Holiday giving
A letter writer to the Salina Journal said the government is too generous with taxpayers' money. And he reminds that it is "taxpayers' money," not government money.
All government money comes from taxpayers. The source, the root, is from the public — taxpayers.
The letter writer also pointed out that he can't find authorization in our Constitution to redistribute the wealth. Socialism redistributes wealth as does Communism. We are a republic (not a democracy). Ours is a representative form of government, with laws enacted by the legislative branch.
People need to keep more of what they earn, instead of sending it to the government which takes a healthy cut to pay politicians before sending a smaller portion back to the public.
The purpose of government is to do for the public those things that people can't do for themselves — national defense, build roads, and such.
Our friend at Salina said "years ago, people helped other people because they wanted to; now they are forced to do it through taxation."
Keep that in mind. And also remember that the private sector is generous. Foundations provide more cash to good causes than all the branches of government. The private sector, however, eventually won't be able to fill that role because of increased taxation.
News of the Augusta hospital facing closure because of high bonded indebtedness should provide a strong message to local government entities. Government can go broke. Many branches of government are headed in that direction.
— BILL MEYER
