Tax Day

April 15. Tax day. Also my son's 25th birthday.

Tax day is always unsettling for me. If my government were doing only upright and decent things with the money I send it, I would be fine with my contribution. But we all know that's not what's going on.

We're the biggest war economy in the history of the planet. It is such a travesty that my tax dollars are spent on killing Iraqi, Afghan, Pakistani, Palestinian, and Libyan civilians. Actually, why stop with civilians--I we don't have any business killing anyone.

How wonderful it would be to live in a country that had no military at all, or a very small one. Then the tax money could be spent on creating the best education and healthcare systems in the world, complete with rigorous foreign language, art, music, science, math, and literature programs for all and with acupuncture, massage, and herbal medicine thrown in with conventional treatment. How marvelous if money were going to support the work of artists, dancers, poets, novelists, craftspeople, scientists, and visionaries. Wouldn't it be grand to have hefty budgets for our national parks, for wildlife studies and conservation, and for programs to bring children into contact with nature?

And what would it be like if no American went hungry and none had to sleep on the street or in an alley? What if all our elderly were honored with a decent standard of living, instead of being threatened with Republican Paul Ryan's plan to end Medicare as we know it and replace it with a fixed monthly amount for seniors to buy their own health insurance! C'mon, no one wants to cover seniors and the disabled; that's why we have Medicare. Ryan's plan is a blueprint to help seniors die quickly, as most of them would without adequate or any medical coverage.

What an amazing country this would be if our government put people first, not corporations. The vast majority of our legislators--both Democrat and Republican--are so corrupted by money in the political system that they care far more for so-called defense contractors, Big Oil, and Big Pharma than they do for any of their non-wealthy constituents.

Basically, this is what my tax dollars are doing:
1) making the U.S. more hated around the world;
2) lining the pockets of the already rich;
3) giving more and more power to corporations;
4) making the average American poorer;
5) making Americans dumber;
6) creating a police state that imprisons the people who footed the bill; and
7) making the world less safe, less harmonious, more polluted, more dysfunctional.

I'm sure I'm missing a few things, but that's enough for now.

And to counteract this evil, yes, that's the word, each person needs to go out into the world knowing to her very core that the people of this world are more powerful than the elite who seem to have the upper hand. The people are waking up, and slowly but surely the smoke screen that Americans have been living under is being lifted. More and more average Joes are coming to know the truth about their government. And it isn't pretty.

I look forward to the day when my tax dollars will go for life-affirming, health-giving, hope-inspiring, people-empowering projects.

P.S. The three photos shown in this post are from my 2005 three-month solo camping trip across the country. These particular shots are from Arizona and New Mexico.