Why Should we pay Taxes?Moderator, HelpDesk, WebReview.
"Why Americans Don't Want to Pay Taxes"
...One American's Opinion
[Please don't read this if you are not ready for an angry tirade. This is definitely an editorial.]All too often, I see tax returns where someone has a really high balance due. Oh sure, they should have withheld more, or made estimated payments, or planned out how they were going to pay their taxes. The reality is, folks often don't anticipate the big tax bites when they come. Why? Because the laws are so complicated, who can figure out what generates taxes or wipes out deductions?
Then, of course, I get to the listen the usual harangue of "Why should I pay so much taxes? Look how the government wastes my money!" Frankly, sometimes I'll just listen patiently and let my client blow off steam. I know how they feel. Don't you?
This time, it's my turn. Judge Ken Starr's report just came out last week. It made an enormous splash on the news, the Internet, and all audio and video channels of communication around the world. And folks, what have we heard?
This thing cost the American Taxpayer over $40,000,000! That's FORTY MILLION! What a huge amount of money. Do you know how many people we could help with that kind of money?
How much further along could we be in a cure for cancer? Or AIDS? How many hundred thousand of Sally Struthers' starving children could we feed? How many tens of thousands of Americans could we re-train or send to college? How much could we improve housing or education with FORTY MILLION DOLLARS?
Instead, we have squandered the resources and prestige of our nation on one man's sex life. Folks, as far as I am concerned, everyone involved is deeply at fault in this one. Please take this in the spirit intended. This is my opinion. There are no facts involved.
Take it From the Top
Listening to the endless discussion EVERY Sunday morning on "This Week" about this investigation...(there are so many more important things going on in the world) it infuriates me that so much has been wasted. We are looking at an investigation that started into Paula Jones unfortunate encounter with an uncouth politician many years ago.
While I am sure that she was shocked and indignant at the time, why did it take so many years for her to step forward with her allegations? Why wait until after Bill Clinton got elected? It seems to me that she did not instigate this complaint. It seems to me that there were political motives behind these charges. And many people ask, "Why did Bill Clinton not act like a man and accept full responsibility for this reprehensible behavior? Why didn't he just apologize and move on?" He could have saved us millions.
Suppose that he had? If Mr. President had quietly met with Paula Jones and her contingent and apologized, would they have accepted the apology and, perhaps some financial remuneration and moved on with their lives? What do you think? Don't you think Clinton's advisors must have been smart enough to try for damage control? Don't you think they must have made the offer? Do you really think this would have ended then? I doubt it!
I don't think this was ever about Paula Jones. I think this was always about a group of people who never expected Bill Clinton to get elected and had to scramble once he did.
Harnessing Harassment
Moving on. The investigators had the attention of the country focused on them. They had more free press than even Bill Gates gets. They were working on a sexual harassment case. During all that time, don't you think that any woman who had a grudge against Governor Clinton would have stepped forward? Don't you think that with millions of dollars at their disposal, they could have found credible witnesses? How many women do you think were accosted by Governor Clinton and his staff, according to the Jones case logic? Where were they all? Why couldn't a crack investigation team come up with solid witnesses? With all this publicity?
Sexual harassment is an awful crime. Victims all too often are damaged for life - whether emotionally, physically or professionally. Were these guys so busy trying to build a political case that they forgot the human aspect of the situation?
Unrelated Sin
Instead of a solid case, they clutch at straws and come up with Monica Lewinsky. For heaven's sake! Of course the interactions between them were immoral. But sexual harassment? Who are you trying to kid? Lewinsky was thrilled to be so close to the ‘seat' of power. She bragged about it (of course who would believe her). She even used it to gain entree to better positions. This woman is smart. Look at all the attention she's gotten from her little escapade. She's going to be a very rich woman. (I am so proud that our media makes ‘stars' of people engaging in criminal and immoral acts.) Heck, she even kept the dress with the semen stains. Who the heck keeps dirty dresses for months? Unless they have big plans for blackmail or extortion. Or are you trying to tell me that was a treasured souvenir? Puleeessse.
