August 9, 2007

"No Taxation without Representation"

By Stan Dyer

Acting on Alexander Hamilton's Report on the Public Credit, Congress assumed all Revolutionary War debt on July 26, 1790, and began taxing the citizens of the newly formed United States of America. One of those taxes was a tax on the whiskey farmers produced to supplement their incomes. The farmers, outraged by the tax, complained to President Washington that this was exactly what the British tried to do and why they fought the war. Washington argued that, no, this time they had representation, but their representatives did not vote in their favor. In a democracy, no one gets everything he wants all the time. We all have to hope our representatives in Washington share our points of view, and enact legislation that benefits the majority of people. That's why I started my letter campaign, and that's why I started preparing for the Democratic National Convention very early.

A friend of mine is a devout Republican. She never said so, but it is obvious from the e-mail I receive just exactly where she stands. I'm OK with that. People need to take active roles in their government, and know what is going on. She, however, was shocked to learn that her own actual beliefs did not parallel what she professed. She answered some questionnaire asking about how she stood on important issues of the day to discover that her ideas were more liberal than conservative. It was peculiar that she spent so much time bashing liberal thought only to discover that she, herself, was a liberal-thinking woman.

It's easy to understand when you consider that most people get their information on representatives, political parties and government from their families and peers. For many years, freed slaves who managed to vote voted Republican simply because it was "the party of Lincoln." After women acquired the right to vote, many of them voted exactly as their husbands did. Even today, when young Americans reach voting age, they vote the way their fathers or family would without giving it a second thought. The truth is that everyone needs to give it a second thought.

What do we know about our representatives? What do we know about our parties? What do we know about our system? No matter what we think we know, we really know barely more than did those whiskey farmers in western Pennsylvania back in 1794. Things haven't changed that much. We all need to know more about who is representing us and what they are doing in Washington. The best way to do that is to research it for ourselves.

Don't take your peers at their word, don't vote tradition and don't take your vote casually. Don't even listen to me. Find out for yourself. Go to the websites, go to the party headquarters and go meet personally the people who represent you. That is the only way you can ever be certain that you are selecting the best candidates from the best parties to represent the interests of your country the best.

I got you started with my letters to Wayne Allard and Ken Salazar. I am waiting for replies, and I expect it to take quite a while. This week, I decided to write all seven representatives in the House from Colorado in the same week. I used the letter I sent to Ken Salazar, changed the heading and address, and mailed it to each of them. Election 2008 is important just as every election in America is important. No matter what you do or how you vote, make certain you understand the issues and the candidates. That way, you can ensure that you will be well represented in Washington and that there will be "no taxation without representation."