I met a woman recently and she asked this question: Why should the government have the right to tax people and tell them how much they should pay in taxes for things they do not want, like feeding the poor?

She did not believe the government should be in the business of taking care of poor people.

Thinking about her question, I wanted to come up with some concrete reasons why helping the poor out of poverty is not only wise economics, but to show her how helping our most vulnerable is morally justified and why it is part of our social contract as members of this society.

Do we have a social contract with each other? Should the government help our most unfortunate citizens? Unfortunate citizens, we all say that — I just did. What makes one person more fortunate that another? Is it hard work? Or is it just the luck of the draw? The opposite of unfortunate is fortunate, lucky. I was born in Brooklyn, but why was I not born on the African continent? Is my whole life just one big gamble, one big spin of the wheel to see who is born into wealth and who is not?

Those who, like the woman I was talking to, are hard to convince why we do have a social contract, but we do and there is historical precedent which not only proves why we should be good stewards of our country through patriotism and Judeo-Christian mores.

I am tired of the politicians and citizens threatening to secede from the Union, this has been going on since the ink was still wet on the US Constitution. If you do not want to be part of our society and pay taxes then you are on your own. You get nothing!

Let the South become a free state or states and let the people who live there decide if they want to remain part of America. If they choose independence we should let them go and the people who do not want to live in their version of what a society looks like can either stay or leave.

Or we could just let them opt out of paying taxes and they become a la carte citizens. You want to use the subway or highway you pay a fee. Or if you want to send your kid to public school you pay a fee based on the cost of running a school for one day. You want to be a non taxpaying citizen you get nada, nothing, zilch. You are on your own. In fact for every tax subsidized company, service or product you have to pay extra in your new status as Non Taxpaying Citizen.

This all sounds ludicrous doesn’t it, and any talk of secession is just that – talk. There have been polls posted online and the mainstream media have reported large numbers of people who now want to secede from the Union because of the reelection of Barack Obama. It has also been reported that Barack Obama has had more death threats than Lincoln.

There are some in this country who simply need to grow up and evolve. Do they want to live in a vibrant country or do they want to live in anarchy? Those members of society who have racism in their hearts and ice water in their veins need to realize that if they want a country that has not seen its better days, then we all need to get on the bus because America and the world are becoming one whether they like it or not. The demographics of America are changing, and with that change comes great challenges. There is no room for idle talk; now is a time to move America into the 21 Century and free ourselves of the shackles of the past.



