Economics and Government

April 15th is a day dreaded by Americans. A friend of mine and her husband were shocked to find they owned nearly seven thousand dollars in state and federal taxes this year. But this year was a little different, across America, TEA (Taxed Enough Already) parties were held on tax day. A gentleman on one of the Sunday morning shows stated it was just an anti-Obama protest. ABC ran a story about the TEA parties stating this one differed from the Boston Tea Party. The journalist stated that this was taxation with representation but these protesters just lost the vote. No news story was quite as remarkable as a story run by CNN. A reporter asked a man why he was at the rally. He said, “Because I hear a president say he believed in what Lincoln stood for. Lincoln’s primary thing was, he believe people had the right to liberty.” The report cut the gentleman off and said, “What does this have to do with your taxes?” I about fell out of my chair when I heard this. What does liberty have to do with taxes? How is it that people just don’t get it? It may have something to do with the media and their take on things. Or possibly it is a general lack of knowledge. Maybe it has to do with the public school system and how parents have stopped being parents. With liberty, people are free to make their own choices. They decide how they spend the fruits of their labors. Liberty was the cornerstone of this country. It was what made our country great. If only everyone started thinking and stopped merely feeling, we could move from a country filled with rational irrationality to once again, making rational decision like the founders did. Taxes had a place. (To provide for the public good, for example.) But we have moved so far beyond what we need, to what makes us feel good. “Spreading the wealth around” may be good politics but it will hamper economic growth. Liberty has everything to do with taxes. The higher taxes climb, the greater the loss of liberty.