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Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate
July 3, 2008
1. Happy Fourth of July! – Enjoy it. You Deserve it.
2. The David Strom Show – David and Margaret are taking the weekend off to celebrate Freedom, grilling and illegal fireworks! Catch a “Best of” broadcast at AM 1280 the Patriot this Saturday from 9 to 11 am.
3. Creeping Taxation – Does that Ring a Bell?
1. Happy Fourth of July!
We at the Taxpayer’s League wish you a safe and fun-filled Fourth of July holiday. We also hope that during your weekend festivities, you’ll take some time to reflect on the blessings of liberty you enjoy as an American, and a few moments to consider how fragile that freedom is – on two fronts.
It is, to borrow the eloquence of Abraham Lincoln, altogether fitting and proper that on the nation’s birthday we pause and honor the men and women who have given their last full measure of devotion in service to our country, that we take time to honor those members of the armed services who today put their sense of duty, their courage and their honor to the test in defense of America against foreign enemies.
But it is also fitting and proper that we heed the warning of the “Father of the Constitution,” James Madison. “There are more instances,” said Madison, “of the abridgement of the freedom of the people by the gradual and silent encroachment of those in power, than by violent and sudden usurpation.”
The Fourth of July celebrates the birth of a nation, not the formation of a government. As Mickey Edwards writes in “Reclaiming Conservatism,” America’s founders were revolutionaries not merely in the military sense, breaking violently away from the British monarchy; they were ideological revolutionaries, breaking away from the very idea of centralized government authority.
It is that spirit, with that courage and keeping that faith in ourselves to do for ourselves, our families and our communities without the need for intrusive government that we celebrate the Fourth of July.
Enjoy your weekend. You deserve it.
2. The David Strom Show presented by The Minnesota Free Market Institute
David and Margaret are taking the weekend off to celebrate Freedom, grilling and illegal fireworks! While packing for that afternoon picnic, you can still catch a “Best of” show featuring two classics from the recent past. Tune into to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 to 11 am on Saturday, or download a podcast of any past David Strom Show. This Saturday:
Hour 1: Guest: M. David Stirling, Vice President of the Pacific Legal Foundation and author of Green Gone Wild on how environmentalism has become extremism. Buy the book.
Hour 2: David and Margaret talk to the author of John McCain: An American Odyssey, former Baltimore Sun Editor and Naval veteran Robert C. Timberg about the events which shaped the Republican Presidential candidate’s character. Buy the book.
3. Creeping Taxation – Does that Ring a Bell?
In case you missed it, Craig Westover, senior policy fellow at the Minnesota Free Market Institute, captures the essence of progressive taxation (you just keep progressively paying a greater share of your income for a progressively lower standard of living) in his Pioneer Press column earlier this week. Increased gas taxes, the transit sales tax that went into effect this week, the Twins stadium tax, the proposed sales tax to support the arts and the outdoors – a nibble here, a nibble there -- is remindful of the story “The Three-Legged Hog.”
A visitor to aMinnesotafarm noticed a hog limping around on a makeshift leg fashioned from a broken broomstick. When he asked the farmer about it, the farmer replied:
'Let me tell you about that hog.
"I was out plowing the field one day when the tractor tipped over and pinned me under the wheel. Well, when I didn't show up for feeding time, that hog searched me out and brought help. But that's not all. One day, my little son Sven fell in the well. That hog pushed the bucket into the well with his snout, grabbed the rope in his teeth and pulled Sven to safety. But that's not all. One night, my whole family was sound asleep when the house caught fire. That hog rushed into the burning house, woke up my wife and me and helped us carry the kids outside."
"That's amazing," said the visitor. "But why does the hog have a broomstick for a leg?"
"Why," said the farmer, "when you have a hog that has done so much for you, you don't want to eat him all at once."
When legislators have productive Minnesotans creating wealth and willing to work for a better Minnesota, it's not smart to gobble them up all at once to pay for a betterMinnesota.
You can read the rest of Westover’s column here.
That’s the Taxpayers League E-Update for this week. Remember, you can help the Taxpayers League of Minnesota create fireworks all year long by helping illuminate the wasteful tax and spend policies of liberal legislators. Visit our website today, www.taxpayersleague.org, and make an online donation or send your check to the address below. Enjoy the Fourth! |
