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Taxation: The other gun ban
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As Congress considers the global warming bill, it is important to keep in mind that there are consequences beyond the belief that taxing people will somehow influence the environment. The most important one is the loss of the tools of Liberty.
The Heritage Foundation estimates that the proposed legislation will “raise an average family's annual energy bill by $1,241,” raise electric rates 90%, natural gas by 55%, and gasoline prices by 58%.
Ignoring the gasoline (transportation) issue for now, it remains clear that rich families ($200,000 or more income) can weather this environmental tax better than poor families ($20,000 income or less). Even if poor families pay half the estimated average ($620.50) and no income tax, rich families fare better. Assuming that rich families will maintain larger homes, if they consume four times the average, they will pay $4,964 in environmental tax. Nevertheless, this represents 3.1% of the poor family’s total income, while the much larger energy consumption tax represents only 2.5% for rich families.
Even if you add an estimated $50,000 in income tax, the rich family has over $145,000 for other living expenses, while the poor family is left with $19,379.50. Add essentials like shelter, food, clothing, and transportation, it is clear that rich families will weather increased taxation far better than poor ones. Plus, rich families have the choice to downsize in order to economize.
Taxes destroy the American Dream:
The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states: "The American Dream is "that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement. It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position."
When you have no money left over to invest in your future, you have no future.
So how does this relate to gun control?
People who cannot afford their utility bills, or to feed their children, cannot afford to buy guns and ammunition.
The famous quote by George Santayana is: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” People in Congress are not stupid. They understand the corollary: “Those who have studied history and lust for power, intend to repeat it.”
For example, 28-year Congressman Barney Frank graduated from Harvard with a doctorate in jurisprudence. Recently, Congressman Frank asked Fannie May and Freddie Mac to loosen lending guidelines, despite the fact that financial institutions tightened up lending rules in order to avoid further depredations which contributed to today’s recession.
History shows that the Great Depression was preceded by loose lending in form of:
· Buying stock on margin, where people could buy stock with only 10% down.
· Buying big-ticket items, such as refrigerators and cars, on credit.
Many people felt far wealthier when they were playing with other people’s money.
Knowing this, why would smart people, having just spent over 3 trillion dollars bailing us out of today’s economic crisis, so quickly begin forcing lenders into repeating the same process that history shows will lead to another depression?
Congressmen make $174,000, receiving a 2.8% pay increase even as 2.6 million Americans lost jobs last year. Members are also eligible for federal retirement benefits after as little as 5 years of service. They also get an allowance to hire up to 18 permanent staff members–who in 2005 could earn up to $156,848–plus an additional expense allowance for domestic travel, mailings, telephone services, etc. In addition, they have their own police force.
All paid for by other people’s money: YOURS.
All this pay and perquisites puts them in an economic class above 97% of us: It is 2.4 times the median income for a family of four in Washington, D.C., and over $70,000 over the median income for the richest states in the country. No wonder 87% (379) of our congressional representatives are incumbents!
However, since their economic status is not representative of the average American, the "global warming tax” is effectively taxation without representation.
History also teaches that America is an aberration. Never before has a country been founded on the principles that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by God (not by government) with certain inalienable rights. Never before was a country founded on the idea that the People grant some of their power to government, to govern with our consent.
The “normal” socio-economic system is feudalism, where the vast majority of people live under the rule of the elites who control 99% of all wealth and power. Of course, one facet of this power is control of arms, meaning that rulers have standing armies and subjects are disarmed.
If one was intent on repeating history, what should they do?
First, enact taxes which eliminate discretionary income among the lower classes, so that survival becomes an all-encompassing daily struggle.
Second, pass more tax laws to “help” the lower classes, shrinking the middle class and gradually sinking them into the lower class.
Third, pass more laws “for the children,” “to benefit society,” “for the good of the People,” etcetera, each requiring greater centralization and growth of government. This also justifies the “need” to impose more and more restrictions on what heretofore were Constitutional rights.
History shows that people with paper rights feel they're not losing anything. Hence, the Second Amendment becomes a mere concept, and without the ability to enforce this right, the entire Bill of Rights is more easily relegated to the trash bin of history.
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For in-depth analysis of the issues discussed here, read Howard’s book Four Hundred Years of Gun Control: Why Isn’t It Working?, which deconstructs the gun control agenda and motivates more people to support our civil right of self-defense.
Check out other Gun Rights Examiners:
- Atlanta: Armed customer stops robbery
- Austin: Gun banners: rhetoric replaces reality
- Boston: The hunter, Massachusetts’ first and best conservationist (Part II)
- Charlotte: Dangers of gun registration: 'The Belgian Corporal'
- Cleveland: Revisiting the DC v. Heller ruling - Part II
- DC: Under Obamacare, where will Canadians go for medical services?
- Denver: What happens to you when you buy a gun?
- Los Angeles: SoCal Churches go concealed carry.
- Minneapolis: Dirty Deeds in Virginia
- National: Anti-gun book reviews hide an agenda
- Seattle: Lautenberg’s legislation cloak’s anti-gun senator’s true intention
- St. Louis: 'Gun free' Chicago is bleeding out
- Wisconsin: Gun rights advocates make progress
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