Patriotism Through Taxes

"We believe individuals know better than the government, when it comes to how to spend money."


I couldn't disagree more.  Individuals are usually selfish, single-minded, and not at all interested in a greater good.  This is why we left the State of Nature to form government, in the first place.  We gave up the individual need for immediate self-gratification, so that we could all sacrifice a little to provide for the basic needs of everyone.  Individuals don't build interstate highway systems, nor do they fund armies or societal safety nets.  They buy houses, boats, cars, TV's, fast food, and XBOX 360's.  


What has happened is individuals have been brainwashed into thinking that fully-funding the state is somehow a bad or unpatriotic act.  Conservatives rail against taxes, of any kind, even when we are running deficits.


People volunteer their time and energy to all kinds of endeavors, from local community groups to national organizations.  They do so, because there's a known sense of reward for sacrificing one's self to help those in need.  In fact, we even give awards to those who devote a lifetime to volunteering.  People are both honored and proud to volunteer to help others, and no one would crow about getting out of volunteering.  No one talks poorly about volunteer work.


Taxes on the other hand, are seen as something to get out of, sheltered from, and are dealt with as a burden to be avoided, rather than the honored duty to your fellow citizens, that they are.  Tune into any cable station and it will only be a matter of minutes before you see a commercial wherein someone is bragging that they owed the IRS $20,000, but only had to pay a fraction of that, thanks to "Tax Masters".  There is an entire industry dedicated to finding legal loopholes in our tax code.  


Our nation is in debt, and massively so.  We are hurting each other, our nation, and our future by dodging our financial duty to one another.  There would be no need to ever 'raise' taxes, if everyone was just willing to pay their fair share.  Taxes aren't exactly volunteer, but they fund a system that serves all of us.  At present, our system is underfunded.   


Pay your taxes, it'll do far more for your fellow man and yourself than any volunteer job you could ever do.