by David Remer, June 20, 2003 – Political News & Analysis
Our Choice - Democracy or Aristocracy
This article (TomPaine) discusses repeal of the estate tax proposed by the US House of Representatives. The article is extremely well written by Chuck Collins and provides great detail about the myths and realities being bantered about to support such a repeal. At the heart of the issue however, is the Constitution of the United States and the Revolutionary War which won freedom and independence from the King of England and the aristocracy that ruled at the time. Our founding fathers despised aristocracy, which is defined by the New World Dictionary as "1) government by the best citizens 2) government by a privileged minority or upper class, usually of inherited wealth and social position".
Our founding fathers wanted government to be responsive to all free men of the nation regardless of class, social status, or even wealth. The estate tax prevents such an Aristocracy from becoming larger than it already is. Since we already know that money talks in D.C. louder than the individual voter's letters or emails to Congress or the President, repeal of the estate tax will create a larger aristocracy. The super wealthy already have inroads to elections, lobbying power, and influence upon our elected representatives that the middle class does not. It takes huge money to get elected, and an aristocracy can afford to insure a candidate that the money will be there, provided the candidate's views favor the aristocrat donor.
House Republicans and Democrats who support the bill to repeal the estate tax, are turning their backs on some of the most fundamental reasons the Revolutionary War was fought and the Constitution was written the way it was. The checks and balances between the branches of government were designed such, that no individual nor small group of individuals could wield tyranny upon the people by way of the government.
And while the preamble states the constitution is written in order to create a more perfect union and justice in the land, an Aristocracy of a minority of multi-millionaires and billionaires stands in direct opposition to the preamble and its intent. American aristocrats already have the ability to pull the strings of government both through the election process and through right of privilege to be heard by elected officials directly through visitation, dinners and lunches, fund raisers and expensive lobbying. A growing aristocracy through the repeal of the estate tax is antithetical to the patriots of this nation who fought and died in the Revolutionary War to establish this more perfect union and to free themselves from the aristocracy of England.
Some in Congress argue that they are trying to preserve small farmers from losing their farms. However, this is a ruse. Note the following from Chuck Collins’ article, “At a June 17 press conference, Tom Bius from the National Farmers Union, which represents over 300,000 small farmers, called on Congress to "stop using farmers to front for complete estate tax repeal." The Farmers Union supports reforming the estate tax, but not repeal. The pro-repeal American Farm Bureau has not produced a single example of a farm lost because of the estate tax.”
Also, congresspersons argued that estate taxes constitute double taxation. But, as Collins points out, “But the bulk of assets in taxable estates -- appreciated stocks and real estate -- is wealth that has never been taxed.“
The repeal of the estate tax will face stiffer opposition in the Senate, but, without the response from the public in large numbers, the US will indeed grow the American aristocracy to the detriment of present and future generations of tax paying, hard working, citizens of modest means whose votes will be discounted and whose voices will be unable to be heard over the din of powerful money influences in Washington D.C. The estate tax is our best defense against such an aristocratic strangle hold upon the future generations of the American middle class.
8:50:44 PM Google It!
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