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Jul 3
My Opinion Should Not Threaten You — But I'm Sure It Will
These topics are off limits in America, yet they are the very concepts holding us back
When we voice an opinion, weak men often strike out in anger leaving a person standing there wondering what the hell happened.
Ideas are big, scary, and dangerous. This fear of ideas is spiraling us back into a new Dark Ages.
New ideas can threaten those in power, fearful of the loss of power. Leaders of nations, ethnicities, and churches alike use the threat of unfamiliar ideas to scare their following. Big, intimidating monickers are used, labeling the new ideas for the masses and instilling fear.
Today, this is the game plan of the conservative end of the political spectrum.
When suggestions of use of taxpayers' resources to benefit those very taxpayers, we hear calls for communism, socialism, marxism — literally any grand, fuzzy concept. The impact on the masses is sure to evoke emotions of fear, anxiety, and revulsion with no concern of the ideas having no resemblance to any of these.
Yes, Paying Taxes is Necessary
Before you head down the rabbit hole of the anarchy or revolutionary, claiming taxes are unjust and a person should protest by not paying any, just stop.
Taxes are the necessary price of admission in living in a civilized world.
Taxes mean we are educated at least on a very basic level.
Taxes provide roads, supporting interstate commerce.
By paying taxes, an individual is holding up their end of the social contract. Individuals pay taxes in exchange for the government delivering some basic infrastructure, relative domestic tranquility, and certain services which otherwise the free economy would not provide. This is not socialism, communism or any other 'ism' you choose.
This is called not being a third world county.
Arguments against our taxation system invariably turn to several talking points.
These talking points rely of the same few stereotyped lies, often parrotted on social media. These false narratives make some folks puff out their chests and claim their 'heritage'.
Fallacy #1 — No One Can Stand on Their Own Two Feet
Would-be rebels love to claim to have never taken any 'guv'ment' money.
Individuals claiming to have never accepted any help from the government, have always been self-reliant, and only through their own hard work have made their own way in life amuse me. Doesn't it remind me of the two-year-old who tells their mom "me do it!"
Humans are social being by nature, relying on our fellow man for our very survival. This is how we have evolved since the times of our prehistoric, cave dwelling ancestors to now.
Fallacy #2 — Helping Someone Does Not Make Them Lazy
When a house is aflame, burning to the ground, the fire department shows up to extinguish the blaze.
Does this make the homeowner lazy?
When a patient is diagnosed with cancer, the oncologist goes to work with the best treatment plan to cure or at least extend a person's life.
Does this make the patient lazy?
Lending aid to our fellow humans in their time of need does not create laziness. Helping each other means we are decent humans. Our lives have meaning only in relationship with others.
Our interdependence defines our experiences here on earth.
Fallacy #3 — Mythical Cowboy Personas
Tough guys — Charles Bronson, Clint Eastwood, or who ever you see in your mind's eye when you think of the quintessential cowboy motif.
The concept of an individual with unrealistic skills, abilities, and heroic qualities. The imagery of one guy in a white hat coming to the rescue of an entire town with no regard to their own well-being, even to the point of sacrificing their own life.
Sound too good to be true?
Only because it is.
America's fascination with the cowboy stereotype is a juvenile idolatry with little basis in reality,
Enough For Now
America, it is time to wake up, grow up, and step up.
We need to cease the bullshit patriotism, join the civilized first world economy, and start dealing with our issues like adults.
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