I was part of a fascinating conversation at lunch one day last week. This conversation took place at work, which means a bunch of well-educated nonprofit professionals gathered around the board room table eating brown-bag lunches (because, hey, we work at a nonprofit). The topic of capitalism came up and I shared a portion of the lecture I delivered earlier in the week about the link between imperialism and capitalism as proof that capitalism is inherently evil. Someone said that a strength of capitalism is the ability to vote with our dollars, and someone (wish it was me) said "too bad we can't select what our tax dollars go to pay for".
Wait a minute, back up!
What if we could designate how our tax dollars were spent? Not necessarily how much we pay, but imagine one more section on each iteration of the 1040 that lists broad budget categories and asks us to fill in a percentage of our tax dollars for each program area. It might look something like this:
Please enter below in whole numbers (no decimals or fractions) the percentage of your tax dollars that you choose to allocate to each of the following program areas. (Social Security and Medicare are not listed because these are funded through a different tax stream.) Your entries must total 100%.
1. Education (pre-K - 20)
2. Health care and public health
3. Defense
4. War (expenses related to declared wars or ongoing conflicts)
5. Environmental Protection
6. Consumer protection agencies (FDA,USDA, etc)
7. National Endowment for the Arts
8. Overhead and operating expenses
9. Foreign aid (not including military aid)
10. Paying down the national debt
11. Law enforcement and prisons (FBI, Homeland Security, federal prisons, etc)
Now take this one step further: imagine that all our combined responses become the basis for the federal budget. Yes, that's right, if we collectively feel that the war effort is worth $x billion, while education funding should be $y billion, then those are the amounts that legislators will have to work with to fund these programs for the coming fiscal year. They can wrangle all they want about how dollars are allocated within each category, but they wouldn't be able to move funds between categories.
Wouldn't it be fascinating to find out how the American people would distribute their tax dollars if given the chance? Maybe someone needs to create a Facebook quiz to gather data on that... or to start a movement.
Lobbyists, go away! The role of lobbyists would be limited at best under this system, since funds would be partially allocated before Congress even got a first look at them. Of course, since we are an adaptive lot, the lobbyists may become more specialized and focus on programs within a given area of funding. I'd actually like to see someone out there lobbying to increase allocations for public school funding or ways to reduce the cost of tuition at state universities.
What would your choices look like?
And since this would be done as part of the income tax return, participation would be mandatory - not like voting, in which some of the most marginalized individuals in our society are disenfranchised through gerrymandering or voter identification laws, or by circumstance. If you're juggling multiple jobs you likely don't have time to pay much attention to politics or might not be able to get to the polls. But income tax returns? We all gotta do them.
Talk about government of the people, by the people and for the people! Somehow I think the founding fathers might approve.
Peace,
AuntieM
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Okay, I just can't be silent anymore...
I've been reluctantly following the early events of the new political silly-season, and each time I think it can't get any weirder, it does.
Santorum? Really, Colorado? The guy who wants to return women to the era when birth control was a wire coathanger? Turnout for the Republican caucus must have been really low to let a handful of reactionaries take the day. Pop by next month for the Democratic caucus and we'll show you how it's done.
It's amazing to look back through history and note how conservatism has evolved from its primary concern with fiscal responsibility to obsessing over personal behaviours and choices. Yesterday's conservatives look like today's progressives, and today's conservatives look like yesterday's fascists.
Yes, fascists.
Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com, fascism is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."
And by the way, since when did "liberal" become a dirty word, so tainted that we have to use the euphemism "progressive"? I'm liberal and I'm damn proud of it!
Is there anything above that isn't being played out right now by the sideshow slate of characters vying for the Republican nomination? Particularly "forcible suppression of opposition", speaking from my time with the #Occupy movement.
Hey, Occupy Denver, where have you gotten off to? It's sad when an active supporter can't keep track of your activities (or lack thereof) anymore. Like I told you a couple of months ago, you need to keep up with your Saturday marches in order to maintain a public image as a cohesive and functional movement. Instead, you've deteriorated into a camp for homeless and dopers. Yes, they are also part of the 99%, but you're not going to get much support from mainstream citizens if your primary issue is legalizing pot. Which I also told you a couple of months ago. I'm really glad there are still viable Occupy groups elsewhere in the country, and I hope that Occupy Denver can pull itself back together.
But I digress.
I did our taxes this morning. Maybe that's what has me on a rant, or at least represents the final straw. Now I'm seething over Rich Guy Mitt's low tax rate, while we barely scraped by and, incidentally, paid a higher rate than he reported. So not right, since when should people who are barely hanging on have to pay more to support a government than those who have become wealthy in its service?
And whoever decided that Colorado unemployment benefits are taxable income is a truly heartless person. Hubby was unemployed or underemployed for a good portion of 2011, so those benefits were vital to us. I'm still at my nonprofit and teaching, but it's mighty hard to make up for another whole income. (On the bright side, Hubby is doing so well in his auto mechanics program - he's 3/4 of the way through and has a 4.0 GPA! He's working part-time while going to school, which really is about all that's feasible.)
Not to ignore the other Republican also-rans, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Newt dear, I'd rather use you in a spell than think of you as president. Ron Paul is simply scary in his desire to dismantle everything, and he strangely reminds me of Ross Perot, the uber-rich guy who ran in 1992 as an independent and split the conservative vote. But at least Perot was funny and could laugh at himself. Ron Paul believes in the garbage he's spouting and takes both himself and his chances at the Presidency way too seriously.
