Man. Have you been on Facebook these days? Since I can't stay awake for much more than 10 minutes of the nightly news, I have resorted to using the good ol' fb as my source for news. Did you know that there is a Starbuck's secret menu? I didn't until like 5 minutes ago.
But, not the point.
If you're like me, which is both awesome and terrifying, then you also have a pretty clear division in the political opinion part of your fb crowd. I'm talking some serious Right-ers and some serious Left-ers. I especially like it when the righters and the lefters post at the same time. It's interesting to see just how similar and different the arguments are.
Here's what I have noticed.
1. Everybody recognizes that our country needs to make some changes. If you don't see this as a reality, then you are a dodo brain.
2. No one has a good enough answer for how to get there.
Here is my logic. I have no research to support it because I'm just not that kind of girl. I likes my opinions and I'ma keep 'em.
1. If you make more money, you should pay more taxes. I don't care if you are a trillionaire, a billionaire, a thousandaire, or a hundredaire like me. If we all pay the same percentage, that's just fair.
2. Right-ers, please stop saying that the Left-ers are just bleeding heart, Robin Hood-like, edging up to Comunist, steal from the rich to give to the poor, can't understand reason, Godless, conservative haters. It's exhausting.
3. Left-ers, please stop saying that the Right-ers are religious, money-grubbing, selfish, can't understand if it hit them in the head, poor people are poor because they want to be, people haters. It's exhausting.
Our country was founded both on Christian principles and the ideal of freedom to make our own decisions. So, therefore, as a country, we should uphold those universal values (as in serve the most in need, protect life, liberty, and the persuit of happiness, yada, yada, yada) as well as make and take responsibility for our decisions.
I really honestly, truly believe that if we had a balanced budget before, we can have a balanced budget again without sacrificing either our national security or the needs of the the weakest members of our society.
Is it going to take work? Yep. Is it going to take sacrifice? Yep.
I won't ever pretend to know what it's like to run a country. Mostly because I hate that the people who run our country a lot of times pretend to know what it's like to run a classroom. But that's neither here nor there.
What is here and there is this:
1. We should never ever take for granted that we can say ANYTHING we want to about our country.
2. With that great gift, I would put on my Santa list that people would use that gift with respect.
3. Vote. We're the ones who decide who we let make our decisions.
4. Be thoughtful. The Lefters are not always right or always wrong. The Righters are not always right or always wrong. Think things through, people, pleeeeeease.
So, that's what I think. I don't expect to get a million shares or reposts, but I put my drop in the bucket.
Kerplunk.
Shannon, good post.
ReplyDelete"1. If you make more money, you should pay more taxes. I don't care if you are a trillionaire, a billionaire, a thousandaire, or a hundredaire like me. If we all pay the same percentage, that's just fair."
I'm not sure if you think it's a good thing or a bad thing, but this principle would place you firmly in the Right-er category. Conservatives tend to favor a flat tax system (everyone pays the same percentage of their income) and will even tolerate a mildly-progressive tax system (like the one we have now where the percentage of your income that goes to taxes increases as your income increases; before deductions, someone making $55k in America pays about 18% in federal income tax, while someone making $355k pays about 31%).
Everyone wants everyone to pay their "fair share".
The problem is in determining what percentage (or, percentages if you believe in a graduated/progressive tax system) is "fair".
This is why it irritates me when politicians use the phrase "pay their fair share" as the phrase is meaningless in the absence of defining what rates he/she thinks is "fair". (The reason the phrase is used, of course, is to win favor by implying that anyone who opposes this politician's tax plan thinks some Americans should not have to pay their fair share.)
The national controversy we're embroiled in now comes about because (1) we all realize we're on a fast-track to national bankruptcy and (2) Left-ers believe the solution is to make the tax system more progressive than it already is, while Right-ers believe the solution is to cut spending down to what the current progressive tax system brings in.
There are all kinds of tangent arguments to be made on both sides, but the fact is we have to borrow $0.42 of each dollar the government spends. Every minute of every day our country adds $3 million to the national credit card. How many minutes can a country last when borrowing $3M/min?
I don't know the answer, but we may soon find out.
We bring in more tax revenue than ever before ($1.5 trillion/year) but we're still drowning in debt. I see this as a spending problem, not an income problem, and even if we brought in enough tax money to pay for all expenses this year I think we'd find ourselves in the same dilemma next year because Congress can't seem to help but spend more money than we have.
I think Dave Ramsey's personal finance advice applies just as well to our country's finances: You can't out-earn stupidity.
-Tom