We the People Will Power this Country

by Chris Burgard

The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’ – Ronald Reagan.

My ancestor Francis Lightfoot Lee, signed his name on the Declaration of Independence. Let me tell you what – I pay a lot more in taxes than Uncle Francis ever did. If he’s up there in Heaven looking down on all of us American taxpaying citizens, he’s probably thinking, “What the hell are you guys doing? This kind of taxation without representation is not what we intended. This is not why we made America. This isn’t the legacy that we wanted to leave for our children.” 

On my Dad’s side, Great Grandpa Frank was a farmer who lived in an enclave of Germans and Jews in Odessa, Russia. He fled Russia and came to America in order to escape the Communists. I know Grandpa Frank is up there watching us even now….and he’s probably thinking: “Gott in Himmel. Vas es los?”

This isn’t the America he first saw when he stepped through the doors at Ellis Island. You work hard. You make a little bit of money, and then you give it to the government for the bankers and your neighbor’s mortgage? In the old country, if you didn’t work you didn’t eat. In this country if you don’t work, they give you a check. 

Not too long ago Ireland had one of the worst economies in Western Europe. So what did they do? They cut the corporate tax rate to 12 percent. This attracted new business from around the globe and in less than a generation Ireland had the most raging economy in all of Europe. 

I live on a ranch and a ranch can use a lot of electricity. My wife and I routinely had to contend with electric bills in excess of a thousand dollars – even more in the summer if we splurged on air conditioning. So Lisa and I budgeted and saved in order to install solar power. Last fall President Bush signed legislation allowing Americans to deduct one third of the cost of a solar system. The dream of making our own energy became our reality. President Bush’s tax stimulus was the help we needed to be able to afford to be green. 

My wife came home the other day and found me standing in the backyard staring at the electric meter. It was spinning backwards. Really fast. It was cool. I felt happy. I felt little kid happy. I remember thinking the birds sound prettier today, the flowers smell sweeter and Saudi Arabia and Iran can go to hell. I’m making my own energy. Next year we hope to buy more panels and an electric car. If we do, it will be powered by energy we made ourselves. 

President Obama, without giving my elected representatives enough time to read it, you pushed through a plan to use hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to make the US greener and safer. Please don’t take our money. You tell us you represent the change we need, well then how about this? Give a 100 percent tax rebates to every American household that goes green? If you do that then We the People will power America.

If you really want to stimulate new business and create green jobs, give new entrepreneurs a five year moratorium on their federal taxes. Drop the federal corporate tax rate to 12 percent — just like Ireland did. This won’t cost you a dime. Free enterprise and American ingenuity will bring our economy back. 

We can do this, Mr. President. We are Americans. Let us keep our money and we‘ll get ‘er done. 

Mr. President, I’m not saying I’m as smart as Tim Geithner, although I have read “Turbo Tax for Dummies,” I’m just saying let us decide how to use our own money and maybe my Uncle Francis can stop rolling over in his grave. 

Thank you. God Bless.   

Chris Burgard
http://www.bordermovie.com/


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Posted Mar 2nd 2009 at 5:11 am in Featured Story, Politics | 72 Comments