Tax The Rich?

 Haven't had much time or energy for writing this week, but I was having some thoughts about taxes and such that seem to go against the grain of many people that I know. A lot of people think that raising taxes for the “rich” will solve so many of life's troubles that it needs to be done immediately, if not retroactively. Even a few of the more affluent out there are making a noise about being willing to pay higher taxes and I think that's great. But why are they waiting?

You see, the idea is that we should force people to pay more in taxes so that the government will have more cash to help those who are less fortunate. The money could then be used to create more jobs, feed the hungry and build more houses. Sounds awesome, doesn't it? But what's the point?

If someone truly wants to help the less fortunate of the world there is no reason for them to wait until the government makes that assistance mandatory. They can simply write a check and take it to the nearest food pantry or shelter so that the funds are used immediately and locally. That way, the donor gets the benefit of seeing and knowing exactly who is being helped by their generosity. No bureaucracy to wait for, no committees to wade through, and no question of where the funds are going. The money goes from the hand of who has it to the hand of who needs it. Simple as that.

If, on the other hand, we take the money from those who have it in the form of a tax, the compulsory nature of the tax makes the giving less meaningful. In fact, it's not giving anymore...it's a tax; and those are two totally different things. A tax means that the government has a better idea how to use your money than you do, and that is completely untrue in most cases. Giving means that you see a need and are willing to meet that need with whatever you have available to you. Giving is willing, taxing is forced. Isn't it interesting that a person would say that they are willing to be forced to do the right thing while being unable to make themselves just do it? I think that our country would have a stronger sense of unity if we would all just do the right thing in the area of philanthropy instead of waiting for someone in Washington to make us do it. A helping hand from a neighbor is usually perceived as less threatening than a government hand-out, and it is easier to monitor for abuse. If I loan my friend some money to make his mortgage payment and he spends it on beer; guess what happens? No more loans! Accountability is better with local philanthropy and the money is used more efficiently. So, why would we rely on taxes? Really, does anybody want to pay more taxes? I don't think so.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but I don't think the celebrities who wave the “I'll pay more taxes” banner are very sincere. If they want to do something good with their money they will. If not, then higher taxes will just give them something to complain about while the money gets lost in the system.

So, what do we do? Lower taxes for everyone so that each of us can determine how to use our own resources. Stop turning our heads as we pass the homeless on the streets. Start visiting the shelters. Listen to others and live as a community so that needs are met as they come up. Stop waiting for “Big Brother” to tell us where to help and just do it. The we will be choosing to do what's right instead of waiting to be forced to.

Open Letter To Climax Springs

 To Whom It May Concern,

My name is Brett Davis and I am running for a place on the Climax Springs School Board. I am writing this letter so that anyone who is interested may know why I am running and what I hope to accomplish.

I grew up in a suburb of Dallas, TX and attended school in an extremely large school district. There were many benefits to growing up in large schools with a lot of resources. The kids who chose to take part in sports or music programs received top-notch training. We usually had the best equipment for the task at hand as well as opportunities to be active in a wide variety of extra-curricular activities.

We also had a very wide spread drug and alcohol problem in our schools. There were fights before and after school, and we had the occasional teen-aged pregnancy. I suppose that some of these things could be overlooked if all of the kids in the district were learning appropriately, but the truth is that our drop out and failure rate was no different than any other district. The sad truth is that some students will take advantage of the opportunity to learn while others simply won't. The school's job is to engage the students so that they get as much benefit as possible from their time in school.

For the past three years I have had the pleasure of watching my kids attend school in our new home of Climax Springs. I will have to admit that I was concerned at first because my wife and I had heard of “problems” within the school; however, my experience has been that whatever problems exist here, they are no different than what kids and families face all over the nation. Big schools, small schools, they all have drugs, alcohol, violence, teen pregnancy, and overall apathy to deal with. Also, they all have students who don't want to learn. Once again, it's the school's job to engage them so that they will want to.

There are some people in the area who feel that closing the Climax Springs School District would be the best thing to do. They cite all of the perceived problems with the school as well as low performance on standardized tests as reasons to do this. The idea is that moving our students to a larger school would allow them to get a better education simply because the school is bigger and potentially more efficient. This idea is false and I can't let people who think this way destroy a school that is no worse than most other schools and has the potential to be so much more.

I mentioned the good things about attending a large school earlier, but small schools have several features that are not available to kids in big schools. With fewer students in each class, the kids in Climax Springs get more one-on-one attention than they would get in a larger school. This extra focus on the kids lets the teachers identify problem areas that may get overlooked when they are forced to deal with more kids.

We have fewer after-school activities for the kids, but anyone who wants to be involved can. In bigger schools, athletics, music and art are sometimes an option only for the top performers. This means that a child who wants to play football may not be allowed to because they are not as good as another child. Someone who wants to play trumpet may never get the chance because the band doesn't need another trumpet player. In our school, if a kid wants to be involved he can be. This allows all of our students to try things that may not be available to them in another school.

