August 7, 2007 at 07:10:52

The Bridge Too Far

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By Mary Lyon (about the author) Page 2 of 2 page(s)

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If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. But don't complain when your dog dies (or runs up huge vet bills) after eating tainted food imported from China because most of the funding for inspectors got cut, and there wasn't anybody around to enforce regulations. Besides, they're just animals who cares, really? Hey, we could save even more money by letting Michael Vick and his pals take care of it! And don't make a big fuss when ill-supervised or inspected Chinese shipments of lead-painted toys find there way here, either. Hell, let the dog play with 'em.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Just don't get all hot and bothered by all those bodies floating down the flooded streets of New Orleans, or the people from there who still have no homes and no food, and then wonder why there is STILL nothing being done to help them, two long years after the fact.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Don't come crying to me when the potholes that never get fixed in your neighborhood streets mess up the front-end alignment on your Mercedes.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. But don't complain about the increased numbers of airplane crashes and grounded fleets, because the government isn't hiring safety inspectors, or regulating the airline industry so it's forced not to cut corners on aircraft maintenance. And don't complain when you have to sit on the runway for nine hours, either. Regulations to prevent that just aren't "in" this season, nor are the inspectors or enforcement agents who would make those regulations work.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. But then don't get outraged about the fact that while Camp Pendleton (among other installations) has sent its guys to Iraq, their families back home have so little to live on from combat pay and VA benefits that they're forced to turn to standing in line at local soup kitchens.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. And don't get yourself worked up because there's no money to properly arm and protect our troops, or house and feed them decently, when YOU voted for the people who were so damned anxious to send them into harm's way.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. And make sure you don't mind all those increases in news stories about child abductions, abuse, molestation, neglect, and murder - because the government can't afford to hire or pay case workers and enforcers anymore.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Just find a way to be okay with the fact that the widows and orphans of the firefighters who died trying to save people in the World Trade Center don't have enough pension money to live on, and their many of their buddies still don't have the communications systems they need to cope with the next catastrophe.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Perhaps you won't mind eating spinach contaminated with e-coli, since the government won't have enough money to pay food-safety inspectors anymore.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Just don't bother to schedule a vacation at any of our beautiful national parks, since the government can't afford to keep them anymore, OR protect them from polluters, loggers, strip-miners, real-estate developers and others who'd desecrate those national treasures for short-term profit - because we can't afford the regulators anymore.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Then make sure you're content that our schools remain under-funded, so their graduates can't manage much more than minimum-wage jobs, which do little to help keep Social Security funded for the future. A poorly-educated work force isn't likely to help our country excel in scientific research, development, or innovation that would generate new jobs and new businesses, and new ways for our country to remain the leader of the world.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Don't moan and groan about how awful it is to have to trip over so many homeless people huddled in doorways and against the sides of buildings, and always hitting you up for handouts - because there's no help or shelter for them anymore. And the icky messes they leave on the curbs? Try to put up with it, because street cleaners and sanitation trucks cost too much money.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Make sure you personally can handle every emergency and any home intrusion, because we won't be able to afford paramedics or sufficient police protection anymore. And if your house catches fire, make sure you have a lot of buckets and a good garden hose on hand already. That's because we can no longer keep firefighters on the payroll, either.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. Just don't come whining to us when your garbage is no longer picked up on schedule, and public sanitation goes straight to Hell. Even Grover Norquist expects his trash to be picked up on time every week, and he'd howl like a stuck pig if it wasn't.

If you don't want to pay taxes, FINE. You're on your own then. Deal with it. You wanted the government out of your life, and you didn't want to have to help pay for the privilege of living in a country like ours. And don't come crying to me, telling me "there OUGHT to be a LAW!"

Our fellow citizens desperately need to be reminded of this. Unfortunately, we'll have to counter-act YEARS of pre-programming that relentlessly beat it into our heads that taxes are just bad, period. However, at some point, we have to grow up as a nation, accept the mantle of true maturity, and face the REAL costs of freedom, instead of trying to get something for nothing. The adults really do have to be back in charge, because we're in a serious mess and we need an extreme (and increasingly expensive) makeover to start fixing things. If it's truly worth having, there's always some price to be paid. The republi-CONS and their fellow short-sighted CONservative cheapskates love to tell you that "freedom isn't free." Well, it isn't. But not in the way they think. Unfortunately, that's a bridge they're still unwilling to cross. Will the Democrats collapse on this, too?

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Mary Lyon is a veteran broadcaster ad five-time Golden Mike Award winner, who has anchored, reported, and written for the Associated Press Radio Network, NBC Radio "The Source," and many Los Angeles-area stations including KRTH-FM/AM, (more...)

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