Pathognomic Wisdom

Saw Earl (not his real name) in the office this week. Earl is one of those people whose wisdom knows no bounds. He has shrapnel in his arms and his legs from a torpedo attack in the North Sea and scars from working the farm all his life. As I was sewing him up from an office procedure, Earl decided to impart some of his wisdom. Everyone who was free in the office came in because, when he talks, everyone listens.

Earl said that it seemed to him that the problem with politics and government is that people want other people to pay for things that they want. He said, here is how to fix it. There is your base tax. This is to pay for what the Constitution says the government is to do. No more, no less. There is nothing to pay for anything else that the government has tacked on. Then you put on your tax form a bunch of boxes that say, would you like to pay extra for any or all of these, and how much? That way, those that feel strongly about something that they want the government to pay for can chip in and the people who don't want to pay for it wont. "I call it ala carte taxes." You want an earmark, put it in the form. People and politicians will find out real quick what people really want to pay for. Also, this way, the people set the budget, not the politicians. Also on the form you can have boxes that say, the government has no business paying for. Seems to me, we fix things real fast if we do it this way.