Kudos to Jon Stewart, responding to Betsy McCaughey’s point that Jon is a rich man:
"...I don’t mind being taxed a little more to help people...I don’t mind that – in fact, I welcome it because it’s a way for me to give back to the country that has allowed me to come this far."
Buy that man a beer. Finally, someone willing to say: "If it helps my neighbor, go ahead and raise my taxes. I don’t mind – in fact I welcome it." A modern Henry David Thoreau.
Thoreau? Huh? Isn’t he that dude who lived alone in the woods?
Yes, that Thoreau.
In addition to writing Walden, Thoreau also wrote an important and influential essay called Resistance to Civil Government, aka Civil Disobedience. Wikipedia sums up the essay like this: "It argues that people should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that people have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. Thoreau was motivated in part by his disgust with slavery and the Mexican-American War."
Thoreau refused to support the government, thus refused to pay a Poll Tax, and was briefly imprisoned for it. Poll Taxes were levied by the government to pay for the functions of government, much like today’s income tax. But note Thoreau’s attitude toward the Highway Tax, a tax which financed the building and maintaining of roads: "I have never declined paying the highway tax," he said, " because I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject..."
Elaborating on this concept he states: "If I have unjustly wrested a plank from a drowning man I must restore it to him though I drown myself." That's a damn good neighbor.
He concludes his essay with a couple more references to neighborly obligations: "The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual. I please myself with imagining a State at least which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor; which even would not think it inconsistent with its own repose if a few were to live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men."
I can’t help but be reminded of the Parable of the Good Samaritan: An expert in the Law asked Christ to define the word "neighbor." Christ responded by telling a story. Once upon a time a man was robbed, beaten, and left for dead in a ditch. The first two people to encounter this injured man were members of the religious establishment, who took one look at his wounded condition, crossed to the other side of the road, and kept walking. The third person to arrive was a Samaritan – a race hated by the story's target audience. This same Samaritan had compassion for the bleeding man, bandaged his wounds, brought him to an inn, took care of him, then paid for his continuing care.
"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?" Christ asked in response to the original question.
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."
Christ told him, "Go and do likewise."
Hmmm...isn’t it interesting that the story Christ uses to illustrate neighborliness is the story of someone caring for the health needs of a complete stranger. Google "good samaritan" and you get a list of hospitals.
So I stand with Jon Stewart and say: Tax me – I don’t mind it, in fact I welcome it. If it provides security for those in need: bring it on. America – an America that is compassionate to even the most impoverished individual – is worth paying for. And this isn’t a wholly benevolent proposition – if there’s one thing our current economic troubles have taught us, it’s this: it doesn’t take much to go, in the blink of an eye, from the penthouse to the unemployment line. Paying a few extra dollars to set up a safety net that will be there when I need it seems like a pretty good investment to me.
I don’t make nearly as much money as Jon Stewart, far less than even the $250,000 threshold the President has promised not to cross when it comes to raising taxes. Thank you, Mr. President, but on this issue I say: Tax me. Even if it is just a token tax - 5 cents on a soda or a beer – a .01% raise in the Medicare tax – $1.00 added to my income tax – I want to do my part, too. "Of the people, by the people, and for the people" – that sounds like a pretty good slogan for the "Public Option." Of, by, and for the people - what could be more American than that? For that, I'm willing to be taxed.