Man, have I missed soo much on my new job (working my tail off leaves little time for posting!).

First off, I think we should all pay our taxes, because that's the law. To not pay taxes IS criminal and unpatriotic. I also think the tax code is screwed up and that it's really lame that the difference in the taxes I pay can be different depending on who I take my taxes to. I ended up saving $1,000 by taking my taxes to a different accountant last year. Talk about favoring the rich. My taxes depend on who can afford to take them to. So I'll agree that the rich are definitly favored when it comes to the tax code. Never mind that I benifited, it isn't right.

As far as the sliding scale stuff, I think it's probably necessary, but I get sick and tired of hearing about tax cuts "favoring the rich" when takes hikes hit the rich more than anyone else. The truth is that any tax change at all is going to affect the rich more than anyone else and that has to be recognized. As stated above, however, we do need to get rid of the tax code complexity that allows the rich to not pay just because their good at a shell game.

All that being said, I think the government spends too much across the board, and both Republicans and Democrats are to blame. Each points a finger at the other and says that their programs are more worthy, but at the end of the day it seems no one knows how to stop spending. My big frustration with the Republicans (who I generall agree with as far as their espoused values go) is that they talk all day about reducing spending and making a smaller government but never do it.

But here's my real conservative side coming out. As I've said before, I don't think mercy should be a function of the government. If we as citizens feel that the poor should be given money, then we should give money to them. It should not be the goverment who decides to take money from us and give it to them. It's fine for the government to make this easier and give us avenues to contribute, but I don't think it should just take our money at whatever predetermined rate the government thinks will be useful. First off, as I said, I don't think this should BE a function of the government, but second I don't really trust what the government does with the money anyway.

It's all well and good to say that we cannot let people starve in the streets so we need to give them money, but why does the government need to do this? If we really care about those in need, why can't we just give the money ourselves? I do. I give a substantial amount of money to my church and a lot of that goes to helping needy people. I realize not everyone goes to church or trusts what churches do with their money (my church is very open with how it spends its money) and that's fine- the church is only one avanue of giving. Instead of taking our money and spending it however the government deems is "merciful", why don't they let us determine that? Give me a tax form that says "oh by the way, I want to contrubed X amount of dollars to feeding low income people". Why does the government specify that mount I need to give? I suppose the answer would be that the government cannot reasonably expect people to donate their money freely, and that they must take it from them if poor people are really to be fed. Well, then apparently that program is not something people want to give to, and there's the real problem. But if people don't want to give their money to help with the poor, then why is the government taking it? Because big brother knows best? I don't like that; I don't like it when Democrats do it for their programs and I don't like it when Republicans do it for theirs. Take my money for the things it truly makes sense for the government to be involved in and let mercy be a function of my choice to give. If I don't want to give then we've isolated the real problem: that a lot of people are selfish with their money and resources. I think that's an issue that needs to be resolved, but having somebody else determine what the appropriate amount of mercy I should provide is not the answer.