Death and Taxes

Hey Folks,

I’ve been away from my duties here the last few weeks due to the passing of my mother. She was a wonderful woman who was very deserving of finally finding her peace. I have received the sympathies of many friends and family and I am very appreciative to all of you, and now, back to business.

I am truly amazed at the coverage the “Tea-Parties” are now getting; we have become a potent force for change. Most predictions coming from both sides of the political spectrum show that there will be an “avalanche” of conservatives swept into offices across the country because of, well, you. Our voices are being heard (finally) and we are making a difference but, don’t count our chickens before they are hatched (remember Scott Brown?). Our work is far from over whether we win or lose come Nov. 2. We need to still hold all these “conservatives” accountable, as well as their counterparts lest we find ourselves back in the same situation.

Several things I think we need to push for win or lose in Nov., are things like congressional term limits, salary caps on all politicians, a permanent end to the “earmarks”, smaller government, and of course lower taxes and spending cuts. If we are being heard let’s really tell them how we feel.

Almost everyone I’ve talked to over the years thinks that term limits for House and Senate members is an excellent idea. Most agree that 8 years (the same as a President) is more than enough time for any politician, so why hasn’t it happened? Simply put, why would the lawmakers make laws to limit their time with power? We need to keep reminding these “Elites” that America is “We the People”, that we are the true leaders of this country. I have heard maybe only one or two politicians even suggest term limits buy, as you may have guessed, they get shot down quickly. We must support these candidates and push the politicians into doing our will not theirs. Is it time for a 28th amendment?

If you could vote yourself a raise at work, would you? Most people would just like congress does almost every year, recession or not. Although it is a perk most of us would probably like to enjoy also, it needs to be changed. If a politician or even a government worker was paid what the average worker in the nation was paid, do you think that may give some incentive to that politician to raise the average wage? I say the National average because if you use State or district averages you could run into “earmark” trouble. The reason I mentioned government workers is why should the regular workers pay people doing the same job more than what they are making with their tax dollars? This is a little trickier than term limits but, if “We the People” put our heads together I am sure we could fix this issue.

I have heard in many campaign speeches, from many politicians on every side of the isle promising to “never seek”, “put a stop to”, as well as “kill” earmarks, and they wonder why we don’t trust them. Back in March of ’09 the GOP stated they would “reject all earmarks!” but, they went back to their old ways. Now, earmarks are used to bring “Federal” dollars (your tax money) to the Politician’s State or district, which in the past is what got these folks elected in their States and districts. What ended up happening is that special interests got “Tax Payer” money from politicians they “bribed” with favors and lucrative incentives thus letting the special interests make policy by proxy politicians. Perhaps another amendment is in order.

Over the past few weeks one thing that struck me as odd was that certain people were telling me how lucky I was that my mother had died this year and not the next. At first I was a bit taken back by their comments but then remembered about the “Death Tax” or “Inheritance Tax”. I ask you; why, in a civilized, socially advanced society such as the United States of America should anyone worry about what year they die? What this shows me is how huge our Government has become that our leaders need to tax even our deaths. I ask you, if we had maintained a limited Government, as our founding fathers had envisioned, do you think we would have to worry about out of control spending so much so that we would have to worry about when we die? It is appalling to me that we have got to this point and that our politicians are still talking about spending more!

People, our inaction has caused these problems; our staying home on election days, not paying attention to what our politicians were doing, being so wrapped up in our daily routines that all else seemed uninteresting. We need to stay vigilant and speak up. We need to make sure everyone we know votes in every election. We need to be involved or we will lose our America as we know and love it. You are a voice that needs to be heard, Speak Up! By choosing to do nothing, you are choosing to be taken wherever our leaders lead us, be it to our freedom or our destruction… It’s your choice.

Mike
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