There is also a sense of community within our school that I never experienced growing up. I know this can't be measured like a test score, but it is real, nonetheless. I would hate to see our children sent to a larger school, miles away, so that they can be swallowed up in a system that doesn't recognize who they are.

So, what are our options? The way I see it, we only have one. Make our school better than it is. Then, make it better than the other schools out there.

This can be done by refocusing on the basics: reading, writing and math. If a child has a firm foundation in these areas they can go on to learn almost anything. If we fail to teach them these basics, then no amount of gizmos, gimmicks and programs can help. Computers are useless to a student who can not read what is on the screen. Fancy software applications will never teach as well as a teacher.

I don't believe that technology is bad or that outside programs and curriculum are useless; they do have a place. But if they cause us to lose focus on the basics then they serve no purpose.

As a district, we need to be equipping our teachers to give the students a firm grounding in reading, writing and math while educating parents in ways to support and supplement these efforts in the home. As we do this, test scores will go up and grades will improve, not only in the basics but in all subjects. I don't think it will change overnight, but it will change.

Sincerely,

Brett Davis

Here Comes The Election

 The rapid approach of another national election brings to light many of the problems within the American political system. Our President, who has only been marginally effective for three years, loses all effectiveness for his last year of this term because of his focus on winning an additional term. I understand that some very popular decisions may come out of the Oval Office this year, but “popular” is not the same as “right” or “best”. Much of what is said and done by the President for the next several months will be geared toward getting re-elected as opposed to serving the best interest of the American people; while at the same time shoring up his defenses against an increasingly antagonistic Republican Party.

The biggest problem with the constant attacks of the Republicans is that they aren't each attacking the same target. Instead of finding a common goal and uniting to achieve it, all of the supposedly conservative candidates are spending every waking moment beating the hell out of each other for the right to be on the presidential ballot. Now, maybe I'm just an uneducated redneck, but if none of them can create an agenda that their own party can rally around what makes any of them think that they should be President?

Seriously.

The primary function of the Presidential Office is to represent the United States to the rest of the world, yet the right to sit in that office is being won or lost over who can yell the loudest and wave the most money around. Are these really the people we want to choose from? A lackluster President and a crowd of backstabbing cat-fighters? Please, tell me there is another choice.

There is another choice.

I remember an old Richard Pryor movie called Brewster's Millions. I won't go into the whole plot, but the climax came when Pryor's character had to tell the public, “I didn't want to get elected. I wanted to show everyone that they had a choice”. (My Paraphrase) The idea was that the choices on the ballot were so bad that Brewster ran on the platform, “None Of The Above”, but then found himself about to win the election when all he really wanted was for people to vote “None Of The Above”.

This coming November we will have the same opportunity. If we are truly dissatisfied with a system that gives us such poor choices in leadership we can each choose to vote for someone who is neither Republican nor Democrat. You see, in a political system that is dominated by two parties, any vote cast for a “third party” candidate is a vote for “None Of The Above”.

Someone may ask, “What's the point? If I vote for a candidate who has no chance of winning I just wasted my vote.” Nothing can be farther from the truth. If the winner on November 2^nd takes the election with only 41% of the popular vote because 20% of the people chose “None Of The Above”, a huge point will have been made. It will be very clear at that time that the man taking the Oath of Office does not come close to representing the majority of Americans. In fact it will say a lot that so many people would “waste” their vote as opposed to taking part in the sham we call a Two Party System. If a fifth of the voting population were to choose to vote for anyone who doesn't come from one of the two major parties those parties would have to wake up to the idea that they are representing themselves more than they are the American people.

Of course, this won't give us a better President this year, but what about in four years? It's possible that someone, somewhere might start listening to what the average man on the street thinks. Maybe someone will start to look at what is best for the nation as a whole instead of what is best for this group or that group. Maybe (I know, it's just a fantasy), maybe an “average” person could actually make a serious run for office. Then we could vote for someone other than an inflated bag of ego with deep pockets without “wasting” our votes. Wouldn't that be something?

What a dream.

I know that the choice that some folks will make is to simply drop out by not voting at all. They don't like the choices and would feel as though a third party vote is wasted, so they will choose to not vote at all. Here is the problem with that idea. If nobody votes against the system then the winner gets a larger percentage of the votes. You see, if the discontented voters don't vote, the vast majority of the votes will go to a Republican or a Democrat and a high percentage of votes for the winner gives the impression that he is who the people want in office. If the end result of this election is going to be one of our current choices, I would rather see the President go into office knowing that most of us don't want him there. Has a President ever started his term with a negative popularity poll? Ouch!

Like I said before, this approach will not fix anything in the immediate future, and I certainly would never try to tell someone else how to vote, but this is the direction I'm heading in: None Of The Above. It may not change anything ever, but it seems better than the alternatives.

