It has been a while since I've said something even remotely political on the BOOK, so here's my version of relapse...
Someone (actually a few people) recently told me that I'll be a Republican as soon as I start paying taxes. The clear implication of this statement essentially is this: "When you make money, something happens to your world-view. Suddenly, the notion that all of humanity possesses a dignified essence worth preserving goes right down the tubes in the face of graduating to a higher tax-bracket. Why the fuck do you want to pay for some illegal's education, health-care, and general safety? TO THAT I SAY HELL NO."
I remember being taught, as many little kids in school are, that happiness was something that could never be bought, and therefore had no price. Why are my dear Republican friends convinced that a few extra percentage points of income will make their lives so much better? To all of my compassionately conservative brethren out there, with all of your dollars and sense: are you really going to achieve any extra level of contentment if you could just get your hands on that extra thing? Have you no sense of desire to see your community be one of envy for its awesome distribution of general stoke?
Back to the brainwashing of our young people with lies that even the most admired community members dare not endorse behind the closed doors of high society: were they just feeding us a crock of shit when they told us that you COULD NOT buy your happiness? (My ignorance on this topic is so in need of addressing by someone that it is straight-up not even humorous.)
Maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe I'm the shithead. Maybe all that jive about the "meek shall inherit the Earth" was just a random quote taken out of context. Maybe, what it's all about is cracking some cold ones with your folks in the most pristine setting one could attain, regardless of what went into attaining it. Maybe my reading of the American dream is a selective one; am I being foolish when I say that the relationship between the free individual and the free society exists by default?
Can you be a free person living under the chains of a perpetually recurring "sluggish economy," living in the shadows of the most opulent human existence ever witnessed? My guess is that your answer depends on who you are and what you have; show me the majority of losers in this rigged economy, who enjoy paying through the nose and getting nothing in return, whom profess to hold a deep-seeded love for the rich's ability to screw us all over again and again.
Someday, I'll be a person who makes a decent wage. Someday, it will be me shelling out the taxes. I'll be proud that I'm able to repay my debt to the society that fostered my development in all significant aspects. After all, I didn't build the roads, the schools, the sewers, the city halls, the courthouses; I didn't even write the Constitution, the pseudo-sacred document that effects our lives much more than any sacred text I know of. I didn't do a fucking thing to build up the society that I was born into. All that I am was essentially handed to me on a platter known as birthright. Given all that, would I be an ungrateful dickhead by asserting my right to contribute as little as possible to said birthright? Methinks yes...
Republicans: stop parading your right to selfishly horde a measly extra couple grand from the coffers of the country that gave you this wonderful existence because of all your "hard work." To my Republican friends out there- I dare you to respond. TELL ME WHY IT IS OK TO BE SELFISH. Notice that I'm not even asking you to justify it as a superior or even admirable ideological position. Just simply tell me why it's not reprehensible to demand that your money really is yours, and not the world's. Since we non-republicans are clearly so ignorant of the way, the light, and the truth- I am begging to be taught.
Back to the brainwashing of our young people with lies that even the most admired community members dare not endorse behind the closed doors of high society: were they just feeding us a crock of shit when they told us that you COULD NOT buy your happiness? (My ignorance on this topic is so in need of addressing by someone that it is straight-up not even humorous.)
Maybe I've got it all wrong. Maybe I'm the shithead. Maybe all that jive about the "meek shall inherit the Earth" was just a random quote taken out of context. Maybe, what it's all about is cracking some cold ones with your folks in the most pristine setting one could attain, regardless of what went into attaining it. Maybe my reading of the American dream is a selective one; am I being foolish when I say that the relationship between the free individual and the free society exists by default?
Can you be a free person living under the chains of a perpetually recurring "sluggish economy," living in the shadows of the most opulent human existence ever witnessed? My guess is that your answer depends on who you are and what you have; show me the majority of losers in this rigged economy, who enjoy paying through the nose and getting nothing in return, whom profess to hold a deep-seeded love for the rich's ability to screw us all over again and again.
Someday, I'll be a person who makes a decent wage. Someday, it will be me shelling out the taxes. I'll be proud that I'm able to repay my debt to the society that fostered my development in all significant aspects. After all, I didn't build the roads, the schools, the sewers, the city halls, the courthouses; I didn't even write the Constitution, the pseudo-sacred document that effects our lives much more than any sacred text I know of. I didn't do a fucking thing to build up the society that I was born into. All that I am was essentially handed to me on a platter known as birthright. Given all that, would I be an ungrateful dickhead by asserting my right to contribute as little as possible to said birthright? Methinks yes...
Republicans: stop parading your right to selfishly horde a measly extra couple grand from the coffers of the country that gave you this wonderful existence because of all your "hard work." To my Republican friends out there- I dare you to respond. TELL ME WHY IT IS OK TO BE SELFISH. Notice that I'm not even asking you to justify it as a superior or even admirable ideological position. Just simply tell me why it's not reprehensible to demand that your money really is yours, and not the world's. Since we non-republicans are clearly so ignorant of the way, the light, and the truth- I am begging to be taught.
PS: This conversation has absolutely nothing to do with Barack Obama, and until now, he went completely unmentioned. This was done on purpose. Without addressing the current administration, tell me, ideologically, why it is OK to be selfish. (I say this because we cannot have a reasonable conversation based on fact and not immediately revert to the previous 30 years of conservative control in Washington that has provided the fucked up template that Barry currently is failing to fix. Moreover- while he's a big disappointment, he doesn't represent a whole mode of thought, just as GWB does not represent all of conservatism.)
So if anyone has the gall, please inform me as to why we should all keep to ourselves; please inform me why we should not share our money and resources with those in need; please inform me why it is OK to live in the richest third world country in the world; please inform me why tax day is something to fear and hate, rather than celebrate.
Anyone??? My ignorance pains me, and I need a lesson...
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