A government must protect its citizenry with an Army, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard but going to war is not a must.
A government must protect its borders. It must have judicial, executive, and legislative bodies. It must pay for bridges, highways, tunnels and roads. It must pay for police, firemen, sanitation people and teachers. It must pay for museums, libraries and parks. And let's not forget unemployment checks, social security, medicare, medicaid and welfare.
Governments have a lot of bills to pay and they pay these bills with revenue from our taxes.
Once in a while they even overpay for goods and services, to take care of their supporters, so that they can get elected again.
In our down economy - much of which was caused by poor legislative, judicial and executive decisions - the government still must function.
If governments can't get this money from the middle class because of the outsourcing of jobs, and loss of manufacturing jobs and refuse to get the money from the wealthy, many of whom benefited financially from the outsourcing of jobs and relocating of manufacturing, they have two alternatives:
1. They can place new fees on goods and services, or raise the fees on current services. You will pay less in "taxes" but more for mass transit, tolls, tickets, parking meters, telephone and TV bills, and anything else you use.
2. They can decrease services. They can close unemployment offices, make medical coverage more difficult, close fire houses, lessen the police force, stop fixing roads, clean the streets less, let snow pile up, and do away with bus and train routes. In short, the government can make life more miserable for you.
So when you hear a politician proclaim my opponent and his party will raise your taxes, but I won't, consider it nonsense. The politician who won't raise your taxes will either raise the fees you pay or give you less service - or both.
One way or another, regardless of your political persuasion, you pay.
What is needed of the people who represent us is to have good judgment, integrity and statesmanship. Is that too much to hope for?
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It is not too much to hope for. If we just swallow the pap that is fed to us, however, we don't get the reality of the situation. People have to be educated so that they don't vote for the wrong candidate who is prone to taking the cash from the special interests and who support costly wars. They have to read a paper that provides the facts not propaganda. They have to listen critically. That is the dilemna. How can we accomplish this when people who tell the truth are in solitary confinement in cold bassements? We could have everything, if we put an end to the war that is draining our coffers.
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