Taxation with Representation

One of the blogs I follow with some regularity is maintained by my father; the blog, 'Desertpeace', presents a variety of articles about the situation regarding the plight of the Palestinian people at the hands of the Israelis. It is an anti-Zionist website that often presents political cartoons by associate bloggers, as well as other articles by journalists who regularly post to the site in an effort to share their views with as large an audience as possible. In a post that appeared on the 8th of August, a post that was a cartoon entitled the 'Boycott Toon of the Day' a comment was posted regarding the conviction of Sherry Jackson for failure to pay her taxes. While I read a few articles pertaining to the Jackson case, that is not what this post is about, nor am I claiming to be familiar with the particulars of the case. What compelled me to write this was a comment suggesting that no law exists in the United States compelling its citizens to pay taxes.

Many times people question the legality of taxation in the United States without realizing that there are, in fact, laws stipulating that it is legal – lawful – for the government to collect taxes from the citizens of the nation. First, ratified in 1913 is the 16th Amendment of the Constitution – an obscure, often unused document that is usually only used when Americans want to protect their ‘right’ to carry a firearm (without having to serve in a militia).

“The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.” If that isn’t explicit enough, there’s more … but it will only upset you (it isn’t from the 16th …).

Title 26 of the US Code is also known as the Internal Revenue Code and contains the statutory tax laws of the land, including the tax rates according to level of income (which demonstrates that Americans are being taxed at the lowest rate since long before Ronnie Ray-Guns).

So, yes Virginia, it is lawful for Americans to ‘pay their fair share’, it is part of the law of the land to dig into your pocket and help pay for the roads others use and pay for the health care that someone else consumes – why – because that’s what makes a country great – that’s what allows a country to continue.

The fact that the country’s taxes are also spent, unfortunately, on the machines of war is something that must be addressed by the influence of the public through the ballots they cast and the pressure they put on those who represent them in Washington. As soon as you say ‘nothing we do will make a difference’ you are right: nothing YOU do WILL make a difference with that attitude. Just remember, a ‘community organizer’ with ‘no experience’ managed to galvanize enough people when he shouldn’t have (according to the ‘experts’) and did what ‘shouldn’t’ have been possible.

As it was said at the beginning of the movie ‘Armageddon’: It happened before, it will happen again.

Americans have to come to the realization that they have been lied to by people too lazy to read the law: Taxation, with representation, is the law of the land. What must be addressed is the representation part – the taxes are necessary to make the nation function. Would you rather not have things like fire departments, schools, and other things funded with public monies? Who are you going to call if your house is burning or someone has had a heart attack and you need to access the 9-1-1 service? This is one of the great positions of Libertarians – it’s great to believe we can ‘do for ourselves’ and ‘stand on our own’, until you can’t – until you need the help of someone because you are in a position that requires assistance. That is the way of humanity. It is why we live in communities with other people – note the word ‘community’ – the root word being ‘commune’, people coming to live together for the ‘common good’ – sort of like ‘communism’ or ‘socialism’.

One of the functions of Government is to make the ‘community’ in which we live run smoothly, focusing on the needs of the people rather than the profits of a few select organizations. That is what we need to address. Stop the obscene spending on military expeditions that are unnecessary and inherently racist and focus on the needs of the people. But, if your income fits into one of the taxable brackets established in the tax code, pay your damn taxes – and raise the rates for the highest bracket to an appropriate level that is more in line with what is fair and proportional to what they are able to pay. That way there will be enough for everyone, especially if those with the most pay their fair share. If everyone would pay according to what they could afford it would be possible for everyone to have what they needed to live.

The Christian 'Right' Isn't

Let's get something straight, once and for all: the 'Christian Right' isn't. They are neither Christian, or right. Let me explain.

