Our government is taxing the wrong people

"Four score and seven years ago our forefathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal."
When Abraham Lincoln penned this immortal phrase during the darkest days of the Civil War, historians have disagreed on exactly what he had in mind by using these particular words. The overwhelming majority believe that he was referring to the slavery question, but, was that the complete message he intended to deliver?
When we declared our independence from Great Britain, we also ordained our freedom from royalty. No longer would we put our faith, our trust, and our future into the hands of Dukes and Earls, Princes and Kings. This was a radical idea back in those days, one that forced the British Crown to declare us rebels and traitors.
Now, over two hundred years later, how far have we come in adhering to the beliefs and principles of both ideas, the concept of equal creation and that of freedom from royal tyranny?
We lovingly embrace the concepts of liberty, equality and equal justice, but do we honestly have them in our ideal American society? Have we truly divorced ourselves from royalty? In concept yes, in reality no!
We Americans are still in love with the idea of nobility, but our concept of royalty is now the rich and famous, the filthy rich, the mega stars, the grid iron athletes. Thy have become our royalty.
And, what about equality and justice for all? Justice, like any other basic right in America comes with a price tag, because there is poor justice and wealthy justice and no one can argue otherwise.
As for equality, that depends on how you define the word equality. When we created the constitution, we divorced ourselves from the concept of nobility, however, we did not abolish the class system. That system consisting of slaves, poor class, middle class, upper class and wealthy. We simply traded one set of royalty for another.
The political elite have become the Kings and Queens, the rich and powerful have become the Princes and and Dukes, the company CEO's, college presidents, and corporate executives, have become the Earls and Barons and Counts, while the middle class is the workers and drones, and the poor have become the serfs.
Slavery as a social class was abolished but in all truth it was replaced with an unofficial class of indentured servitude, the concept being that slaves may be legally free, but bound into eternal servitude by poverty, lack of education, lack of recognition, even because of racial or ethnic origin.
We've come a long way in our grand experiment in equality, in freedom, and in justice, but we still have a very long way to go. I would not trade our system for any other in the world today, but I fully agree there is room for vast improvement.
We hear the overused phrase, "America is the land of opportunity," and this phrase is true to some degree. But, when you are starting at the bottom of the unofficial social structure, only a very lucky few break the bonds and truly obtain this opportunity.
The royal class in America (the rich) still possess the power, still pull the strings, and they still make the rules. (The golden rule - he who has the gold makes the rules.) The middle class is and continues to be serfs to the rich and powerful, the poor continue to be at the absolute mercy of the rich and powerful, especially economically.
The prevailing economic philosophy (the trickle down theory) is that he who gives the most should receive the most in return. In the American spirit of fair play, most of us would initially agree with this basic philosophy. But, and there's always a but! If the rich and powerful get back a lot because they put a lot in, they still win either way. They have a win-win situation because even without getting back a dime, their lifestyles of power and overwhelming abundance will not change one iota.
The government would have us believe that by returning billions in tax relief to the rich, the rich will use this financial windfall to create more jobs by investing in more economic infrastructure. Possibly, but this still leaves us, the poor and middle class, at the absolute mercy of the rich and powerful, because, either way they win! They win by creating low paying jobs that keep us at the social level where they want us to be and one that totally benefits them. Honest and fair tax relief would be to tax the rich and forget about taxing the struggling "lower classes, or possibly even a flat tax." After all, that was the idea when our unconstitutional income tax was passed?
Do I believe in the redistribution of wealth? You bet I do! I can hear it now, those at the top, the rich and powerful are already screaming, "communism," and it's all mine, I earned it, and I deserve to keep it! Did they?
For those rich who answer in this manner I have one simple question for them. You have enough money to ensure that you, your children, even you grandchildren, live in complete luxury for their entire lives, to ensure they get the best education money can buy, the best opportunities available, the best of everything, but, what about that inner city child, that poor country child, those who have nothing to look forward to but a life of poverty and despair and servitude?
Are they reaping the blessings our forefathers visualized for "All" Americans?
No, because you have never walked a mile in their shoes (or lack of shoes) and you have no earthly desire or intent to do so!