Welcome to the Slaughterhouse!: Budget and Economy!

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse, America!!

By Nicholas Meyeres 

This is an easy one!

First, we start by repealing 16th Amendment effectively abolishing the income tax and property tax. After that, we force the government to live within their means just as we as citizens must live within ours in order to survive. Once we do that, we start paying down the deficit IMMEDIATELY, and stop borrowing from places like China.

After all, the people, not the government, are supposed to run the economy- so, we should fight for more power given to the private sector, not less. Besides, there is no way to control spending when the Federal Reserve creates money by printing it out of thin air to pay our debts off. As a result, we need to abolish the Federal Reserve, too.

In fact, I would go so far as to say we should stop all non-essential aid to EVERY country we currently prop up, as well. Sure, the American people are a naturally giving people, but we need to allow ourselves a small amount of selfishness in this day and age if for no other reason than out of necessity. Frankly, let them get their own collective houses in order, just as we must.

Similarly, hard choices must be made here or we won't survive as the prosperous nation we once were, either. We all have those things we want the government to not cut, but cuts must be made all the way across the board no matter what your pet issue may be. That includes government worker's salaries, Medicare and Medicaid, welfare benefits, veteran's benefits, the the military industrial complex, the public school system- EVERYTHING!

We also need to end as many regulations as possible in order for businesses to do their business without the government taking their share right off the top. And we need competition to get it done. No more "no-complete clauses" with the United States Post Office for instance. Let those of us who know how to run a business show the Feds a thing or two, and let the rest fail.

The truth is, the government is like a drunken sailor on shore leave, they spend way too much even though they have very little to actually give, and when they come home they wonder why they need even more assistance by the government. Our government simply taxes us more and more every day thinking that will somehow regulate our economy magically. But all that accomplishes is anger and resentment by the people when their hard earned money is taken from them and wasted by a clumsy and inept government that can’t run itself as a proper business anyway.

In short, we need to restore our nation by returning to the TRUE conservative tenant of “less government via fiscal responsibility” and force those who govern us- both republican AND democrat- to be personally held responsible for our debt should it ever grow beyond what is acceptable to us as a people. In the end, we can’t legislate economic fairness in a true republic; so the only answer is to make our existing government as small as possible while continuing to still function with the barest of essentials. Then, we allow the private sector to do their thing, and fix the rest!

Having said all of that, the very first step is for the American people to realize that they have a true say with their vote, and that they need to use that vote to make a statement. The two-party system simply isn't working anymore, and we need to kick EVERY big government crony out of Washington on both sides of the isle that isn't a true fiscal conservative. In doing that, we stand every chance of not falling into the trap that so many other nations have fallen into over the years. But this can only be accomplished if we follow the right signs that lead the way out of the darkness.

Welcome to the Slaughterhouse!: Property Taxes!

"If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter." George Washington
Welcome to the Slaughterhouse, America!!

By Nicholas Meyeres 

North Dakota is considering a measure that abolishes property taxes entirely as of this week. Good for you, North Dakota! I never understood property taxation anyway. It comes off as unconstitutional on just about every level to me, and is really nothing short of a tyrannical feudal system for all intents and purposes. 

 

Well, okay, we obviously don’t live under a feudal regime, however property taxation seems to presuppose a type of feudal hierarchy no matter how you slice it anyway. Sure, if it were a true feudal regime it would be a more distributive state-run system, and we obviously do not live in one of those, but because of exactly that this renders property taxes even more patently absurd to my mind. 

The bottom line is this: I loathe the very idea property taxes. In fact, the more I consider it, I probably abhor the idea even more than mere income or sales taxes. There is simply something much more sinister about them than meets the eye. After all, income tax, no matter how intrusive and redundant they seem, intimates that only a certain percentage of one's income is owed to the government for the “maintenance of public goods”. Property taxation, however, says something vastly more insidious. 

Property taxes by definition, regardless of its use or where it’s directed, is a claim by the state of COMPLETE ownership of your land. And if you are found to be in default of paying property tax at all, the state can then seize that property even if you have already bought and paid for that land in full. 

What you really have is a system where we pay a fee to a type of tyrannical landlord while we, the lowly voters, are permitted to live on that land only if we pay them to do so. Hmmmmmm…. maybe it is more like a feudal system than even I care to believe! 

Either way, make no mistake about it, if the state can confiscate your already paid-for property when you become tax delinquent, then you truly do not own that land in the first place. The state does. How every property owner in America cannot be up in arms because of this is beyond me. 

Not to mention, property taxes seem unconstitutional because it does not allow us to live in a truly free land where we are secure in the liberty to own said personal property. I am no constitutional scholar, but I do realize that the government is treading on hallowed ground both figuratively and perhaps even literally, if they are allowed to infringe on our property rights as designated by the United States Constitution. 

The Fifth Amendment says in part that we are not to be “deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”. Yet, how many of us have at least heard instances where American citizens have lost their property, home or land because they have failed to pay property taxes? It occurs throughout the entire country on a near daily basis. This seems not only immoral and unethical in my mind, but nothing shy of criminal and in violation of one’s own civil rights. 

 
Consider this: nearly every sale of property occurs without any due process at all. That is to say, there has been no court hearing, no judgment, nor adjudication of facts and no consideration given for the actual laws regarding any taxation in the first place. But doesn’t the Fifth Amendment say that we are not to “be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law”? 

This simply shouldn’t be allowed to stand, and North Dakota is right to consider abolishing this tax altogether. Still, having said all of that I do realize that cutting property taxes will not only be difficult there (let alone in virtually every other state), but almost impossible because it is the dominant tax assessed by cities, counties and school districts. But, for that very reason, we should endeavor to eliminate this tax let alone any and every other department and agency that have outlived their usefulness, and create a smaller, fiscally less demanding government that will permit its citizens to function more freely in a market more conducive to growth and prosperity. 

On a more personal level, if a good chunk of my property taxes go to the local school district I live in, why should I have to pay when I have no children who attend unless I choose to pay? For that matter, why should I have to support any public paid-for entity through my taxes in which I may not agree? Abortion funding, the military industrial complex, the death penalty, public school systems, and so on. The list could be endless in regard to what we as American individuals consider morally repugnant. 

Yet, at its core, Penn Jillette put it best in regard to that very thing, “People need to be fed, medicated, educated, clothed, and sheltered, and if we’re compassionate we’ll help them, but you get no moral credit for forcing other people to do what you think is right. There is great joy in helping people, but no joy in doing it at gunpoint.”