Justice

I get it now. The way society works.

Last week I drove up to a toll plaza without an E-Zpass tag and for the first time in a long time I felt something paying toll. It dawned on me, "wow, I'm paying toll!" This time I felt paying toll. And as I waited my turn in the long line in the Cash Only lane, I was counting a rough tally of how much money the state was making from each car. $5, $10, $15, $20, $25, $30, $50, $65, $80, $150. I quickly lost count. All I knew was that I was somewhere around $150+ and my car had barely moved an inch during that 20 or 30 seconds. My mood quickly went sour. So there I was, inching towards Big Brother, waiting to give him my $5 so that I can get on with my life, only this time it was a woman. Not wanting to say anything about the recent toll hike or make any sort of passing remark, I smile at the lady and say "Thank you," hand over my money and get the hell out. I put my thoughts off to the side until I had a chance to process it all.

Already I was getting a feeling of being cheated somehow. That I smiled and thanked the state for taking my money, seemed a new type of low for me. It's one thing to see that money being put to good use (as it supposedly is being done all the time) its another thing to throw money into an abyss and never see it again. Isn't it funny how the cash-bin at the toll fits the image so well? Sadly though, we're all too aware of the corporate and federal corruption that has run rampant even within a year's span, not counting a history course worth of material. One need not look further than the recent economic collapse and global recession as a result. Still, senators, governors, and mayors have been excused of tax exemption, money laundering, embezzlement and the like. It makes me wonder just how much "state" really is a misnomer for "politician" and how much "politician" a misnomer for "thief, crook." How deep do we, the citizens, have to dig into our pockets not-so-full of hard-earned money and freely give it to "our representatives" in government? The image of the cash-bin and abyss comes to mind again.

Over the weekend I met up with my brother and some friends. We sat down for some "CCC" (that's 'casual coffee chat' in my corny language by the way.) So I tell them about my story at the toll-booth and both my friends don't get it. "What's wrong with saying 'thank you?' It's common courtesy." Apparently I learned its a bunch of other things as well; like a service to me and the community, and how the toll-booth lady had more of a right to that 'thank you' than someone else might have. Fair enough. But what came out of that conversation, or I should say almost came out, was a sense of the essence of trade. I give something, I get something in return. The one I traded with gives something and also gets something in return. Cash signifies trade and so a simple toll-exchange at the booth is also a type of trade. I gave $5 so that I could use the state's roads and bridges and the state would use that money for upkeep on those services. Value for value, right? Well, that's the idea anyway....

But now, calculating how much more money we give during these "trades," it starts to look a little silly - the idea that I'm actually getting something in return. In today's world, we pay for miscellaneous fees and taxes, but we can't call them that so we have to label them as "relevant." Income tax, property tax, school tax, sales tax, business tax (& tariffs,) dine-in tax, food tax (as exemplified through Governor Paterson's tax on sugared soda,) insurance tax, retirement tax, inheritance tax, and even death tax. All these tax "trades" and I'm still left wondering what I got from my side of the transaction but more poverty and no real visible return. Hope none of you is planning on dying anytime soon and if you are, make sure you instruct your people to pay the state for having to deal with your rotting carcass.

Now I know what you're probably thinking. I'm just bitter. Well, I am. However, that doesn't mean that I fail to see the purpose of taxes, after-all "taxation is the price of civilization" according to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. And he's right, but what does irk me is the state's creation of miscellaneous fees under a mask of something worth paying, like a "convenience fee" for credit card payments (Hah!) Isn't it strange how America is considered the richest country in the world, with the highest GDP of *$14.3 trillion (roughly 1/5th of the world's total GDP) and yet, we are approaching a national debt of close to $11 trillion that is steadily growing? Even if we unveil the question of whether or not we really are super rich or poor, the fact still remains that we are heavily taxed, perhaps in more ways than other wealthy nations.

Meanwhile, as we're expected to pay these exorbitant taxes, the escalating cost of living (coupled with the proportionate shrink in wages) creeps up upon us all and we're forced to deal with it. At some point, the average middle-class American family is forced to make drastic decisions and life-style changes before hitting rock bottom. But its okay, its the price we have to pay to live this way...isn't it? So now that we accept this, what do we do? To numb us from the harsh reality of debt and misery, we drown ourselves in a search for our "fix" - a "drug" or escape of any kind that helps us forget what we are faced with; a masked slavery. And I'm left to beg the question, where has the justice gone in our society?

Today I saw a man paying off one of his accounts at Sears with a smile on his face. $1000+ dollars and he still had room for a sense of humor about it, I guess that's commendable. But then again I too had a sense of humor, because when it was my turn, I was asked why I was paying, I answered "because I have to. I'm a slave." And we both had a good laugh about it. Only now I'm some dollars poorer than I was before and maybe a few calories slimmer from the chuckles. But what makes me different from this man is that I don't drink or do drugs. I don't have sex even. I don't do any of the other things my culture uses to self-medicate from the woes of a tough life. However, that doesn't mean that I don't have my own escapes. That is the key to the formula I suppose, to live under this maddening system of slave taxation, we have to have our own "drugs" to help us escape the reality of the punishment we accept at the hands of the state. So we lose ourselves in our intoxicants, sex, drugs, entertainment, fashion & fads, music, TV, and the whole litany. Instead of complaining about our legitimate trespasses and eroding civil liberties, we smile to the Big Brother who gives with one palm and snatches even more with the other fist. We are content doing that. Why revolt when we can take our aggressions out elsewhere: we beat our spouses, we kill our neighbor, we steal from the innocent on the street, we rape the young maidens, we watch people beat each other to a bloody pulp and call it "sport," and sometimes, if the pressure gets too high, we kill ourselves, so much so that we can afford a smile at the banks and toll-booths when we accept our role as drones in the system. God forbid we frown in their faces. Governments forcing debt on its people forces them to gain spiritual debts as well through sin, it seems. So in the end all I'm left with is a simple choice - either remain bitter about the injustice being done to us, the citizens of this country, and take the path less traveled to remedy that, or take the drugs of this world to numb myself into accepting this pathetic state and earn my debts and sins like a good little nothing. Because in the end, it really doesn't matter. As long as I get paid, laid, and wasted I should be happy, right?

So this time, on my way to school today, I made sure I smiled and said "thank you" to the toll lady. I don't want to appear disgruntled. I'm a good slave, I wonder what sin I should commit tonight....

FOOTNOTES
* Wikipedia