Taxes Aren’t Evil, and Neither Are Democrats

This is it, my last dash pitch to ask you to vote. And to vote to reelect our President. Nationwide we need your help to elect Democrats to state legislatures, and in Congress we need to ensure Democrats retain a majority in the Senate and gain as many seats as possible in the House.

Why? Because I love our country. Because I am worried about our future. Because I live here and have a child. Because I own a home and have my own business. Because I pay taxes.

Yesterday I was canvassing for an environmental group. Walking my neighborhood, knocking on doors, offering information on environmental issues and candidates endorsed by the group. I met a Veteran, a young man who has been wounded both physically and emotionally by what he experienced. He can’t get a job, the care at the VA Hospital sucks, and get this, he has to PAY for his medical bills!

Why? Well, it all comes back to “small government, less taxes”, the GoP is happy to start wars and put them on our national credit card, but they refuse to pass legislation to pay for the care of our Veteran’s. It is our President who has insisted we honor and care for our Veteran’s and who is fighting the GoP to pass the Veteran’s Jobs Bill.

Think about that when you consider who to vote for and, if you really think the system is broken, let’s think about who broke it.

What happens if a few hundred or a few thousand people sit out in a “protest” vote? Well, in 2000 Florida “decided” the election, by less than 600 votes. Had Gore won would we have had a Supreme Court that bestowed humanity on a legal entity? What mischief would a Romney Supreme Court get into? We know they can’t wait to get into my uterus, that’s for sure.

And let’s consider what our taxes pay for, what are taxes and why do we need them? To hear the republican’s talk, the world is made of magic, we don’t need to pay for roads or schools, our economy doesn’t require regulation, taxes are an abomination and Democrats are evil for saying we should all pay our fair share.

Well, I’ve got a news flash for you, taxes aren’t evil and neither are Democrats. Share this news with all your FOX watching conservative friends. Explain to them that taxes are a universal good, and those Founding Fathers they love to invoke? Well, they created taxes along with the Constitution.

Here is how our tax dollar is spent:

• National Defense                                                                 24.9%
• Health Care                                                                         23.7%
• Job and Family Security                                                       19.1%
• Veterans Benefits                                                                   4.5%
• Education and Job Training                                                     3.6%
• Natural Resources, Energy and Environment                           2.0%
• International Affairs                                                                1.6%
• Science, Space and Technology Programs                                1.0%
• Immigration, Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice    2.0%
• Agriculture                                                                                0.7%
• Community, Area and Regional Development                             0.5%
• Response to Natural Disasters                                                     0.4%
• Additional Government Programs                                                 7.9%
• Net Interest                                                                                  8.1%

You see, the Founding Fathers understood that in order to form this most perfect Union, we had to be willing to pay the piper.  And remember, Mitt Romney wants to give more money to the Defense Department, $2 Trillion dollars they don’t even want, when they are already getting 25 cents of every dollar we pay in taxes! But those greedy teachers and students, why we’re throwing all of 3.6 cents at them, the horror, the waste, the rampant greed!

What we are lacking here is a basic understanding of how taxes work and how the two parties want to spend our taxes. Did you know that there is a push by some conservatives to get their hands on our Social Security by privatizing it? And not only that, but Medicare and our local real estate taxes too? Did you notice those taxes were not included in the breakdown? They can’t be, not if we protect them.

You see, these are separate trust taxes, and they can’t go to defense or oil & gas subsidies. We pay these taxes and they are set aside for specific uses, so they only way they can be used as a private profit generator is to convince voters that they are “going broke” and that privatization will “save” them, uh huh, just like 401k’s made us all rich? It’s all a scam folks, and it is way past time to wake up and call out the GoP for the games they want to play with our money.

It all comes down to this, anyone who makes under $250,000 and votes republican is voting against their own best interest, and those who make more than $250,000 and vote republican are voting against the rest of us. It really is that simple.