It seems to be building into a powerful focused complaint from so many directions. Angst about the low minimum wage (less than 3% of current wage earners in this country earn minimum wage). Concern about how hard a family has to work in America just to keep up in today's economy. And the guilt aimed at any hard worker who has earned a good living and how they "should" allocate their resources. On top of that is the current focus on living wages and earning equalization. Ideas that are rooted in the works of Marx and others who's ideas we've seen tried with pitiful results in the mere span of one lifetime.
Earning a living has become so difficult today because an increasing amount of everyone's wages are being pilfered by government. More than half of many people's earnings go to government. Some are quick to respond that federal taxes don't rob us of an extravagant amount of our income. “There is no 50% tax bracket!” It's so much more than federal taxes. City, county, state and federal direct taxes and fees, that are taxes in reality, mean we all work more today for what we take home than our parents or grandparents did.
The answer is not more taxes. It's not more government programs to solve our problems. We need less taxes and more responsible government spending. If we could come to that, all of us could keep more of our own money and exercise our freedom to address our own unique issues in our own way.
First, it's not about being selfish and keeping all of one’s money (although I think that should be an issue between each wage earner and his God or "guiding principal"). It's more about the time. If less wage earning time could be spent in order to create the share of wealth to be rendered unto Caesar, a greater portion of wage earning time would be focused to earn money to make life pleasant and comfortable (the pursuit of happiness). And since government would be getting less of our money we could work less time.
I'm talking more time to be spent with family, to read to kids, to educate oneself and family. I mean real family time. A return to the idea that you can be a good citizen, responsible parent / family member and productive member of the American economy. Such freedom would build stronger more educated and self reliant individuals. The type of people who posses a legitimate sense of self worth, accomplishment and value. A higher minimum wage and dependence on government subsidies are not the pathway to such a world.
Secondly there is a place for government. I'm not advocating that all government is bad and should be eliminated. Let's please not rush to the "who's going to build the roads?" defense. With few exceptions, government has built very little. It is private citizens working for small, medium and large businesses who are contracted by the middle man (government), who do the work that so many think only the government can do.
There is a place for government. Our founders were clear in outlining government’s responsibility. We don't need to "reinvent the wheel.” Government can help when our citizens need a helping hand to lift them back to self sufficiency. A helping hand must not become the sustained way of life. Today many once proudly self sufficient citizens are waiting for some form of government, be it city, county, state or federal to roll in with all the solutions.
A government that tries to manage the economy of its citizens, that constantly searches for ways to expand its power and control over every citizen from the poorest to the wealthiest in what ever measure you choose to use, money, health or success will always be felt in the end as an oppressive burden.
Government should not be a yoke upon the citizen nor should the honest pursuit of happiness for ones family, however that family may be defined. Let's hope and pray if you do pray, that the pendulum of ideas is beginning its return not to the wrongs of the past but to the enlightened ideas that inspired this country’s great experiment in freedom through limited government in the first place.
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