Thomas Friedman had a good op-ed piece in yesterday's NY Times: Palin's Kind of Patriotism. Sarah Palin commented during the vice presidential debate that having the middle class pay higher taxes is unpatriotic. However, she supports the $700 billion bailout and the costly wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
If she supports such expensive measures, yet opposes Americans' sharing the burden of those costs, where will the money come from? China. China holds about $490 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, with foreign exchanges reserves of more than $1.5 trillion.
Friedman writes:
"[M]y parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: 'I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.'"
Which is more patriotic, depending on a foreign country (one with policies that directly contradict our own) to further our nation's interests, or allowing Americans to contribute and invest instead?
I obviously oppose the wars and am still unsure about the bailout, but I see where Friedman is coming from. As a Christian, I also have a different take on relying solely on the government to care for our most vulnerable. Either way, Palin's view makes no sense and only serves to further bankrupt our country.
To gain a better view of Americans' responsibility to pay taxes, check out Barack Obama's Audacity of Hope. He articulates a selfless, overall society-focused philosophy of paying taxes. And if we would quit cutting taxes for the ultra-rich, the middle class wouldn't have that heavy of a burden after all. Let's hope we can put people in leadership that understand such things!
I don't believe in onerous taxation. I don't believe in paying for a large government bureaucracy. I don't believe in paying for the military industrial complex. I don't mind if taxes are used to help defray the cost of health insurance for the poor, meal programs for the indigent, good K-12 education (not necessarily expensive), job-training programs and basic science research.
Posted by: art | October 09, 2008 at 11:10 PM
"its time to be more patriotic and pay higher taxes" phooey! Since when is it patriotic to pay higher taxes. American Revolution, Boston Tea Party, Millions of lives lost. All for the sake of overtaxation! Once again, i don't believe in giving an inefficient, wasteful, corrupt, overbloated, government more of my money. And if you want to give these people more of your money, your crazy. I already give the govt approximately 60% of my yearly income to some form of tax. What do you want? 70, 80%? Federal income tax, state tax, local tax, property tax, gasoline tax, marriage tax, capital gains tax, death tax, now global warming tax and health insurance tax?
Posted by: Jim | July 05, 2009 at 09:10 AM