Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Tasers don't pay for themselves, y'know

Tax day is almost upon us, so it's a good time to reflect on just what it is we're paying for when we cut our checks to Uncle Sam (or just watch the growing deductions from our paychecks). What does it mean to be a good citizen? And how does our payment of taxes fit into our obligations to society and the government? Filmmaker David McElroy, a former newspaper journalist, takes on exactly that topic in his educational video about good citizenship. The video is below.

If you didn't have time to watch the full presentation, here's the film in a nutshell: The government needs resources in order to boss people around, meddle in the world around us, tick off our neighbors, subsidize bad behavior and, ultimately, come back and extract more taxes from you in order to address the mess it created with more bad behavior.

I mean, really, how could the government afford to do all the important things it does, like detain suspects indefinitely, tell you what you can't smoke or eat, and paw through your underwear at the airport if it didn't mug you on a regular basis? Tasers don't pay for themselves, you know. And those millimeter-wave x-ray spec scanners at the airport are expensive.

If you're even slightly successful, you better learn to love that mugging. According to the latest CBS/New York Times poll, 74% of your fellow Americans support higher taxes on the "rich."

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