First of all, before going any further, it should be 'Religious Right' not 'Christian Right'; they are motivated by a warped legalistic adherence to Christianity as a religion rather than applying the principals taught by Jesus to the political sphere in which they function. Is Christianity reconcilable with a 'right-wing' agenda? No, not at all. Jesus taught love and reconciliation, not condemnation and judgment. He dismissed and condemned the use of the death penalty in His day, and demonstrated that violence is never the answer to our problems. Taking these as only a small sample of the ideals espoused by the founder of our faith it seems incongruous to have a group calling itself 'Christian' that supports things like the death penalty, is opposed to programs that support the poor, the sick, the indigent, and supports wars against two nations that never committed an act of violence against the United States. How does that reflect a Christian ideal by any stretch of the imagination?

The recent roadblock by the GOP in the Senate against allowing for the provision of the benefits for the unemployed provides a crystal clear example of the perversion of this brand of 'Christianity' and how it has been warped beyond anything that resembles the truth presented by in the Gospels. Rather than doing something for the people that have lost their jobs, rather than stepping up and working for their constituents, the GOP Senators decided to vilify those individuals who had lost their jobs, blaming them for their misfortune and claiming that these benefits would encourage them to stay unemployed (rather than encouraging them to pay their bills and feed their families which is what most of the unemployed are looking forward to doing).

Regardless of the evidence that for every dollar spent on unemployment benefits more than $1.60 is returned to the economy (this money is NOT saved, it is SPENT - it STIMULATES the economy - always), the GOP would rather focus on Tax Cuts that ADD to the deficit. Interestingly enough, even Jesus understood that this was Voodoo economics: Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and unto God what is God's. Jesus understood the principal that taxation was NECESSARY and that it was a lawful and good thing for a citizen to pay their taxes.

It's time for those on the 'right' to stop pretending to follow the teachings of Jesus when they know they have nothing in common with the seditious Jew that was sent to his death for posing a threat to the government of the day. Jesus - and His followers - were radicals - they taught that we have a power to change the world, that we are not to be conformed to the world, and that the world is enmity to the one to whom we owe our lives. We are also taught that true Christians are persecuted because they pose a threat to the status quo - how does that work for the 'Christian Right' - the were in power, weren't they? That doesn't exactly sound like a 'persecuted' class of believers, does it?

No, there is nothing 'Christian' about the 'Christian Right' - neither is there anything 'right' about them. Religious - absolutely - dogmatically so, but Christian? I'm afraid not, at least, not the Jesus I know. Just ask yourself the question as you look at the image of the two men depicted here: which do you imagine to be the Lord? Many will naturally select the 'well groomed' image that typifies western depictions of the Lord, but the reality of the matter was that Jesus - Yeshua (or Y'shua) would have not looked like a European, well coiffed, gentleman if he was born in Palestine around 3 BCE. The image of the darker skinned man with the kinky hair - the guy most white conservatives would walk past without giving a second look (the guy who would be pulled over in Arizona for looking 'foreign') is much closer to what the real Jesus probably looked like, and his features can still be found amongst the faces of those living in the war-torn land of His birth today.

Let that be the final word on the matter ... for now.

CrazyComposer - aka Peter Amsel
Peter Amsel has been a Christian for 21 years and an ordained minister for 11.

Much Ado about Helen

A tremendous amount has been made over the words uttered by Helen Thomas recently, words spoken on May 27th, interestingly enough four days before the attack by the Israeli Defence Forces against a flotilla of unarmed civilians bringing humanitarian aid to besieged refugees in Gaza. Nine innocent and unarmed civilians were slaughtered by the defenders of the Zionist state, but it’s not okay to criticize them, is that what we are hearing? I listened to what Helen Thomas said and listened carefully; she understands history and is more than capable of reporting her stories without bias.

When asked if she had anything to say about Israel she said, ‘tell them to get the hell out of Palestine.’ When asked if she had ‘anything better’ to say, Thomas continued, ‘remember, these people are occupied, and it’s their land; it’s not German [sic], it’s not Poland.’ Having heard this answer Rabbi Nesenoff, the man conducting and filming the interview, proceeded to ask a loaded question that indicated he fully understood that Thomas was discussing contemporary immigrants, not Jews who had been born Israel.

