Democrats & Liberals: Archives

Why not use the Tenth Amendment. The states could, arguably, tell the federal government to bug off because they don’t have the authority to pass education laws.

States seem to forget this.

But many States depend on the monies from the Federal gov’t to support the programs that the Federal gov’t has mandated. Personally, I think Education should be one of the top priorities of this country - in order for us to get American jobs back, in order to strengthen our place in the World economy, in order to help us make intelligent decisions (which are essential in a democracy), and in order to open up new horizons and opportunities for our children. Of course, with the current cutbacks it looks like a lot of that will just be a pipedream.

I wonder though, if there is a way to—lawsuit, namely—to get the federal government to stop collecting taxes to pay for programs they aren’t authorized by the Constitution to create.

And, I think, if states felt strongly enough—and I think some do—and just said, “Hey, with or without your money, we’re not going to listen to this, you don’t have a right to tell this to us,” not too many politicians are going to stand around holding money away from the states.

But, yeah, that may be infeasible because it would require a shift in tax structure (to the states from the feds) and the feds rescinding a lot of power in the field of education and the vote-getting political rhetoric “Think of the children!” speeches can induce..

I watched a documentary from 1997 the other day called “Act of Conscience” that was about a family that lost its home to the federal government (IRS) because they stopped paying Federal taxes as opposition to the U.S. tax-supported defense program.

Mind you, this was years before September 11, 2001 and the current “war on terror”. The family was primarily protesting against their tax money going towards providing weapons to the Central American conflicts that the U.S. government was supporting in various ways.

The movie said that there are about 10,000 people in the U.S that purposely do not pay their Federal taxes as an opposition to defense spending.

I am of the belief that the U.S. needs to remain involved in international politics but not as the “world’s policeman.” We have so many problems at home of our own that it’s sometimes astonishing to me that a large percentage of my income goes towards taxes that then pay for conflicts in other conutries. In the meantime I sit by and watch our schools lay off teachers and wonder how I’m going to pay for the doctor the next time I get sick because I can’t afford health insurance.