Taxing The Limits Of Common Sense
By Ron Marr (07/05/03)
I became a tad agitated the other day. I was sitting in my joint - The Mother Lode Steakhouse and BBQ - minding my own business, when some guy decided it was his sworn duty to involve me in a political discussion. Now you have to understand, I rarely discuss politics in person. I write about it, I analyze it, I put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and smoke the liberal wimps from here till next Tuesday. But, such is only one tiny segment of my life.
When I write, I'm a writer. When I'm doing BBQ, I'm a pitmaster. Mostly I'm a Hillbilly hermit with a couple of dogs. I don't have any desire to sit around and debate the merits of career civil servants whose IQ equals half the number of minutes in an hour. I figure that if some relative stranger wants to talk politics, they should at least offer to pay me. Actions to the contrary are uncouth, analogous to cretins who corner doctors in restaurants and ask them if those burning sensations are significant.
But that didn't happen. This fellow walked right up and asked me why I supported George Bush's tax cuts. I responded as any mildly intelligent person would.
"I don't care if I see any money back for a tax cut. I don't even seek a refund," I replied. " I simply don't want my tax dollars going into the hands of people who have a tendency to blow it on $700 ashtrays, $2,000 toilet seats midnight basketball programs, gay outreach symposiums, diversity training love fests, syringe swapping potlucks or any brain-dead attempt to enlighten me to the necessity of saving the yellow bellied sucker sapper."
I truly thought I was being quite sedate, and felt I did a fine job of containing the vitriol which generally exudes from my pores when some dude trods into The Mother Lode and tries to make me discuss something other than bbq, fishing, beer, guitar, or really cute chicks in cut-offs.
Then the guy made a comment which defied all rational thought.
"What...are you one o' them trust fund babies." he asked.
I laughed and called over the bartender. Events like this require a witness.
"Baron," I said, "this guy wants to know if I'm a trust fund baby. I'm confused. Let's ax him a question. Would somebody spend 90 hours a week running a restaurant just for fun? Would they split wood all winter long, edit and write a struggling monthly magazine and do a weekly newspaper column if they had enough income to sit back, get twisted on Jack and watch HBO all day? How does one qualify as a trust fund baby if they make less that $20,000 a year?"
Baron the bartender shrugged and walked off. He's used to me. The liberal scratched his head and said "well I thought you must be, why else would you support tax cuts for the rich."
Since I couldn't explain it to him. I'll explain it here.
I support tax cuts for people who shoulder a disproportional share of this country's unfair tax burden. I support tax cuts for those people who had the mental resources or dumb luck to become so stinking rich that they can afford gold speckled tap water. I believe in survival of the fittest. I also believe in voluntary giving. If a rich man wishes to contribute to a cause, that's his right. If he does not, that's his right as well. If I had the money (which I don't, 'cause newspapers pay about $10 a column and I'm perpetually broke) I would give all sorts of cash to widows and orphans and the NRA and deserving humane society's and literacy groups. I would not give cash to the save the whales, hug the trees, celebrate perversity crowd. I would send my hard earned bucks to impoverished farmers whose cattle need hay. I would not send my dinero to San Francisco activists who believe elementary textbooks should promote all things gay.
So, as I said, I became a tad agitated the other day. Some people would tell me to mellow out, but those are the folks who never utter a word that might place them in the spotlight of negative confrontation. Those are the folks who never utter an opinion least it offend their neighbors and create disharmony. Those are the folks who give away our liberties by their lack of protest.
I can respect anyone who disagrees with me, for they hold true to their convictions. Though we may be at the opposite ends of the spectrum, at least they fight for that in which they believe.
Those who quietly whine about an increasingly totalitarian government but do nothing to alter it...they are beneath contempt.
This is a "best of" piece that ran in 2001
(Printer friendly version) Email: Ron Marr
