TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

 

TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION ….

On July 4, 1776, 56 men pledged their lives and fortunes by signing what we now call The Declaration of Independence that started our country on the path to independence from Great Britain.

Had any of these men been caught by the British, they would have been tried as traitors and then executed. This was a serious commitment.

So, we have managed to survive as a nation for 250 years. But I ask you, are we really making any progress to that concept of ‘the pursuit of happiness?’

If I ran any of the companies I had been involved with over my 68-year business career like the federal government does, I would most certainly be broke. Since our federal debt exceeds our gross domestic product by double, in essence we are broke.

For example, you would think those in charge would be astute enough to apply common sense to the departments they manage to eliminate fraud and waste. I suggest to you that a large amount of our government debt is directly attributable to waste and fraud. Wouldn’t you think the head of the Social Security Department would want to know how many people over the age of 105 were still receiving benefits? This cannot nor should be a very long list to review for accuracy.

How many people are listed on our voter rolls more than once? How many people on our voter rolls vote more than once? Isn’t our right to vote one of the basic fundamentals of our nation and our rights as an American? Shouldn’t this be one of the best secured and accurate lists needed to maintain our republic? If it isn’t then how can we consider ourselves anything other than a ‘banana’ republic?

I do not look down on anyone who needs food stamps or any type of assistance. I think we need to be able to support those who cannot help themselves. What I do object to is welfare recipients having multiple accounts and gaming the system for many thousands of dollars a month while laughing at hard working people doing honest labor. Every dollar stolen by fraud and deception is a dollar that could be used to help someone else. Who watches over these accounts and attempts to verify their accuracy?

It appears to me that NGO’s and a lot of charities obtain a government check to perform certain duties and responsibilities without any follow up to see their success or progress towards achieving their intended goals.  ‘Give em’ the money and forget about them seems to be the rule of the day. Who audits these grants and programs on any sort of regular basis?

Here’s my last one and most ridiculous. A CIA officer who had not been vetted for his educational history was allowed to check out over 30 MILLION dollars which he claimed was needed for pay outs concerning his work. Nice job if you can get it, right? I blame this guy’s boss, who should have said… ‘hey, wait a minute, lets look at this withdrawal and see what it is used for and how effective it is’. No, nothing like that happened and the guy was discovered with over 32 million in cash and gold in his house. Guess his defense will be he was just looking for the right party to give it to.

Now to put an end to this rant I want to state that I write letters very often asking these kinds of questions to my elected representatives.

You know what I get? Zip, zero, nada, nothing.

Oh, I often get a sugary form letter saying so and so who really appreciates hearing from one of their constituents. Or I might get a call from some intern/junior clerk telling me how much my letter meant to them.

What I don’t get are any answers to my questions as to why we don’t see major fraud and abuse cases resulting in jail or arrests. When I ask what is the expected outcome of some governmental hearing which can be seen every day on the news like a soap opera or reality show, you get no information from anyone.   

I see sweetheart deals, with reduced or dismissed charges based upon race, sex, gender and or economic considerations, not based upon the right and wrong part of the law.

What I don’t see is a sense of fairness for those of us out here in the heartland of this country who have no friends in high places.

But we still get taxed all the same don’t we?

See you next week…Peary Perry