Look at this from the viewpoint that the activities with Monica Lewinsky had nothing in the way of sexual harassment. This was pretty clear by the time they had interviewed her. What right did the commission have to make inquiries of the president and expect him to openly admit that he had cheated on his wife? What man in his right mind would admit to an affair, knowingthe personal fallout? Is it really perjury if Ken Starr had no legitimate business asking the question? (This doesn't excuse the lie, or the sex or the poor judgement, but gee whiz, the response was predictable.)
Finally, when Starr's report came out, all that we learned was that Lewinsky and Clinton had consensual (fill in your own word here). Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't involuntary on Lewinsky's part. So where is the harassment part of it?
Lying? Or Did We Agree to Turn a Blind Eye?
Dear gentlefolk, President William Jefferson Clinton got re-elected to second term with a wide margin of the vote. How many people really believed his denials about either Paula Jones or Monica Lewinsky? How many people felt that he and his wife were truly innocent in the Whitewater matter?
After all, could you imagine putting our ‘beloved icon,' John F. Kennedy through this interrogation? He was notorious for his sexual adventures. More stories come out everyday.
The problem is that most people are so used to immorality and dishonesty in our politicians, we just look at the degree. How does their sexual behavior affect our lives and our pocketbooks? Have you heard the poll results? Clinton's approval ratings are high - and most people really don't care about his sexual gymnastics. (What is this nonsense about a cigar? Was the experience so distasteful that he didn't even want to touch the woman?)
In this instance, if left alone, Citizen Clinton's sexual adventures would not have affected us at all. However it did. It infected our daily newspapers, radio reports, our very lives.
International Humiliation
The Starr commission should have worked quietly and privately. Most Grand Juries activities are extremely secret. Why is this one being publicized so much? It has a great deal to do with the media making such a continual circus about this. Do you remember learning about Yellow Journalism in school? How is this different?
All this attention on the sexual activities of the PRESIDENTof the UNITED STATES of AMERICA diminishes the office and our country's stature.
I am ashamed of William Jefferson Clinton. He could have been a mensch and just boldly told the truth up front, apologized to Paula Jones. He could have bravely defused a highly political situation by not playing that game. Truth is strong.
I am ashamed of Ken Starr. He wasted $40,000,000 to generate some really weak results, relative to his original case. He took this investigation in areas it had no business going. He backed the President of the United States into such a corner that no matter how he responded, it would be a lose-lose situation. What justice does the country gain by Starr's detailed disclosure? What justice will come for women who really are sexually harassed after this fiasco? And how will the country benefit if Clinton resigns or is impeached?
I am ashamed of our media. Didn't you learn anything from Princess Diana's death or the Rodney King riots? Both of them resulted from media saturation of an issue.
Lastly, I am ashamed of us all, myself included, to be so callous that we don't care.
So, tell me, if our money is squandered so irresponsibly, why should we pay taxes?
This is my opinion. You don't have to agree. But, I'm sure that the whole thing makes you sad.
- Eva Rosenberg, United States Citizen.The full text of Judge Kenneth Starr's report
http://www.msnbc.com/modules/starr_rpt/default.htm
http://cnnfn.com/starr.report/ (confirmed)
http://thomas.loc.gov/icreport
Full text of President William J. Clinton's attorney's rebuttal
http://www.msnbc.com/news/195610.asp
http://cnnfn.com/clinton.rebuttal/
"Video of The Grand Jury Testimony of William Jefferson Clinton:
August 17, 1998"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0788601008/mywishlist/"The Starr Report: The Findings of Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr
on President Clinton and the Lewinsky Affair"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/189162024x/mywishlist/"The Starr Report: The Official Report of the Independent Counsel's Investigation of the President"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0761519602/mywishlist/"The Starr Report: The Independent Counsel's Complete Report to Congress on the Investigation of President Clinton"
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0671034790/mywishlist/
