more of a say in what your child is learning and what occurs at the school. In addition, there tends to be less bad or disruptive behavior due to stricter rules. Moreover, I don't know if you've noticed, but our public schools are in dismal shape. We rank behind 16 other countries in science and lower than 23 other countries when it comes to math (NY Times, Dec 5, 2007). Keeping all this in mind, who
wouldn't want to put their kids in a private school?
Is this all selfish? Maybe it is, but above all else it is the fair thing to do. Taxes are something that the Founding Fathers felt very strongly about. Their ire at unnecessary taxation imposed by the government is basically what led to the formation of this country in the first place. They felt strongly about being left alone to their own devices, without interference by the government. They worked hard and everyone pulled their own weight. If we tax people left and right, we are back to where we started just prior to the Revolutionary War.
Needless to say, I am not happy with the current situation regarding taxation, and that sentiment precedes the current administration's policies. But, am I going to resort to fear-mongering and calling people Socialists or anything of that nature? No, that is a ridiculous thing to do and I think we as Americans (particularly Republicans/conservatives at the moment) need to stop that behavior immediately. Not only does it make you look like a stark-raving lunatic or conspiracy theorist, but it is a direct affront to how a democracy should be run. Democracy is about the rational free exchange of ideas. Everyone has their say and is allowed to participate in the process. Are there ideas you disagree with? Yes there are, and that's fine. Name-calling and screaming over the voices the opposition (think Joe Wilson's "You lie!" outburst) doesn't make you any more right. It actually makes you look like an idiot, and Republicans need to learn that this is why they lost control of all three branches of government and got trounced in every major election of 2008.
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