Death and taxes

I was listening to the radio on my way home from work on Thursday and they were talking about the death of Pop Legend Michel Jackson. Instead of celebrating the good things Mr. Jackson had done in his life, some of the callers instead were suggesting his death was some kind of punishment from God; despite the fact that we have no real proof of his wrong doing. My first thought was "how short sighted that opinion is", and it reconfirmed for me how my beliefs help take the sing out of death.

When everyone is destined to die, and it's really just a matter of when, how can we say death is a punishment (unless you torcher them to death) especially when you believe as I do that death is not the end. Rather I believe death to be a necessary next step in our eternal progression. Instead of grieving, I find myself hopping Mr. Jackson has now found the peace he needs.

Don't get me wrong, it's certainly sad when loved ones leave us, and I do believe in capitol "punishment", both as a deterrent and as a way of dealing with people whom have done such terrible things that society has no other way to truly deal with them.

I'm not even talking about rapists or pedophiles, as I think we should castrate them instead; rather I'm talking about people who are likely to do there horrific acts again and again if ever given the chance. In that case death is a way of protecting society and preventing them from committing further sin. From this perspective, death can even be seen as merciful. They will also be further along their way to the true judgment and punishment of God that is well beyond anything we can ever inflict in this mortal life.


So what do taxes have to do with this, other then supposedly being the other unavoidable thing in life? While many people are busy morning over dead celebrities that they don't even really know, Congress has been busy finding new ways to tax us and ultimately destroy more jobs in the name of protecting us from a still poorly understood phenomenon commonly referred to as "Climate Change"; formally known as "Global Warming", and in the '70s it was referred to as "Global Cooling".

What I'm getting to here is the single largest tax ever to be put on the U.S.A. In a single session of congress: cleverly named "Cap and Trade". In an already slow economic time, this bill will only hurdle us even closer to a full-on depression, and no I don't think a depression is inevitable, or at least I didn't until the Democrats took over Washington D.C. ealier this year. Quite honestly, the passage of this bill is something i think most Americans should be more graved by then the passing of a couple of celebrities (with exception to those who actually knew the deceased personally).

As the economy continues to plummet, our liberal government will continue to find new reasons why they "have to" take over more aspects of our lives to keep us from hurting our selves. The reality is that it's the government putting stumbling block in our path that is causing us to trip and fall. Sure a reasonable amount of regulation is good to protect the people against tyrants and thieves, but I believe the U.S. government has taken this way too far. My biggest fear is that we are not even close to being done with all the encroachments the government is going to make into our lives and our wallets.

The moral here is that our country is going to continue on a downward spiral until we start getting our priorities straight, and getting involved. We can talk about it all day long, but until we actually do something, all we'll get is more of Obama's "Change". I say he can keep his change, and I'll keep my dollars.

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If things get bad enough will the government say they "have to" step in a take complete control over the economy and all businesses?  Either way, it looks like we have until 2020 before the worst of it kicks in, so lets get started on looking for good people to represent us that will repeal this economy killing bill.  On the other had, maybe we'll all be driving electric cars by then... yeah I know, not likely; though I'm sure there'll be a few around by then.

My letter to Obama

Although I do worry about some of the things Obama has on his agenda, that most Democrats (who now have majority control of congress) will likely support, I actually have found myself felling better about him then Mr. McCain. I never liked McCain (even being a moderately-conservative republican-leaning voter) as a presidential Candidate and never thought he had a chance at wining.

I actually ended up doing a protest vote for Baldwin (Constitution party) to express my dislike for the options (and wish more people would do this instead of voting out of "fear of the other guy" or simply not voting) as I fell my voice is heard more clearly this way.

I think Obama will actually turn out to be more moderate then some are painting him to be, but I'm also sure I'll find plenty to disagree with him on.

My suggestion is to all of you is to go to his website http://change.gov/page/s/yourstory and tell him your story. Be polite and honest, and you may be surprised at the kind of influence you can have towards affecting the kind of change you want to see. You likely won’t get exactly what you want but you’ll be much closer to it then what you'll get just sitting around and complaining about it.

