Taxation without Representation
Why Bother.....
Excuse my lateness with this article. Graduation season is kicking my tail over here. I have one that graduated, and many of my friends do as well. Lots of parties, cards, gifts, and money. So much money. The money is hemorrhaging from my account. The cards, the gifts, mother’s day, dinners, parties, another $20 in another card, oh and there’s a wrestling camp tonight. $30 please oh and do they have their AAU card? $43 please. Wait, these kids still want to eat lunch and stuff here at the house.
Kroger Private Selection bread was $3.99 a loaf last week. It’s been $3.69 for months. That’s of course up from years ago when it was $1.69, but I digress. Something about that $.30 made me snap. "I’m not spending $4 for Kroger brand bread. Back in the day, $5 for the organic bread with the lumberjack looking dude on it seemed out of line. Great bread, but it was a splurge. That bread is $6 on sale now. I could go on. I’ve been feeding 1-7 children at any given point in the last 23 years. One thing I can say, no matter what the talking morons on TV tell us, things are EXPENSIVE out here.
There are many factors as to why life sucks financially for many of us out here. I’m not whining and playing the victim. Most of it is our bad choices, lack of financial skills, and let’s be honest, bad timing to be an adult. However, I’m at the point where I realize I am not represented in my government any more. I’ll start with the feds, and end with our state rep.
No one asked me if I wanted to “donate” my tax dollars to Ukraine and every other batsh*i crazy cause the feds come up with. When you print billions of dollars and send it away, my money becomes worth less. I don’t care where you fall on Ukraine, but 70% of America said hell to the no, and they did it any way. They did it more than once too. As we struggled to pay our tax bill this year as a small business, Ukraine was making sure they fully funded the pensions they have for their govt employees. PENSION????? I’m going to hope that I die before 70 so I don’t have to eat cat food, but sure, send my tax money to those poor retirees in Ukraine. The federal govt no longer works for me. If you want to know why, look up James O’keefe and follow his videos.
Now on to the state. My state rep, Sabi Kumar lives in Springfield. The county mayor lives in Springfield. Springfield has a 4 lane highway through the middle of town. Highway 431, the gorgeous four lane highway, is slated to be finished in the next 5 years. It made the TDOT 10 year plan. I sure would like to see the crash data on that section of road.
I sat through a three hour meeting a couple of weeks ago to discuss the traffic on 76. A three hour meeting that Kumar tried to take credit for. EXCUSE ME???? He didn’t call that meeting. The city called that meeting. Mayor Corbitt called that meeting. Kumar could give two shi!s about highway 76. He doesn’t live here. Mayor Vogle doesn’t live here. Kumar has four lane in front of his old property, and will have four lane in front of his new property. Neither of those men have kids in the schools over here nor do they have to drive this area regularly. Oh, but thank you county for repaving Jernigan Road. While it needed it, has anyone from the county really taken a look at little ole White House?
In that three hour meeting, and the chamber meeting, what I learned is that the state doesn’t care about our intersection, because we haven’t had enough fatalities to bump us up on the list of issues. I get that. If you are having people die monthly, fix the problem. What I don’t get is why people have to die to fix a problem. Oh right, money. There isn’t enough money. Ok, WHERE THE F IS THE MONEY???? What exactly am I paying these reps for? Oh right, Kumar was working on a Domestic Violence Registry and giving vouchers to people to take a gun safety class. Hey Doc, I’ll take my $1000 you promised me if I could find a liberal piece of legislation you sponsored. That would be it. Why are my tax dollars going to someone to take a gun safety class? But they need to take the classes you say, enrollment is down you say. If you can afford a $500 pistol, you can afford the class, and your $30 from the govt is a waste. When you get the guns from the gangbangers in Nashville, then maybe we can talk about gun safety classes. Last I checked, handing out vouchers to people to do what you want, is progressive policy legislation. If you need my address to send me my check, just email me. I’m sure you have that address.
At the state level, they were working on ways to hand out money for school vouchers. They were working on money for red flag mental health laws. They spent time on the floor arguing about the death penalty for child rapists. (I’m for that one) However, the things that the people here on the ground, here in the county want taken care of are roads. What kind of crap do we de-fund that would pay for our 2.6 miles to be widened and made safe? How many bureaucrats do we pay to do studies and other BS that could be cut? How about these legislators stay home and zoom? It is the 21st century. Why are we paying them to be in Nashville for days at a time when that money could go to our roads. Seriously??? Fix the roads.
Wear out your representative with emails. Nope, I’m done. My “representative” represents one side of my county, and the uniparty. He might as well be a democrat, and truly at the state level I’m not even sure it matters any more. I’m not sure any of it matters any more. No one runs against Kumar, no one can afford it. The panel that sat up there the other day was filled with lawyers and doctors. They can afford it. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just cynical. Actually, I am cynical. And I’m done fighting these people. They win. So in August, when Kumar’s name is on the ballot all alone again, I’ll write in None of the Above, and it won’t matter. We’ll get four more years of a boomer and his nasty wife shaking hands with the “lovely” people in government, and wait for someone more important to die on 76. Because if it’s your kid or mine, no one cares, but if it’s one of the elites, they’ll have that road on the list in no time.
Excellent article. It's time to stop pulling punches.
Every word on point!