On Giving Back

On Giving Back

All my life I have been an advocate of small government, and individual liberty, as I get older the smaller I want government to be. From the time my parents pulled me out of middle school band concert, when the school officials decided to make it into an impromptu protest against a tax reduction measure, my parents supported, I have had a wary eye toward the power of government. I am what most Libertarians call a minarchist, I believe the only purpose of government is to protect the rights of individuals, as a result I don't see very many legitimate rolls for government in individuals lives. Through out the time in my Republican past and certainly now in my Libertarian present, my views are often met with a couple of refrains, 1) don't you want to be part of a civil society, and 2) I would usually get some form of the “your selfish, because you don't want to give back.” First of all point number one “the civil society argument,” which isn't topic of this particular entry, I will say that government doesn't make society civil, that should be culture and philosophy, government should only be a failsafe, if you depend on government force to make society civil, I would argue that our society isn't very civil, and has bigger problems. What I have been annoyed with lately is the “Give Back” concept, it assumes that I don't, it also drops context because it always used to justify further legalized plunder of what I worked for, and forgets what I am already giving back, as if the current amount is a given and has always been that way. It also assumes that what you earn would be more moral in the hands of someone else.

I am here to say that I do give back and I do it in two different ways, I give back voluntarily and involuntarily. Involuntarily, I am currently taxed, and I like to ask some one who urges me to “give back,” if they know how much I currently “give back” and how do they know I don't. First of all I pay somewhere between 25% and 30% of my income in income taxes, this doesn't count state and local taxes. When I buy something I also pay the state and local sales tax, in addition I pay for the all the corporate taxes on that item. Corporations don't really pay taxes, they are just collectors, as the taxes are just figured into the cost of doing business and are factored into the cost of the item or service, either by increased price or less people bringing you the service. By the time all is said and done by some estimates I pay 30%-50% of my money in taxes all told, so don't tell me we are not “giving back”. If you don't think that I am, I invite you to tell me what number constitutes “giving back”, and I insist an a number here.

The other way I give back and this way is voluntary, when I buy an item or a service, I am redistributing wealth in a far more efficient way than the government. When I get my paycheck at the end of my pay period, I don't cover the walls in my basement with it. I buy things and invest in things, I buy food, clothing, transportation, utilities, and entertainment, put money in my 401k, and IRA's. Wow what a life I lead, and its a good thing I do so people like Home Depot, Best Buy, Verizon Fios, and my local restaurants all hire people to take my money, and their suppliers hire people and services to get those goods and services to the stores and providers I frequent, and all the people along the way get paychecks as well, and they all pay taxes. Hopefully all those people will go out and buy the software that my employer produces. The more I “give back” with the first method via the government the less money I have for the second method. So again I do give back, should I stop contributing to the economy? Thats what you would have me do the more I am required to “give back,” by the first method.

There is a lot of talk about the “evil rich”, I would be careful of such talk because in todays society rich is turning out to be anyone who has a dollar more than you, so while some can't wait for big daddy government take that dollar, what they don't realize is that someone else is waiting for that same government to take away your extra dollar. I like what is mine and what is my family's, and I act to gain and keep what I value both material and spiritual and philosophical, and if that makes me selfish then I accepted that description proudly. Those who would call me selfish and advocate that I give back more, I have to ask if I earned it and it is some how bad that I keep it, why aren't the people accepting it considered selfish? What makes food in mouths of my family any less moral than food in the mouth of someones else's family? If I am selfish for keeping are they not selfish for accepting it? I guess they don't have to worry about it if the money is laundered through government. In the future I propose the we have an exit strategy for giving back much like we have when going to war, define why why what we give isn't enough and really justify that, and then tell us what point enough is, where it will be considered that we gave back. I think most hard working Americans if they really look at find that they already “Give Back”.