Here is the letter I wrote:

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I've always believed that life is hard. By this I don't mean malicious, but rather challenging. I've also learned that the things that are most worth living for are the things we must work hardest to archive, or that require the most work; such as faith, family, good friendships, and a prosperous career (yes in order of importance). For this nation to be great, the people in it need to be great, and that means a willingness to work hard to earn the things that are most worth having. Our society today feels too entitled to things they need to learn to work harder for, and then get rewarded generously for their hard work. The greatest generation in the country (40's & 60s), came out of the hardest times this country has ever seen; because they learned to work hard for what they had.

The roll I'd like my federal government to play in this, is simple yet effective regulation to insure that not only corporations are prevented from taking advantage and usurping power from the people, but that governments are also prevented from interfering with our ability to work hard to earn and keep the tings we work for.

I'd also like my government to focus more on the nations infrastructure, national defense (not necessarily foreign defense) and basic standards related to commerce and business; in such a way that it enables the individual to do a better job at archiving the goals they see best for themselves. I believe that as our government steps back, leaving behind opportunity, the people of this nation will find their ability to stand up and fill those opportunities; while having minimal government assistance to insure the people can take those opportunities they are not taken advantage of, through simple but affective regulations.

I believe the constitution of this great country has enabled this country to be great, so long as the people in it are willing to be great; however, it has been walked all over in the last few decades by both sides of the isle, judges who misinterpret it based on their own agendas, and the people who have willingly accepted laws that aspire to regulate and control our freedoms. From this has come some of the biggest problems this country faces today. Basically I see the main problem as an oversize federal government controlled by bureaucrats, special interests, and over-sized monopolistic corporations, that usurps powers that according to the 10th amendment belong to the individual states and the people. I believe our gun regulations and criminal laws are already stricter then is necessary to discourage criminal activity and may even contribute to the delinquency of otherwise law abiding people. This not to diminish the federal governments responsibility towards oversight, but certainly this oversight needs to not be so overly intrusive. The real answer to our social problems is not more regulations and laws, but to untie our hands and enable the people to step up and do what's right for their families and their communities.

Fiscal responsibility is also a big concern of mine, and I strongly disagree with the "Bailout" loans that have been given over the last few months; especially because it's causing a nearly 1 trillion dollar spending deficit - the highest in history - even when accounting for inflation. If there's one thing that I believe will dis-stabilize an economy and cause increasingly larger fluctuations in inflation/deflation and prosperity/poverty it is an economy fueled by debt with the unreasonable expectation of consistent future inflation; usually forced upon us by huge increases in the money supply through deficit spending, international borrowing, and printing of new money. This benefits the rich and the large corporations, but tends to only hurts the people this government is supposed to protect.

I must admit, President-Elect Obama, I did not vote for you, but I also did not vote for McCain, as I feel both parties have lost touch with the "average Joe". I truly hope that the change you endeavor to bring to this country will help enable an improvement in the life and livelihood of the "average Joe".

- Posted By Seth Hollist

Who's Rich enough to be taxed?

I was listening to talk radio the other day about how McCain and Obama were debating the "rich" mark for tax rates, in regards to were you draw the line for determining who deserves a higher tax rate. Apparently Obama said 250K a year was the line, and McCain replied with a sarcastic remark about "five million" being rich. Interestingly enough, Obama would latter criticize McCain for having 7 houses (including investment properties), shortly after he himself had returned from an expensive vacation in Hawaii, and made about four million himself the year before. But enough of that... What is rich? Where do we draw the line?

First of all let me say, I'm not in favor of a "Federal" income tax, but I also recognize that the alternatives in today’s world, with today’s financial mentality, probably aren't much better. Personally I think the 16th & 17th amendments have some serious conflicts of interest with Article 1, section 9, clauses 4 & 5 of the US Constitution; and possibly the 9th and 10th amendments as well. Not to mention how the IRS's poor sense of due process violates the 4th, 5th and 6th amendments, but that’s another subject.

When you start talking about drawing a line on who's rich and who's not, I think you start to pinpoint the major problem with our income tax laws today. Personally I would look to the bible for an answer. Anyone who's read the bible knows that God expects us to Tithe, which by definition means one tenth. God essentially puts us all into the exact same "tax bracket", if you can call it that. Why can't our government do the same? Sure we all want our standard deduction, and other tax saving deductions, but when you get down to how much your "Taxable Income" is (after all the deductions) why can't we all pay the same percentage, or in other words, have everyone be in the same tax bracket? That I think is the only fair and easy way to settle the matter.

- Posted by Seth Hollist