The Stupid Tax
J. D. Pendry
Ensure that you apply the appropriate emphasis on the word stupid. Stupid is not the adjective describing a tax. Rather, it is like the income tax – the price we pay politicians for the privilege to earn money. The stupid tax is the price we pay for the privilege to be stupid. All of us and I’m in there too.
Recently, I learned of yet another newsworthy story of the presidential campaign ignored by most media. It happened at a political rally during the playing of our National Anthem. Every person knows that when the Anthem plays, placing your hand over your heart, removing your hat if you are a man, or saluting if you belong to a uniformed service and are wearing your uniform is an act of rendering honor to the United States of America. In this scene, you’ll see two Presidential contenders doing that while one nonchalantly folds his hands. This is the same one that stated to the world that the lives of American Soldiers lost in Iraq were wasted lives and that our military is bombing villages in Afghanistan, implying the haphazard killing of civilians. If you cannot render a simple honor to our country and the men and women who sacrifice in the service of it, you can’t possibly lead it anywhere except to board the express train for the ride to hell. That such an unpatriotic boob could be the second best contender of a major political party for the Presidency of the United States is the return on our investment for many years of paying the stupid tax. If you voted for him, contributed to his campaign or otherwise support him for political office then you have paid the premium stupid tax. But, according to one of his competitors, he is an articulate, clean, bright, good-looking guy. His competitor is also a stupid tax dividend.
It’s difficult to characterize which particular stupid tax is the most dangerous for our country because we have so many different ones. I don’t know if you are old enough to have lived through the Arab oil embargo. It was our reward for supporting Israel when they were attacked by Syria, Egypt and their supporters in the Yom Kippur War. The oil problem that you and I deal with every working day when traveling to our jobs and accomplishing other necessary tasks is not a new problem. During the embargo, politicians said we have to work toward conservation and energy independence. You may find the price analysis here quite telling. In a nutshell, it tells us that in 2006 dollars every penny we pay beyond about $22.00 per barrel is our stupid tax. Stupid because we never insisted that the politicians we voted into office do what they knew we needed them to do to protect us and our country. Stupid, because the dollars we send to the Middle East and Venezuela are being used to bring down our economy and ultimately our country. Pitifully, we settle for being told that the solution to our energy crisis is to grow more corn. That ranks right up there with Jimmy Carter telling us to put on a sweater and turn down the heat.
We pay plenty of stupid tax. Not the least of which are the 6 figure salaries and the perks of their offices that we pay to career politicians. The return on our investment is billions of dollars in pork diverted to Congressional districts to build bridges to nowhere named to honor the pork producing politicians. If calculated, I imagine the political pork amassed since 1973 would meet the price of making us energy independent many times over. That is a lot of stupid tax for one nation to pay and still survive.
The most insidious stupid tax we pay is that which we contribute to our failed public education system. We have atrocious dropout rates, and in the communities who most need to raise education levels to survive. Third world countries lack a middle class because their populations are largely illiterate. People starting life without a basic education are often burdens on society rather than contributors to it. The money we invest in a failed education system pays us dividends in public assistance and higher crime rates. Unfortunately, if every student graduated, it would not solve the problem of our schools being used as tools of social and political indoctrination. Schools have moved well beyond their charter to make our children competent in basic knowledge of math, science, history…. They’ve turned instead toward social engineering. Our children are taught that it is OK to bring homosexuality to school, but not God. Birth control pills are available to 11 year old girls and condoms are passed out on demand. They are brainwashed and politically indoctrinated by Al Gore movies. And it doesn’t stop there. Many of these children, on their way to become our next generation of political leaders, end up in universities that represent social engineering on steroids. The only example of their product one needs is seeing an audience of students adoringly applauding Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A man who would like nothing better than to incinerate them with a nuclear weapon and who has the blood of many Americans on his hands and then watching the same collection of indoctrinated, spoiled brat kids shout down any other point of view. Someday, all of these brainwashed 18 year old brats are going to the polls. They’ll give us a big return on our stupid tax investment, but I’m not sure we can stand it. They won’t be able to either, but by then it will be too late.
I’ve thought about my stupid tax. Have you calculated yours? It’ll be painful.
Copyright © 2007 J. D. Pendry All Rights Reserved