Insist on Term Limits

When you throw all jobs against the wall of cushiness, only one will stick to it. Politicians have the cushiest jobs around.

A politician has only one mandatory obligation, and that is to get him/herself re-elected. And, their world is full of perks. They get to set the rules for everybody else. And of course spend other people's money. Spending other people's money is a fun sport that helps them with the only mandatory part of their job - getting re-elected. The challenge to a politician is to figure ways to keep a handy money supply to spend in order to convince the folks back home that he/she has the voters back.

I don’t know how much you have thought of the many ways that you pay the government. You can filter the ways you support the politicians with one simple sentence. If you earn money, buy anything, enjoy anything, own a home/property, transport yourself anywhere, or own a business, then you pay taxes.

The politicians have crafted taxes to make the taxes look like they are not taxing you. Gaining new revenue for the politicians is an art form. For instance, a city can levy hotel taxes to raise money and claim that the additional money comes from out-of-town visitors. Targeted taxes always have the appeal to the majority. It is always somebody else who has to bear the burden of those additional taxes. The result is that the politician has successfully increased revenues to the state/city/county, leaving himself unblemished as a tax-hiker. He can then go to the voters and make the claim proclaiming his fiscal responsibility.

Politicians play the property-tax game in most areas. No politician wants to go on record for recommending a higher property tax. What do they do? They make the appraisal process automatic so that the value of your property increases (for taxing purposes) every year. Again, the politician can claim that he hasn't raised taxes.

Politicians can and do sponsor a lot of projects in their districts/state/city. All it takes is money, and raising that money is an art form. The sleight of hand they use to make it look like the project is free and that somebody else is paying for it is what keeps the politician in office. Most of these projects would never get off the ground if the politicians were honest and let the citizens in his district/state/city decide for themselves with their money whether the project would be worth paying for.

By dividing us into groups, it is a relative easy process to set one group against another. We all come into one of those groups. These groups include the drinkers, smokers, drivers, property-owners, purchasers of goods and purchasers of certain goods, toll road users, travelers, lottery players, and casino patrons and casinos. I may have left some out, but the idea to take home from this is that as long as you are not in the group from which the tax is proposed, then somebody else will have to pay the tax - not you.

As stated above, separating you from your money is an art form. It doesn't matter which group that you are in, you will always be in one of the groups hit with a special tax. The taxes themselves take many forms. Taxes take any of the following forms - license fees, sales taxes, lotteries, income taxes, inheritance taxes, business taxes, gambler's winnings, and other creative ways that hide a politician's involvement in additional taxes. Remember, for every pleasurable vice that you have, a smart career politician will figure out a way to tax it.

Governments do have responsibilities, but making sure politicians get re-elected at our expense is not one of them. Pork hurts all of us, - even if we are on the receiving end of government largess, we have to pay for other groups in other states. There is no free lunch! The citizens of a local area should tend and finance all local projects that they find worthy. Higher government involvement in a local issue is purely political and designed for the benefit of the politicians.

Yes, a politician is the one job that a man can get into with modest means and leave a rich man. It is the cushiest job in town. In the next election, the public needs to take back control from the thieves of the night and vote them out of office. Incumbency should become a thing of the past with strict term limits imposed. Put term limits as one of your priorities when selecting the candidate that you want in office, regardless of governmental level.

Cheers,

-Robert-

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