Restoring the Great America

The phrase "taxation without representation" should be familiar to any student of American history. The colonies that would eventually form the foundations of our great nation felt the heavy burden of British taxes. The mother country remorselessly levied these sanctions to its far flung American citizens. Citizens that carried no weight in Parliament. Citizens whose voices were not heard by the bureaucrats of England who took the colonists money without once considering the situation of the men and women struggling to thrive in a new land. "Taxation without Representation" was a call to action. Some merely wished for government compliance. They desired to remain a part of England. Others, spurned by the continual neglect of Great Britain, sought a revolution. Over time, these separatists grew in number providing enough support that they, somewhat reluctantly, crafted and then signed their petition for change. A change that resulted in the United States of America.



"Taxation without representation" is also applicable for the America of today. Although all Americans pay taxes of one sort or another, only a select few have any real influence on how that money is allocated. The government has been shown to spend taxpayer dollars without consent and, in some cases, against the direct wishes of the general public that it is supposed to represent. If this is not enough to infuriate the average citizen then the mismanagement of the federal budget should be. According to the U.S. Treasury Department, as of the February 28, 2008 report, the National Debt to the penny was 9,343,241,961,715.05. That is what over 9 trillion dollars looks like. A small town economist once told me that this sum is owed to the people, but the report stated that the Public Debt, the amount "we the people" are responsible for, is 5,239,145,433,213.19. Do you have that kind of cash laying around? The biggest chunks of this monumental blunder of finances: the Dept. of Health and Human Services (close to 700 billion), Social Security (over 600 billion), Dept. of Defense (close to 600 billion), and the Treasury Dept. including the ever growing interest on this debt (close to 500 billion).



So here is the arrangement. We pay taxes to our government, they spend that money in ways that we, most probably, would not approve, and they foot us an over 5 trillion dollar bill that resulted primarily because of their mismanagement. This we will have to pay with, of course, more taxes. And thus continues the circle of life.



I am an American and proud of it. I am not promoting a new revolution. So how do average powerless citizens break this chain? The truth is we already have the answer. The founders of our great nation and the originators of "taxation without representation" left us with this gift. They created an elegant, all-encompassing system of checks and balances, the most important one resting in our hands. Limited terms of office coupled with the power of one vote.



However, there is one catch. For our own good, we must actually use this vote and use it responsibly. Like most areas in life the true power lies in information. An informed and educated public is necessary to the system. One that is not swayed by presence and eloquence alone, but by the issues, motivations, and principles that truly govern these bureaucrats lives. Then we can truly exercise this absolute power.



If a politician fails to address the people's interests, he will be voted out. If the next in line fails, he will be voted out as well.



Eventually, they will get the hint.