Part One
At 4:30 a.m. on April 12, 1861, Confederate artillery opened fire on the Federal Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor. Although the Union garrison returned fire, they were significantly outgunned and, after 34 hours, Major Anderson was forced to surrender and agreed to evacuate. This was the start of the American Civil war; a war to whose intention, arguably, was to abolish slavery. As a result, slavery was officially abolished with the 13th Amendment, passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865. The text reads,
“Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.”
So on this, the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, where do we really stand on the issue of slavery in America? Is this “Land of the Free” as free as one might have hoped when they donned their blues and set off to give their life for the sake of another man’s independence? Let’s consider a few things together…
There is an extreme dichotomy in the distribution of wealth in America. A friend recently read an article that said the greatest determining factor for a nation’s long-term success is not its form of governance or type of economic system, but rather the discrepancy between its wealthiest and poorest citizens. The distance between the wealthiest and the poorest is a great chasm and the gap seems to be widening. In 2010, the average household income was $46,326/year, which accounts for nearly 50% of all Americans, while the top income earners ($200,000/year and up) only account for 3%. What is even more fascinating, is how even amongst the super wealthy, income is not distributed evenly. There are approximately 146,000 (0.1%) households with incomes exceeding $1,500,000 a year. Even at that, the top 0.01% of households had incomes of $5,500,000 and accounted for 11,000 households. The 400 highest tax payers in the nation brought in a stunning $87,000,000 a year. (Source) Now that is a very oddly shaped bell curve.
These numbers could lead us to think that this is a problem with “those rich people”, but that is untrue. Consider what I once heard on a radio broadcast; if you are a two income family, own your own home, and have two vehicles in the driveway, you are among the top 3-5% of the wealthiest people in the world. If it is a “rich people” problem, then it might just be our problem. Poverty is dispensing overwhelming bondage to millions of Americans. In 2011, the official “poverty level” for a family of 4 is $22,350. My family is a family of 4, so to me this is not a statistic, it becomes personal. Could we live on $22,350? Could we live on $32,350… $42,350… numbers nearly twice the “poverty level”, but…
Statistics can be helpful but too often serve to depersonalize the situation and to ignore the true problem. So, the statistics don’t do it for me. But names and faces do. Think for a moment, if you will. Try to put a specific name to the “poverty level” statistic. Do you have one? ( I understand that it may even be you.) If you can’t think of at least one name in under a minute, then it might just be you who is the modern-day slave owner, holding others in “involuntary servitude”. They don’t want to be there and we have the key to unlock their cell door. Are we willing to use it? So much of our energy is squandered on earning more money, managing our investments, and maintaining the material possessions that we acquired with that money. We could lighten all of our burdens by realizing that, at some point, enough is enough.
The other day, I was talking with a friend who has his own business. He told me that he has to budget 42% of his income, straight off the top, to avoid getting crushed by the burden of taxes on April 15th. A hard working man, trying to supply an honest living for his family, is made to give away nearly half of his earnings to be spent by someone else. We love to deride the government for these high taxes and seem to feel well within our rights to do so. The nearly constant chatter from the popular prickly pundits may be partly to blame for the perpetration of our antagonistic response to the system of taxation. “The right, left, and in between are all at fault for the failed system”, seems to be the reigning voice. Blame is the game rather than results. Even if we could focus on results, “results” look different to all stakeholders. All stakeholders want lower taxes, but no one wants their service to be the one to receive decreased funding. As soon as a tax-saving measures are suggested, that special interest group loads up a bus and heads off to Washington to rally for their cause…and nothing ever changes.
Perhaps it is not the burden of taxation that is holding us enslaved, but rather it is our own narcissistic greed. What might this entire conversation sound like if we began to respond with, “Yes, I could live without all of that. My special interest is not more important than yours and I am willing to voluntarily concede to that. Let’s work together to accomplish a greater good.” In 1773, the colonists began the fight for representation with our taxation. It would be interesting to consider what America might look like if we had representation without taxation. The system of taxation would become obsolete if, rather than waiting for “them” to demand it from us, we were to voluntarily give (time and money) to address issues that were apparent within our own small sphere of influence. We say that our problem with high taxation has to do with the way “those representatives” spend our money, but that is simply a smoke screen to mask our true darker nature. It is interesting to me that we can voluntarily give billions of dollars to the sports and entertainment industries (even while being taxed at 42%). What might taxation and governmental reform look like if we each voluntarily funneled even some of that money away from entertainment and into diverse and tolerant services? If we long to dispel the "tyranny of socialism", then give it away before "they" even ask for it. The money is there, but are we...am I willing?
Part Two is coming next week...
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