A man in the arena

Without a martini in sight I am engaged in a dangerous activity today: I have been thinking.

We should steal the word “equality.”

By “we” I mean people who love freedom. And by “steal” I mean use the word correctly. Merriam-Webster defines equality as the quality or state of being equal. The idea is simple: everyone is equal in the eyes of the law. Every law should apply to every American.

How would this work? Let us start with taxes. I pay a higher tax rate then my mother and my father pays a higher tax rate then either of us. Different rates = unequal. My father is punished for being different, for being more financially successful then others. How is that not wrong? Shouldn’t we all pay the same rate? No exceptions. No deductions. Sales tax or flat tax, one way or the other we should all be treated equally.

Do you have a problem with political corruption? I do. Companies shell out huge amounts of money to lobbyists and campaigns so they can get money out of the government (our tax money!) Why should Coca-Cola get tax breaks that Custom Auto Repair in Braintree, MA does not? How is that fair? The difference is that one is the family business of my dear friend’s parents and the other is rich enough to get goodies from the government. This has to stop. Every company should be held to the same tax rate. No exceptions. No deductions.

Close friends of mine live in Maryland. One works for the U.S. government, the other works for a private company. They were teenage parents. Any parent knows that parenting is difficult. Try doing it when you are 18. He joined the military and spent a fair amount of time overseas, while she worked her way through college. They are in their mid-Twenties and doing great. And their daughter is wonderful.

However he works for a government that uses Affirmative Action. Should he ever be overlooked for promotion because of his skin color? Has his life been too easy? You want to show compassion? Show compassion to a man who had to be a father as a teenager and has done a remarkable job. Treat him like anyone else and promote him on his hard work not his skin color. End Affirmative Action and treat everyone equally under the law.

The Equality Movement: we treat all Americans as Americans.

# posted by D. W. Eifert @ 5:33 PM