How much will we let government take?

I have to agree with Denise Oppenhagen when she stated in her column this past Sunday: “Sometimes when I write, I feel like a broken record. I express concerns over the same issues again and again.”
That’s exactly how I feel, especially when it comes to the government taking more of our money every year.

The revenue problem that the county government is experiencing can be traced back to the excessive tax-and-spend policies of the past dozen years. As the economy grew, instead of allowing citizens to
keep what they made, the county decided to expand programs, as well as create new programs, that are beyond the legitimate role of government. What the government should have done is only allow for
tax increases that would match inflation and population growth.

The government took money that could have helped citizens reduce their credit card debt or increase their savings. Government is not efficient. There is no faster way to discard money with nothing to
show for it than to place it in government coffers.

It’s ironic that Ms. Oppenhagen writes that without someone to guide children we will have a future where “government and business decisions are based on emotion or superstition more than on logic.
That kind of future is more reminiscent of futurist stories such as ‘1984’ or ‘Anthem.’”

In Chapter 11 of Anthem, published by Ayn Rand in 1938, the main character, named “Equality 7-2521” has a growing awareness of his individuality and the attempt of the collectivist mindset to suppress
individualism for the good of the state.

The following is an excerpt of his newly discovered self:

“Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.

I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!

I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my
thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.

I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man’s soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.”

So you may be wondering why I say that it is ironic that Ms. Oppenhagen uses a book such as Anthem in her example of the dystopian future she is concerned that we may face.

Well, the future that was created in the novel Anthem is exactly where we are headed with the collectivist thinking that pervades our society today. The Democrats are leading the way toward the future
that so many great authors (Huxley, Orwell, Rand) forewarned us about.

What is worse than the feeling that I express concerns over and over again like a broken record, is the feeling that very few see the tsunami coming. Socialism doesn’t work. It doesn’t matter when it has
been tried, or by which society. Socialism, fascism, communism, well … any form of collectivism, are broken economic models.

Our founding fathers knew this well. They studied history extensively. They were far and away more educated when it came to economics and liberty than most Americans are today — over 200 years
later.

Patrick Henry was right on target when he stated during the Virginia Convention of 1788: “You are not to inquire how your trade may be increased, nor how you are to become a great and powerful people,
but how your liberties can be secured; for liberty ought to be the direct end of your Government.”

I have a question for all the people who think that K-12 schools never have enough funding. How much is enough? Please tell me, in today’s dollars, exactly how much money (per child/per year) would be
required to provide an adequate education? I eagerly await your answer.

James Simpson lives in Lake Ridge. Please send answers to today’s question to Jim@OpinionColumnist.com.