Hey Big Government, Can I Have My $20 Back?

I eagerly awaited my last paycheck, as Mike and I are experimenting with living off of one income and experiencing a bit of a crunch lately. I think it's fun to double-check computer generated math and was surprised to find that 40% was withheld for taxes and social security, and I hadn't made any changes. I checked a few other stubs to find that this figure is usually 32%. Then I realized my most recent check included a bonus, probably reaching some income threshold allowing the government to take more. Of course, silly me! I should have known I'd be penalized for working harder.

I grasp and wholly accept that paying a portion of my income out in taxes is necessary to sustain large-scale ventures for the common good that could not otherwise be accomplished. However, I have my own ideas about what "fair and reasonable" is, and it's not 40%. Having control over my earnings allows me to allocate to things that are important to me. When my calculator tells me a whopping 40% of my work week was as a volunteer for the US government, I feel cheated for not having been given a choice.

My 40% sacrificed for the greater good might even be acceptable if I was offered a selection of activities to partake in or donate to. If anyone had bothered to ask, I'd tell them I'd like that money to go to the arts or to job training programs. If they actually let me volunteer, I would tell them I'd like to give free singing lessons to underprivileged youth. Even if they let me check boxes on a form to allot my funds the way I would see fit, they might win me over. But no. All I know is that my 40% was pilfered to fund a war I didn't vote for, social security whose performance and prospects are miserable, and pet projects that I will neither be able to take part in nor do I care about.

It might be gauche to fixate on this, but money is critically important to everything you do. Not because it's money, but because it's the simplest medium for trade and communicating your values. Your level of desire to make money, save it, and where you spend it is truly how you vote. You shop organic or at a Save-A-Lot-Mart, you buy a Hummer or a Prius, you'll pay a premium for cruelty-free clothing or opt for the cheapest t-shirts you can find. You educate yourself for a higher paying job, or take what comes in the door. All are valid choices. Your money talks, and it says, "I will show you what matters to me."

As voters, a potential candidate's policies do matter. I'm baffled when I hear people say that they don't. We are not voting for buddies or motivational speakers, we are voting for people who have the power to dramatically alter the scope of our life's accomplishments by taking 40% of it away at their discretion. I don't care how cute and cuddly or fierce and ball-cracking a candidate is. Don't fall for the hype. If their policies take away more of your rights, by taking more of your dollars and you'll be told in a 700 page bill what it's been spent on, think again. You should be able to decide.

So I'm turning to you: other rational people with a mind, a heart, and a calculator. Go look at your paychecks and tax returns. Do the math. Then go look at what your money is spent on. Whatever your political party, I'd challenge you to tell me you love their plans for your 40% and you'd have it no other way. Don't give me a song and dance about how you don't mind spending on pointless or failing social programs because at least it's not the war in Iraq. Don't settle for paltry negotiations, that's how we got this writhing behemoth of spending on both sides, "I'll pay for your project if you pay for mine." Wink wink, nudge nudge. Tell me how you feel to know your precious time and money is being wasted on things you don't care about and didn't authorize. Then tell me what you do care about. Tell me where you'd like your money to be spent. Or tell initiatives like Sam Davidson's Cool People Care. Go to this site and see the lists of sponsors and partners, many of them are private donors who are trying to get the message out about what they think is important.

Tell the government to give you your money back and you'll happily and easily show them what is important. It's proven that when taxes are reduced, and therefore individual income restored, private donation and spending increase. Whether that spending is a donation to science (finding cures for diseases) or buying a bigger house (profits and job creation), your private dollar gets the vote as to what you think is most important. The best part about this is that you have a personal stake and oversight in how and where your money is spent, meaning it's done more efficiently than when a government doles it out here and there through systems where accountability and effeciency processes are near-impossible to track.

I'm just sayin'...give us a chance.