The Tea Parties
I just wanted to comment on the Tea Parties. I attended two of them yesterday. The first one was in York, SC and the other one in Charlotte, NC. I would say the York crowd was around 200 to 250 people, which surprised me given how small York is and they just started about three weeks ago. The speakers were very good, inspirational and got the crowd fired up. I guess next time I’ll make notes about who spoke. I believe they had one politician, the head of the GOP in York County and an author from Prosperity, SC who was excellent.
The Charlotte gathering was probably around 2,000 to 2,500 people. Again this party had several good speakers and a very similar crowd. I would say the crowds are basically fed up with spending, taxation, the quick slide to socialism and loss of freedom and liberty. I loved all the different signs and messages. I did not see any violence, mean spiritedness or terrorists. I did see a lot of young children with their parents and would say it was a family safe environment.
There was also a lot of support from fairtax.org, which is basically a national retail sales tax at the 23% level. I can’t say I’m on board with this concept yet. I haven’t researched their information entirely, but on the surface I’m not sure a consumption tax is all that fair either. My gut feeling is the fairest tax is a flat rate tax. Everybody pays the same rate, which to me is the fairest tax outside of no income tax at all. Either tax plan is better than the extremely unfair progressive tax system we have now. My other recommendation is we change the election laws from one-person one vote, to one vote for every dollar you pay in taxes. Guess what, those 43% of people who don’t pay taxes, they get one vote. I know its hard to believe, but their was a time in this country (prior to 1913) when we didn’t have an income tax. So how did the government collect revenues prior to 1913? I’ll answer that as soon as I research it. But overall I am very pleased to see people protesting the direction of this country headed and I urge everyone to stay involved.
Now for the local Charlotte readers listen up. I have spent a lot of time reviewing the City of Charlotte budget and have given my concerns to Mr. Dulin who has been very receptive. The single biggest item that you need to be concerned about which is not getting much press locally is “A Streetcar Named Disaster” project. In these tough economic times, the city wants to spend $449,000,000 for a streetcar to run from J.C. Smith to Eastland Mall. I haven’t seen the economic benefit studies, which I am sure exists somewhere, but is this really a priority for Charlotte? Is it affordable? Is it needed? What and how large will the costs overruns be? Surely there are more important areas that need attention in Charlotte besides a Streetcar.
I urge you to get involved at some level. Call, write, email your elected officials and let them know your opinions. God Bless, Art
The Charlotte gathering was probably around 2,000 to 2,500 people. Again this party had several good speakers and a very similar crowd. I would say the crowds are basically fed up with spending, taxation, the quick slide to socialism and loss of freedom and liberty. I loved all the different signs and messages. I did not see any violence, mean spiritedness or terrorists. I did see a lot of young children with their parents and would say it was a family safe environment.
There was also a lot of support from fairtax.org, which is basically a national retail sales tax at the 23% level. I can’t say I’m on board with this concept yet. I haven’t researched their information entirely, but on the surface I’m not sure a consumption tax is all that fair either. My gut feeling is the fairest tax is a flat rate tax. Everybody pays the same rate, which to me is the fairest tax outside of no income tax at all. Either tax plan is better than the extremely unfair progressive tax system we have now. My other recommendation is we change the election laws from one-person one vote, to one vote for every dollar you pay in taxes. Guess what, those 43% of people who don’t pay taxes, they get one vote. I know its hard to believe, but their was a time in this country (prior to 1913) when we didn’t have an income tax. So how did the government collect revenues prior to 1913? I’ll answer that as soon as I research it. But overall I am very pleased to see people protesting the direction of this country headed and I urge everyone to stay involved.
Now for the local Charlotte readers listen up. I have spent a lot of time reviewing the City of Charlotte budget and have given my concerns to Mr. Dulin who has been very receptive. The single biggest item that you need to be concerned about which is not getting much press locally is “A Streetcar Named Disaster” project. In these tough economic times, the city wants to spend $449,000,000 for a streetcar to run from J.C. Smith to Eastland Mall. I haven’t seen the economic benefit studies, which I am sure exists somewhere, but is this really a priority for Charlotte? Is it affordable? Is it needed? What and how large will the costs overruns be? Surely there are more important areas that need attention in Charlotte besides a Streetcar.
I urge you to get involved at some level. Call, write, email your elected officials and let them know your opinions. God Bless, Art
