I attended a tea party on April 15, 2009. I saw a large orderly crowd of demonstrators who held signs indicating they were unhappy with the elected officials within the U. S. Federal Government. I heard several speakers and listened to some people in the crowd.  I’m certain people attended for a variety of reasons, but most were there to express their discontent with what has been happening within the halls of Congress and the White House. I write this letter to express my discontent.

I pay my taxes. I would be more pleased to pay my taxes, if I thought a wise group of adults were spending the taxes in a fashion that most appropriately benefited the United States of America, but this is not the case. Whether you are from the left or right in this country, you should want your politicians to be fiscally responsible. One appropriate critique of the previous George W. Bush Administration was its lack of fiscal restraint. Nearing the end of the administration’s lame duck final months, the president requested a spending bill for three quarters of a trillion dollars and what did the loyal opposition do? They prepared the spending bill for him to sign. Now, the loyal opposition holds the Presidency, the Senate and the House of Representatives and they are handling their electoral success like children in a candy store. No, the analogy of children in a candy store is not correct, because children generally purchase candy with cash not credit. The current administration and congress are behaving in a financially reckless manor expecting to jump start our nation’s economy with an orgy of spending.

In the last election we were promised change. There is change needed. Let me refresh your memory. Orthodox Republican philosophy in recent decades has been to stoke the nation’s economy with tax cuts. Orthodox Democratic philosophy in recent decades has been to stoke the nation’s economy with federal spending. I have witnessed no change. 

A change would be for the Federal Government to start offering the service it is paid to render, as best it can, without going into more debt. Are you aware that the federal government collects nearly eight thousand dollars for every man woman and child in this country? A majority of this money is collected in the form of personal income tax. State and local governments are collecting nearly seven thousand dollars for every man woman and child in the country. If you don’t believe me, look up the 2006 census and corresponding tax revenue for that year. I am a father in a family of four, and I am sad to report, I do not pay my fair share, or the sixty thousand dollars of federal and local taxes collected on behalf of the four of us. I thank those financially successful people who are paying millions in taxes and picking up my slack. I ask my federal representative David Price to slow down the spending, but he seems to think I’m too simple to understand the necessity of the spending. Well the fact is I am not simple and I do understand. Americans need to quit selling their votes to politicians who promise to bring home the bacon. We need to start voting out incumbents who do not understand the wisdom of spending within the nation’s means. Ours and our nation’s financial security will not be purchased with credit, but with disciplined use of our God given talents and the thrifty use of the blessing bestowed upon us.

A majority of my fellow citizens are glad to pay taxes. What they are not happy about is the undisciplined manor in which our tax money is being spent and additional funds are being barrowed in our names, not for our benefit, but so that elected officials can begin making down payments on the next election cycle and insure they remain in power. I ask my fellow Americans to support constitutional amendments to the United States and individual state constitutions to limit the term citizens can serve in the legislative bodies of our Federal and State governments. Until such amendments become law, I suggest voting in a fashion that is prejudice against incumbent legislators.