Pinheads and Patriots

As I have stated over and over again, I own a TV but do not have a subscription to any televised service...I have a library of DVDs that watch, over and over again. On occasion, I may stop in at a sports bar and grill, and perhaps catch some program; therefore, I am not totally ignorant of what is going on. I also tend to prefer reading to watching. Currently I am reading Bill O’Reilly’s book, Pinheads and Patriots; Where You Stand in the Age of Obama.

On page 63, beginning at line 12, Mr. O’Reilly states: By contrast, my analysis of Barack Obama and everything else in the public arena is fact-based, not ideological. The President, as I’ve suggested, cannot be accurately branded a “socialist” until he starts messing around with private property. You can rightly call some of his policies “socialistic”–and I have–but saying Obama is the El Norte version of Hugo Chavez is absurd. Are not the policies of an administration reflective of the leader of the administration?

Only 6 pages later, Mr. O’Reilly states: President Obama and his team want to pass laws that put even more power and money in the hands of the federal government; that, very simply, is my primary beef with them. The more shots are called from Washington, the fewer options we the people have in our own lives. Rugged individualism made this country great, not entitlement programs rigged to provide “income redistribution.” Is not the bedrock of personal property ownership, the ability to earn a day’s wage, and to keep it? Additionally, owning personal property, inherently involves the “freedom” to do with the day’s wages, as I please?

So, I am wondering, the war we fought with Great Britain, the great Tea Party, were embodied with the understanding that we were through with oppressive taxation. We were through with not being able to own personal property; to do with what we have made, as we see appropriate. A lot of the “old money” we find in America today, was earned while this country was not “socialistic” in ideology...a lot of that money was earned before there was much in the way of income tax. Fact is, wealth comes only from being able to earn, and do with the earnings as the individual deems appropriate.

Is it not educational to recognize that one of the basic tenets of Marxist-Leninist ideology is a progressive taxation? And are we not currently utilizing “progressive taxation” in this country? Soak the rich? Make the rich pay their fair share? Until we scrap the “progressive taxation” method, and replace it with perhaps a wealth tax...we are not going to be the land of the free. The rich are not affected by the laws that get passed regarding taxation, simply because, they have the money to circumvent the law. OK, we tax income, but we allow deductions for mortgage interest, charity work, and investment. Pure income tax, would tax every penny a person receives for a day’s work. You want to make the rich pay? Remove all income deductions, and tax every cotton-pickin penny a person gets. Does that sound, uncaring, unChristian? Well, any taxation is actually uncaring, unChristian!

So, let me get this straight...I spent twenty-nine years on active duty in the US Naval Service. Every penny I made I paid income tax on; and social security tax. Except for the thirteen months I was identified as being in a combat zone, which con-gress said income was tax exempt. Now, I am retired from the military, and I am paying income tax on the retainer pay I receive. Are you surprised I call it “retainer pay” rather than “retirement pay”? It really is “retainer”; I am still subject to recall to active duty, and I am under the auspices of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Funny, military personnel are paid from “public funds” (taxes), but do not have the right of collective bargaining. Get over it! The average military person is the true “public servant” and serves the public, not for what he/she can get out of the public, but because it is the right thing to do, and because there is national pride there.

So, I am labeled a “veteran”, yet, because I receive a retainer pay that I pay taxes on, and it is greater than the “means testing” amount allowed, I am put at the back of the line in utilizing VA medical benefits. OK, I don’t use medical much anyway, so, I can live with that. I am also labeled as a “senior citizen”; and I am drawing on sosh security benefits...that I have paid into for most of my adult life, and I am getting my socks taxed off because of the benefit. I should have saved for my old age??? Most of the time I was on active duty, I didn’t make enough money to do a lot of saving. But guess what? Today, we are being taxed oppressively on savings, because of interest earned. GIVE ME A BREAK!!! Oh, and didn’t I hear something being said about Obama’s administration wanting to convert 401K, and IRA accounts into government accounts, administered by IRS? GIVE ME A BREAK!!!

Bottom line, I guess is still, if it walks like a duck, if it talks like a duck, if it smells like a duck, if it looks like a duck, it sure ain’t a lamb!