The Right Stuff: Getting what we pay for or not?

By Jim McCully: published December 5, 2022 American citizens should get what we pay exorbitant taxes for. We do not. Taxes are intended to fund citizens’ constitutionally directed needs and nothing more. State and federal governments should be efficient, effective and as small as possible. They should exist solely for citizens’ benefit lest it become an out-of-control monster.

The monster revealed itself in California on May 12. Journalists Nichole Nixon reported the state had an over-collection of $97.5 billion. Will Gov. Gavin Newson and what I call the Democrat Socialist Progressive Peoples Party-controlled Legislature return this over charge to the people? Unlikely.

Our philosopher king, Gavin the first, and his merry band of followers, the Democratic Party, will object. Most likely there will be a piddling refund with the balance earmarked for spending on whatever will help keep them in power. A case in point, King Gavin is urging California’s Legislature to levy a windfall-tax capping oil company profits above his self-decreed ceiling.

In 1835, the French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville chronicled his views in his famous book “Democracy in America.” He listed five values, espoused by Americans, which defined our national character: Liberty, egalitarianism, individualism, populism, and laissez-faire capitalism making us different, unique and more successful than other nations.

His overarching fear for America was “The Tyranny of the Majority,” which could lead to America’s demise. The last sentence in his referenced book is: “It depends on themselves whether equality is to lead to freedom or servitude, knowledge or barbarism, prosperity or wretchedness.”[...read more]