Would I have gone to one of these? If I wasn't working and earning my living, that is? I might have.
Protesting, boycotting, none of this is new. Both sides do it, to make a point.
Last year was the first year that I didn't vote. I didn't like McCain, at all. I didn't like Obama, at all. I didn't really like the Libertarian candidate either. I couldn't find anyone that didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.
If I would have gone to one of these, it would have been about taxes and spending. Mainly spending. I live in Wisconsin, one of the highest taxed states in the union. Nobody who retires here stays here, because the taxes play hell on a fixed income.
The federal government taxes me at 28% right now.
We have a 7% county sales tax. This must make up for the fact that our previous county supervisor voted himself and his board the golden parachute of all golden parachutes, a retirement package to die for, and then retired. It was perfectly legal, and there was *nothing* that we could do about it.
My school board just raised our property taxes 14%, to pay for the crap schools that I send my sons to. Yet our school system is at the bottom 1/3 of our state. I don't know why, because I pay enough.
I didn't vote for anyone, because both Bush and Obama were/are spending like it's going out of style. The debt keeps growing and growing ... stimulus, bailouts, tarp, national health care, etc., etc., etc. I will admit it. Trillions of dollars in debt scare me.
Look, I live within my means. If I want something, I have a budget for it. If I want something badly enough, like a vacation or a car or anything, I squeeze my budget like a turnip until I figure out how I can pay for it. If there is something that is truly important to me, or something that I need, I make a way to pay for it.
If something else has to go, something else has to go. And *that* is what I want from my government. I want them to stop spending, and take a good look at what is truly important. National health care? Fine. Make a way for it. Cut something else. Get rid of some unnecessary spending. Come on, I know you can find it. Ah, whatever happened to the Golden Fleece award? Died with Willian Proxmire, I think. Too bad.
Medicare, medicaide, social security. Great. But prioritize, for fuck's sake. You can't have everything. How do I know this? Because I can't have everything. I'm smart enough to realize that there isn't enough money between what my husband and I bring in every two weeks to pay for all those things out there that I want. I would love to have an Escalade. But it'll be a cold day in hell before the budget will allow for it.
That's what I want from my government. Because I know for a fact that if I did what they are doing, I would be foreclosed on, my cars would be repossessed (laughing at the idea of being on the repo reality show, running down the street, sobbing as they tow away my cars), I would be hounded day and night by creditors who would be calling me at home and at work, yada, yada, yada.
This response is not political. It's not meant to be. This is just me, as a taxpayer, wondering why it is that my government is spending my hard-given money like the well will never run dry.
And maybe, in the spirit of giving till it hurts, they could vote themselves a paycut for starters. Possibly restructure those wonderful retirement bennies that they have that I'll never have. I hated the spending when Bush was doing it, and it's no different when Obama's doing it.
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Date: 2009-04-16 12:50 am (UTC)Would I have gone to one of these? If I wasn't working and earning my living, that is? I might have.
Protesting, boycotting, none of this is new. Both sides do it, to make a point.
Last year was the first year that I didn't vote. I didn't like McCain, at all. I didn't like Obama, at all. I didn't really like the Libertarian candidate either. I couldn't find anyone that didn't leave a bad taste in my mouth.
If I would have gone to one of these, it would have been about taxes and spending. Mainly spending. I live in Wisconsin, one of the highest taxed states in the union. Nobody who retires here stays here, because the taxes play hell on a fixed income.
The federal government taxes me at 28% right now.
We have a 7% county sales tax. This must make up for the fact that our previous county supervisor voted himself and his board the golden parachute of all golden parachutes, a retirement package to die for, and then retired. It was perfectly legal, and there was *nothing* that we could do about it.
My school board just raised our property taxes 14%, to pay for the crap schools that I send my sons to. Yet our school system is at the bottom 1/3 of our state. I don't know why, because I pay enough.
I didn't vote for anyone, because both Bush and Obama were/are spending like it's going out of style. The debt keeps growing and growing ... stimulus, bailouts, tarp, national health care, etc., etc., etc. I will admit it. Trillions of dollars in debt scare me.
Look, I live within my means. If I want something, I have a budget for it. If I want something badly enough, like a vacation or a car or anything, I squeeze my budget like a turnip until I figure out how I can pay for it. If there is something that is truly important to me, or something that I need, I make a way to pay for it.
If something else has to go, something else has to go. And *that* is what I want from my government. I want them to stop spending, and take a good look at what is truly important. National health care? Fine. Make a way for it. Cut something else. Get rid of some unnecessary spending. Come on, I know you can find it. Ah, whatever happened to the Golden Fleece award? Died with Willian Proxmire, I think. Too bad.
Medicare, medicaide, social security. Great. But prioritize, for fuck's sake. You can't have everything. How do I know this? Because I can't have everything. I'm smart enough to realize that there isn't enough money between what my husband and I bring in every two weeks to pay for all those things out there that I want. I would love to have an Escalade. But it'll be a cold day in hell before the budget will allow for it.
That's what I want from my government. Because I know for a fact that if I did what they are doing, I would be foreclosed on, my cars would be repossessed (laughing at the idea of being on the repo reality show, running down the street, sobbing as they tow away my cars), I would be hounded day and night by creditors who would be calling me at home and at work, yada, yada, yada.
This response is not political. It's not meant to be. This is just me, as a taxpayer, wondering why it is that my government is spending my hard-given money like the well will never run dry.
And maybe, in the spirit of giving till it hurts, they could vote themselves a paycut for starters. Possibly restructure those wonderful retirement bennies that they have that I'll never have. I hated the spending when Bush was doing it, and it's no different when Obama's doing it.