During the 2012 Presidential Campaign, there was one very interesting argument between the Romney campaign and the Democrats and Elizabeth Warren when she asked if Corporations are people or not, but with current developments happening in Congress I would like to echo this question – is the government a person? It would be very interesting to see the answer from the Democratic Party that have become Statist – someone who believes the success of the government is paramount to everything else.
So, how would a Democrat describe government? Noble, good intentioned and only acting in ways they believes work for the best interests of its people. They believe it is the role of the government to ensure fairness among its citizens. How would a Conservative describe government? Big, excessive and bloated, has stripped citizens of their individuality and their power to decide. So, who is right and for the sake of arguments, let’s assume the government is a person so we can take a good hard look at its actions:
Taxation:
• Imagine when you get paid, an individual walks up to you asks for a % of your money, saying that if you don’t pay, the amount will increase and could lead to imprisonment. Imagine being a successful person (and of course by successful I mean anyone who earns over $400,000) and I say, for every 2 minutes you work, one of them is for ME. I am getting the proceeds from that minute.
• Imagine going to the supermarket for your groceries or buying gas or bringing out your family for a nice lunch and I turn up and say, that’s nice but you gotta give me a cut. But this time instead of asking you for my cut, I just add it to your bill and you pay the establishment and they hold it for me.
• Imagine you have some spare cash from your hard work and you decide to buy a few shares and after making a profit decide to sell and I come and say… ah ah ah you gotta pay your fair share. You got to pay me some of your profit, even though I did not take the risk to invest.
• Imagine a sad occasion like your parent passes away and I turn up to the funeral and I say 40% of your parents possessions now belong to me.
So what can we say about the Government on taxes? No matter how much you earn, what you spend your money on or what happens in your life, it is clear the government never ever loses – it always gets its cut. However taxing is only one way this individual affects your life:
POWER:
• I can tell any company I choose how to operate and if I feel it necessary I can outlaw any product I want.
• I can walk into a shop with you as a free person and I can say “you’re a free person and you can choose any bar of chocolate you want, once you choose between a mars and a snickers? Is that real freedom?
• I can come into your home and tell you what toilet to use, what light bulb is best, and now tell you what cup of soda you can get.
• I tell you what you need in your pension and the amount you need to live on and what you need in your health control. I can even go as far as telling you to ignore your religion and God, after all that I still expect you to be grateful.
In fact, I have become so powerful, that you cannot name one aspect to your life that you have full control over without my approval beforehand. I can take as much of you hard earned money as I want, tell you how to live, take and give rights as I see fit all in the name of fairness. I can control any aspect of the country with legislation and/or regulation. However, that is not the only power I hold today. I also sufficiently control the media and dialog that any disagreement with my authority is called extreme. James Madison once wrote the following and the highlighted part appears in The Declaration of Independence:
They must have reflected that in all great changes of established government forms ought to give way to substance; that a rigid adherence in such cases to the former would render nominal and nugatory the transcendent and precious right of the people to “abolish or alter their governments as to them shall seem most likely to affect their safety and happiness,” since it is impossible for the people spontaneously and universally to move in concert towards their object.
Is it possible that 150 years after Lincoln said “Of the people, by the people, and for the people,” the statement has been changed to “Of the government, by the government and for the government”? And lastly if this question is true should the American Constitution be changed from “We the people” to “We the Government?
Or will the American Patriot rise up again and take back THEIR country? To those looking for inspiration, look no further than Thomas Paine who wrote: “Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph” because America is worth fighting for and her best days are ahead of her.