Somewhere To Start

 I'm not a very good follower. Since I was a child I have had difficulty doing what I am told to do, or even doing what someone else wants to do. When the other kids wanted to play hide-and-seek, I preferred Cowboys and Indians (forgive me; Exploited Migrant Ranch Hands v. Native Americans). It's true that I learned to balance my wants with those of others at times, but the underlying drive in my life has always been to do things my way, on my time frame.

This approach to life has given me nothing but trouble for as long as I can remember. Trouble at home, trouble in school, and trouble with the law. If it weren't for those rare men who are worthy of following (SGT Weekes and CPT Pandol come to mind) I would have never survived my time in the Army. Autonomy and independence have always seemed to be more important to me than “playing well with others” and this philosophy has led me to a life of semi-seclusion because I find it easier to be away from people than to filter my thoughts and words lest I should offend someone. It's not that I don't like people; I just seem to think differently and it takes a lot of effort to explain myself in such a way that I don't come across as cold and heartless, or simply indifferent.

Unfortunately, I question my own motives at times. Am I separate because I'm independent, or am I independent so that I can be separate? That is an important question for me because one of the rules in our house is that no one can argue for the sake of argument. If you don't have a point that you are trying to make, if you simply want to antagonize someone, then don't go against the grain. This leads to a more peaceful home life and the kids seem to be learning to think before they speak; and when they do speak, look out, their ideas are not easy to refute. The problem is that I now wonder if I think differently so that I can enhance my independence, or do I just think differently? Or do I just think too much?

I've been questioning these things as I watch all of the preparations that go into choosing the next President of our nation, and this questioning makes me wonder if I am anti-American. (Insert Disclaimer Here: I consider myself to be a devout Christian as well as a true patriot of my country.) When I look at the direction that America is moving in today compared to what appears to be the direction envisioned by the men who got this whole thing started I find myself disgusted. Disgusted with our overall leadership, and disgusted with our apathy. It bothers me that our government tends to run against the best interest of the individual while the Constitution declares the importance of individual rights. It really bothers me that we have a political system that only seems to promote those who are willing to perpetuate the system, regardless of its failings. It really, really bothers me that any religious group would try to hijack the system when the primary reason for our forefathers' immigration to this continent from Europe was the desire to believe what one believes without persecution. But, what bothers me the most is that most Americans just don't care. As long as our personal boat doesn't get rocked too hard we just watch the world go by. It reminds me of the punch line of an old joke, “if you are happy and warm in a pile of manure, keep your mouth shut”.

After what I wrote earlier about arguing I don't want to come across as one who is picking a fight or stirring things up for no good reason. I just think it's time for Americans to take an honest look at the failings of our government and begin to look for solutions. I certainly do not think that I have a monopoly on the “right” answers. There may be no right answers. But, the least we can do is think about what we believe and how we act so that we can begin taking steps in the right direction.

The challenge for me is going to be continuing to write. I don't know if anyone will ever actually read this, but I need to get this stuff out of my brain to make room for more important things like hunting or playing guitar. So, I will try to keep putting these thoughts out there, and if anyone wants to join the discussion, then that's great. If not, then that's great too.

To Begin, Again

 I haven't written anything in a long time. Nothing of value at least.

It could be argued that nothing that I've ever written is of value, but that discussion might be better held at a different time. The point is that I feel compelled to begin again. To begin writing. To begin drawing. To begin creating music. Any of the creative processes that I've enjoyed in the past. Anything to minimize the mental feedback that resonates through my soul at the moment.

Looking back, I see that my reasons for not writing were rather foolish. Truly, there was but one reason. I felt that it was arrogant of me to assume that anyone would care what I have to say. There seemed to be no purpose in creating something for no one to see, yet it made me uncomfortable to share my thoughts with anyone other than myself because I was afraid that people would think that I thought my thoughts were important. So, for almost two years the creative urge has been silenced. I have read what others have written, enjoyed the art work of others, and, oddly enough, quit listening to music almost all together. Anything creative that may have come up inside me was simply turned inwards; thus the mental feedback.

So, here I am, with my laptop and my thoughts, wondering if there is a point to this. Maybe that wondering is the point. I can't say for certain that my purpose in life is to be a writer, but maybe I feel this need to wrestle with my thoughts and then write them out so that I can stay within sight of my own sanity. It could be that God designed me to sit on the brink of lunacy so that I can document the experience of staring into my own mind. Then, if some other poor soul happens to stumble upon what I have seen, they may learn that lunacy is universal; that we all go a little crazy when peering too closely at ourselves.

So it is not arrogance that leads me to write, draw or play music. It's self-preservation. Whether, or not, anyone else experiences the fruit of my insanity is irrelevant; the point is simply to create it. Whoever will be led to it will be led to it. Whoever will benefit from it will do so. Whoever will think that I have created garbage will still be affected in some way. The point is that it's time to turn my thoughts outward and eliminate the feedback.

Honestly, the noise in here is making me crazy.