I have refrained from discussing politics as much as possible because I am attempting to focus more on the gospel but I have to ask. Why do we allow the Government so much power in our lives?

About the time our original thirteen states adopted their new constitution in 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the Athenian Republic some 2,000 years earlier:

‘A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government.’

‘A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.’

¡From that moment on, the majority always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.’

‘The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years’

‘During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence back into bondage’

Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St. Paul , Minnesota , points out some interesting facts concerning the 2000 Presidential election:

Number of States won by: Democrats: 19 Republicans: 29

Square miles of land won by: Democrats: 580,000 Republicans: 2,427,000

Population of counties won by: Democrats: 127 million Republicans: 143 million

Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by: Democrats: 13..2 Republicans: 2.1

Professor Olson adds: ‘In aggregate, the map of the territory Republican won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of this great country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare….’ Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the ‘complacency and apathy’ phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population already having reached the ‘governmental dependency’ phase.

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Well again I don’t like to be all political but this is the only time of the year it seems you can get people to pay attention. There will be news stories of Post Offices being open late so people can file. There may even be a few stories about how much the squeeze is being put to the ‘middle class’ and all candidates will be promising that if elected they will only tax the rich and most of us don’t consider ourselves rich.

According to the Tax foundation, a non-partisan group. Tax freedom day will not happen for most of us for a few more weeks. Tax freedom day is the day you would be done paying taxes if you paid every penny you earned from January 1. This year it is April 23 as an average. You can check out their site for more information and your states specific freedom day. But think about it, if we had to pay every penny we made to the government until we had paid our taxes we wouldn’t be done until almost 4 months into the year.  It is longer than it takes us to pay for our housing, food, health care, and recreation.

You know when my family was spending more than we took in I had a few choices, get a new job, demand more money or cut back on spending.  If you can’t demand more money from your boss, and you can’t find a new job you have to cut back on spending.  I wish the government didn’t have the power to demand more money from it’s bosses (us) and would realize there is a need to cut spending so we could all hold on to what we earn.  Think of what you could do with an extra 4 months worth of pay a year.  I bet you could spend it better than uncle Sam.

The Tax Foundation

Popularity: 41%

This one is a bit longer than normal but it is always to get the other side out since all we hear is Al Gores side.

Popularity: 48%

I try to keep this blog as clear of politics as possible but it is the time of year I can’t help but vent.

Imagine if you will the scene at a grocery store where a woman has a two hundred and fifty dollar bill. She hands the cashier three hundred dollars to pay for said bill and when she receives her fifty dollars of change she shrieks “Oh, I have fifty dollars. I am so glad for this time because now I have more money.” The cashier and those around her look at her peculiarly as she dances away thrilled with her new found fortune.

This would be a strange event would you witness it but daily this time of year. People are thrilled to get their tax refund without realizing that it is nothing but change from a bill they have been paying all year. Only in this case the government holds your money all year so that they can earn the interest on it instead of allowing you to spend it on what you wish. This was started to bring in extra money to pay for WWI but has continued because according to the Department of Treasury:

This (withholding) greatly eased the collection of the tax for both the taxpayer and the Bureau of Internal Revenue. However, it also greatly reduced the taxpayer’s awareness of the amount of tax being collected, i.e. it reduced the transparency of the tax, which made it easier to raise taxes in the future. (History of the U.S. Tax System. U.S. Department of Treasury. Retrieved on 2006-10-31.)

Ask many people how much they pay in taxes and they have no idea or even worse they may say “None, I got a refund this year” not even realizing they have merely gotten change from a bill they have been forced to pay without their knowledge or even consent.

According to the Tax Foundation people work from January 1 until April 30 just to pay their taxes, one third of our labor is just to pay the taxes on that labor. And this date is getting latter and latter every year, but most people never realize it because they have been drugged with the chemical of withholdings. Wake up and pay attention to the amount of money taken from your pay check, the thousands in income tax, the hundreds in social security (you will NEVER see again), and hundreds more in other taxes.

Popularity: 41%

CARRYING GUNS WILL STOP VIOLENT CRIMES | National Center for Policy Analysis

Popularity: 37%

Today President Bush signed a bill into law that does several things, but in the end accomplishes more harm than good.

First it will begin a phase out of the incandescent light bulb (the ones you are used to) in favor of Compact Fluorescent light bulbs which uses less energy to light a home, however I have seen no research personally on how much energy it takes to create it over it’s counter parts.  Although based on the price charges for a CFL (up to three dollars per bulb) I would imagine the costs are steeper.  I have heard that they do take much more energy to create but haven’t been able to track down those sources yet.

Additionally as I have pointed out in an earlier post the mercury contained in a single broken bulb can cause a $2000 environmental clean up bill.   If these bulbs are not recycled properly they can lead to up to 30000 pounds of mercury each year in our landfills and in our water supplies.

The bill, additionally, will somehow magically create new technology that will get not only cars but light trucks to a 35 MPG standard.  The most efficient cars of 2007 barely reach this mark, let alone trucks. It is ludacris for Washington to legislate this type of thing, if it was already possible perhaps but for the feds to declare that new technology must be created it just a sign that they have lost track of reality.  How about a bill that demands time travel by 2015.

Finally the bill speaks to the savior of our energy guzzling economy, ethanol.  Of course the demand that we produce more doesn’t take into consideration that we must design and build an entirely new infrastructure to transport it, because it will corrode our current pipelines.  Oh, and it takes two units of energy to create one unit of energy in the form of ethanol which means this is a losing proposition from the beginning.  It is great for the corn farmers, bad for the Mexicans that can’t afford tortillas anymore but it isn’t good for our energy crisis.

Of course, there was no mention of becoming independent by drilling our on reserves that has been successful in the past so why try it again.   AGHHHHHHH!!!

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Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.
Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t’was his intent
To blow up King and Parli’ment.
Three-score barrels of powder below
To prove old England’s overthrow;
By God’s providence he was catch’d
With a dark lantern and burning match.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring.
Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King!

It is an old poem made famous by the movie ‘V for Vendetta’ but this website make a good argument for a new 5th of November.

http://www.thisnovember5th.com/

Popularity: 36%