My husband worked a great deal of overtime in the past two weeks. We, rightfully I think, expected a big paycheck today. But it was considerably smaller than we had expected: over $500 had been taken out in taxes.
No, I’m not kidding. My husband is not a businessman making money in the millions. He’s a police officer–public servants don’t get paid much. Five hundred dollars is a lot of grocery money, folks! If I didn’t value my tea so much, I would have run down to the river and tossed it in. That would have been a silly thing to do, anyway. The fellows involved in the Boston Tea Tantrum didn’t dump their OWN tea in the harbor. They dumped the king’s tea. Hmm. Does the President drink tea, I wonder? Perhaps the Potomac needs a bit of flavoring?
Tomorrow is the Fourth of July–the annual celebration of our independence from Great Britain. What did the British do that literally had us up in arms all those years ago? Were we protesting slavery? Mysterious disappearances? Wrongful imprisonments? Mass slaughter by the government? No, we were protesting taxes.
It’s my understanding that governments need money to fund all the stuff they do for us. King George III said the same thing–the taxes levied against the colonists were paying for the French and Indian War, which had been fought (by the British) to secure our lands from the encroaching French. Sounds like a good use of our money, actually. (Yes, yes, I know King George was a nutter. But it would make more sense to me to rebel against the king because he was insane than because of the tax issue.)
No, protesting taxes is a useless proposition. There’s nothing sure in this life but death and you-know-what. It was not really a compelling reason for starting a civil war. And it really seemed to have started us off on the wrong foot. Because we have become a nation of whiners and protesters, throwing conniptions at the drop of a hat. Any perceived encroachment on our rights is apparently worth ripping into everyone in general on all possible forums. It’s depressing.
I’m not talking about any particular group or political party or cause. As a Tory, I don’t really have a political party, and I weigh each issue through the lens of reason rather than internet memes or party lines. Some issues really do warrant concern and deliberation. I act on my convictions quietly by contacting the proper authorities and by voting my conscience. But most issues are as trivial as taxation. Before I wade into any argument concerning social or political issues, I ask myself, “Is this really worth starting a war over? Is it worth the angst, the vitriol, the possible estrangement of others?” Most of the time, it just isn’t.
It’s become the American way to expect to get everything we want and to get it now–and if we don’t get it, we have the right to thrown a temper tantrum over it. And if anyone calls us on our attitude of entitlement, we accuse them of being intolerant, or ignorant, or even uncaring. It all grieves me.
What would America be like today if we had started a war over a noble and selfless cause? What if it were slavery, for example, that we were protesting? Would we be a kinder, more loving people? I wonder.
By the way–before you burn me in effigy, please have a gander at my first controversial Fourth of July entry entitled “An American Tory.”
People of the Book 