Another rant-worthy topic: our health insurance premium (group coverage through my nonprofit) went up by 20%. Will someone PLEASE explain to me why the fascists/Republicans/Tea Partiers are so hot to dismantle the health care reforms that Obama signed into law, and why they think we don't need health care reform and a single-payer national health system? I had to move to a deductible so high that I just hope and pray we don't need to use our coverage, because anything short of a critical illness requiring hospitalization will come out of our pockets, which as you might have guessed from the previous paragraphs aren't that deep. And that was to keep my portion of the premium down to 25% of my take-home pay. Elizabeth Warren is right, rising health care costs are what's eroding the middle class. Don't believe me? Check out her lecture on YouTube. It's nearly an hour long but well worth investing your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Uk-DwUvJw
My biggest source of hope right now? It's the belief that one day people will wake up and see just how badly they've been used by the fascist conservatives, and then they will revolt against their oppressors. That is, if they can tear themselves away from American Idol and TMZ, clear their minds of the weapons of mass distraction being pushed to the forefront of the collective American consciousness by the conservative-controlled media giants, and think for themselves instead of mindlessly sopping up the slanted and inflammatory fodder presented by Faux News.
Yes, one day this will happen. It has to. The alternative is too grim to consider.
AuntieM
Santorum? Really, Colorado? The guy who wants to return women to the era when birth control was a wire coathanger? Turnout for the Republican caucus must have been really low to let a handful of reactionaries take the day. Pop by next month for the Democratic caucus and we'll show you how it's done.
It's amazing to look back through history and note how conservatism has evolved from its primary concern with fiscal responsibility to obsessing over personal behaviours and choices. Yesterday's conservatives look like today's progressives, and today's conservatives look like yesterday's fascists.
Yes, fascists.
Courtesy of Merriam-Webster.com, fascism is "a political philosophy, movement, or regime (as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."
And by the way, since when did "liberal" become a dirty word, so tainted that we have to use the euphemism "progressive"? I'm liberal and I'm damn proud of it!
Is there anything above that isn't being played out right now by the sideshow slate of characters vying for the Republican nomination? Particularly "forcible suppression of opposition", speaking from my time with the #Occupy movement.
Hey, Occupy Denver, where have you gotten off to? It's sad when an active supporter can't keep track of your activities (or lack thereof) anymore. Like I told you a couple of months ago, you need to keep up with your Saturday marches in order to maintain a public image as a cohesive and functional movement. Instead, you've deteriorated into a camp for homeless and dopers. Yes, they are also part of the 99%, but you're not going to get much support from mainstream citizens if your primary issue is legalizing pot. Which I also told you a couple of months ago. I'm really glad there are still viable Occupy groups elsewhere in the country, and I hope that Occupy Denver can pull itself back together.
But I digress.
I did our taxes this morning. Maybe that's what has me on a rant, or at least represents the final straw. Now I'm seething over Rich Guy Mitt's low tax rate, while we barely scraped by and, incidentally, paid a higher rate than he reported. So not right, since when should people who are barely hanging on have to pay more to support a government than those who have become wealthy in its service?
And whoever decided that Colorado unemployment benefits are taxable income is a truly heartless person. Hubby was unemployed or underemployed for a good portion of 2011, so those benefits were vital to us. I'm still at my nonprofit and teaching, but it's mighty hard to make up for another whole income. (On the bright side, Hubby is doing so well in his auto mechanics program - he's 3/4 of the way through and has a 4.0 GPA! He's working part-time while going to school, which really is about all that's feasible.)
Not to ignore the other Republican also-rans, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. Newt dear, I'd rather use you in a spell than think of you as president. Ron Paul is simply scary in his desire to dismantle everything, and he strangely reminds me of Ross Perot, the uber-rich guy who ran in 1992 as an independent and split the conservative vote. But at least Perot was funny and could laugh at himself. Ron Paul believes in the garbage he's spouting and takes both himself and his chances at the Presidency way too seriously.
Another rant-worthy topic: our health insurance premium (group coverage through my nonprofit) went up by 20%. Will someone PLEASE explain to me why the fascists/Republicans/Tea Partiers are so hot to dismantle the health care reforms that Obama signed into law, and why they think we don't need health care reform and a single-payer national health system? I had to move to a deductible so high that I just hope and pray we don't need to use our coverage, because anything short of a critical illness requiring hospitalization will come out of our pockets, which as you might have guessed from the previous paragraphs aren't that deep. And that was to keep my portion of the premium down to 25% of my take-home pay. Elizabeth Warren is right, rising health care costs are what's eroding the middle class. Don't believe me? Check out her lecture on YouTube. It's nearly an hour long but well worth investing your time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Uk-DwUvJw
My biggest source of hope right now? It's the belief that one day people will wake up and see just how badly they've been used by the fascist conservatives, and then they will revolt against their oppressors. That is, if they can tear themselves away from American Idol and TMZ, clear their minds of the weapons of mass distraction being pushed to the forefront of the collective American consciousness by the conservative-controlled media giants, and think for themselves instead of mindlessly sopping up the slanted and inflammatory fodder presented by Faux News.
Yes, one day this will happen. It has to. The alternative is too grim to consider.
AuntieM
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