When asked, ‘where should they [the Jews] go’, Thomas replied, ‘go home, Poland, Germany, and America, and everywhere else.’

This answer lies at the crux of the controversy causing many to label Helen Thomas as an Anti-Semite who is insensitive to history; even her colleague and co-author, Craig Crawford, has announced that he will no longer be working on future book projects with Thomas as a result of this comment, but is that an over-reaction? Was Helen wrong? Was she taken out of context?

Under the ‘Right of Return’ law Jews are allowed to become citizens of Israel by virtue of being Jewish, even if they were born in America. Someone born in the ‘Holy Land’ who is not of Jewish descent, on the other hand, is not allowed to live in the home of their ancestors as it has been stolen and turned into a ‘settlement’, all so the ‘Jewish State’ can reclaim its Biblical borders.

Thomas’ reply was not insensitive to history, it was correct in every way to the political realities of the warped ‘Right of Return’ law and how it discriminates against non-Jews living in the Holy Land. When asked, ‘where should they go’, she replied, ‘go home, Poland, Germany, and America, and everywhere else.’ She did not say they should be killed or expelled, which is something that Israel routinely does to the Palestinians living within the borders of the state, but that can be dismissed as an ‘inconvenient truth’ that nobody wants to discuss.

As a result of this honest answer the website that interviewed her, ‘Rabbilive’ asked the pointed question as to whether or not Helen Thomas could be trusted. They posted, at the end of her ‘interview’ that six million Jews ‘were killed at home … In Germany and Poland. Does Helen know that Jews have lived in Israel way before the Holocaust?’

Yes, I’m sure Helen knows this fact, however, does that mitigate the fact that Israel has been carrying on a war against their neighbours? That they have been using criminally devious tactics, including the use of White Phosphorus artillery shells, against civilians living in Gaza while stealing land in order to continue with the development of the settlements that have been condemned by many civilized nations on this planet?

The most outrageous part of this ridiculous episode has come from, of all places, the Administration of the United States President. Press Secretary Gibbs should have made no comment about Helen Thomas’ comment for the simple reason that she is NOT part of the Administration. Of course her comments are not a reflection of the official policy of the government; even after Israel murdered nine innocent civilians the government has sat on its hands as though it were afraid to say anything nasty, as though it might offend the mighty Jewish State and send them into a whirlwind of retaliation against the United States.

Excuse me, but when did the State of Israel become more powerful than the United States of America? I’m sorry, but I just don’t ascribe to that crap about the Jews controlling that much power: they control as much as you allow them to control. If you stop listening to the AIPAC lobby they have no power. AIPAC can only influence people when they are listened to; otherwise they are a Zionist tool that should be expelled for sedition. They serve the interests of a foreign state, not the United States.

President Obama may stand up and say that Israel should stop building settlements and that Jerusalem should be a city for all, but the truth of the matter is that the Zionist State of Israel is a nation guided by a policy of institutional racism. Anyone who has lived through the Civil Rights Movement in the United States or has studied the fall of Apartheid in South Africa, or has any inkling of the history behind the Holocaust should be able to see this as clearly as the rising of the sun in the morning and the rising of the moon at night.

What we must also understand is that it is NOT Anti-Semitism to criticize the policies of the State of Israel. To be against the ideals of Zionism is not to be against the Jew just as being a Democrat in the United States does not make you ‘unpatriotic’. The idea that this is so is one of the lies perpetuated by the Zionists to defend the indefensible; they know their policies lead to the deaths of innocent people so they hide behind the label of ‘Anti-Semitism’, knowing that anyone labeled with it will be stigmatized and will have to shrink away.

I am a Jew. My mother is a Jew and my father is a Jew … and my father lives in Jerusalem. Branches of my family went to the death camps during the Holocaust. Go ahead, call me an Anti-Semite; you won’t be the first.

As for Helen Thomas, BRAVA! It’s about time people in the press started speaking out against the atrocities being committed by the State of Israel … and just in case you missed it, her comments were made on May 27th; Israel attacked a flotilla carrying aid to Gaza on May 31, killing 9 unarmed civilians.