Thursday, July 27, 2006

My blog's first negative comment!

I am excited! I have my first negative response to my blog!
A kind gentleman/gentlewoman named "Dutch" made a comment on my blog about my post about the momentum of the FairTax movement.


Dutch said...
Momentum shouldn't be confused with a group of advocates "drinking their own bathwater"! All money bills originate in the House W&M committee, Revenue subcommittee. Of the 13 members of the subcommittee, only one favors the Fairtax-Rep. Linder. Of the 41 members of the full committee, only three support the Fairtax. And we all know that only 55 of the 435 House members now support HR25. No Democrats have come out in support of HR25. The probability of HR25 being taken up in committee in the next two years is nil. And if the D's take over the House in November, the Fairtax will become a distant memory. Please tell me again where you detect all this momentum?

Thu July 27, 11:32:16 AM EDT



I would like to comment on this comment, and this will be my blog post for today.

Your numbers are accurate, but they do not tell the whole story. You can know nothing about the velocity, let alone acceleration, of something if all you have is its position at one given point.

For example, if I were to tell you the Space Shuttle Columbia was at 13°19.717′N 23°27.500′E and 35,759 feet altitude at 14:04:45 on 07/26/05, could you tell me how fast it was moving or whether it was accelerating or decelerating? That data is very precise and you would be able to find the space shuttle fairly easily, however, if that is all you knew, there is no way to ever know what is actually going on with the shuttle.

My point is that you cannot tell if the FairTax movement has momentum (velocity times mass) without looking at its change over time. The FairTax is picking up momentum. The number of supporters among the American people is growing every day, and the word will spread even faster once the Orlando Rally makes the news.

You also say that the FairTax only has 55 supporters out of 435 Representatives. You fail to mention, however, that those that you call "supporters" are those who have completely signed on with the bill. These men and women are co-sponsors, justjuts supporters. The Bill has many more who support the idea but have not yet co-sponsored the bill. The bill has 73 supporters, 55 of whom are co-sponsors, and 295 who are non-committal one way or the other. Even Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga) has requested that her position be changed from Opposes to Will Not Commit.

I foresee the upcoming elections as a catalyst for the FT movement. There are candidates everywhere who are coming up in the major parties as supporters of this movement. They will get quite a few votes, I can guarantee that. If some seats are lost or put in jeopardy by the candidate(s) who support the FairTax, then politicians will wake up.

Another point to make is the data that came out of Georgia last week with their primary votes. In three counties, the FairTax as an idea was included on the ballot in the Republican primary. These are the results of those primaries.

When asked if they supported the FairTax, voters responded as follows:
Gwinnett County:
Total Votes: 35,755
Yes - 31,068 86.9%
No - 4,687 13.1%

Cobb County:
Total votes: 39,458
Yes - 33,598 85.15%
No - 5,860 14.85%

Fayette County:
Total votes: 11,517
Yes - 9,828 85.33%
No - 1,689 14.67%

Those numbers are staggering! I doubt numbers like that would show up if you asked the same group if they supported the War on Terror!


I know that Georgia is a very Republican state in the middle of the Sunbelt, but it is such a strong movement in Georgia because that is where the publicity started with Rep. John Linder, and Neal Boortz, radio personality, who broadcasts from Atlanta. All the FT needs is time. All grassroots movements need time, especially ones that take power from the politicians and their lobbies.

I detect the momentum in the American people Dutch. I detect the momentum among those who hear about the FairTax and are excited about it. They are excited about taxes!

I know there is momentum when I speak to Conservatives and Liberals who are in support of this idea.


I myself got went to a Gay Pride Rally in St. Pete Florida not too long ago, and in a few hours we had collected 300 signatures to the FairTax petition to send to congress. The idea of letting people keep their money and spend it where they want may be a somewhat conservative idea, however, the FairTax ends up being even more progressive, by design, than the current system, and so liberals love it too.

You have made another comment that I will make a post about later tonight.


I will say one thing however, before I go. This is my blog. I am allowed to be a fanatic, an indefatigable optimist, loud, obnoxious, and blunt. You however, need to be polite and courteous, or I will not allow your comments through. You know what I mean. Stick to your issues and your facts and we will get along fine. If I feel uncomfortable with putting something on my blog, I very well may not but it up there. You have not yet said anything that makes me want to keep it off my site, however I don't want it to get to that point.


FairTax Now!

Wednesday, July 26, 2006

We've got momentum baby!

Just a throwback to one of my favorite artists, Toby Mac, and one of his best songs, Momentum.

Today I am going to write a quick little synnopsis of why I think the FairTax has momentum and actually WILL get passed.

Republicans squaring off in 3rd District

This article walks you through a race for a Republican seat in the third district in Kansas City and the positions the candidates are taking on issues. The FT used to be an issue that only those closest to the movement really cared at all about, and no one ever considered even mentioning it in the same sentence as "running for office." Now, there if a candidate running as a supporter of the movement.

"Ahner supports the FairTax system, which would eliminate the federal income tax and replace it with a sales tax on products and services."

This is a general overview of the extreme basics of the FT, it isn't perfect, but its close enough for a single sentence. My point isn't the article's treatment of the FT, I could go on for days about that. My point is that this is just one more example of how much momentum the FT has gotten.

The FairTax is being used as a platform in one of the two main parties. This is BIG. I am happy!


Also, when you take into account what I wrote about yesterday, that politicians who currently hold office are using just the NAME of the FairTax to move their political agendas forward. That is proof enough for me that the FairTax is scaring politicians and making them act, even if it is to run the other way for some.

Go Gators and go FairTax!

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

The "Fair Flat Tax"

Oregon Senator Wants to Take On the Burden of Fixing the Tax Code



This is a Washington Post news article printed yesterday. The article talks about the plan of Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR.) for a "Fair Flat Tax" to reform the current tax code. There are so many things wrong with this, not the article, but the plan, that I don't even know where to begin.

To start, I want to talk about the name. I don't want to make the fact that it is a total misnomer the center of my argument, but the fact that it takes the names of the two top tax reform plans and combines them. I believe this is an attempt to pretend at being "moderate." Moderates are viewed as those who look for a medium ground in every conflict. Moderates try to compromise everything. They look for ways to make everyone happy. This seems like such a noble goal, who can speak against peace and general "getting along?" I can... for one... but I am saying that this is an attempt to look good in the public's eyes by acting as though he is a moderate. One look at his voting record, and one would easily recognize he is no moderate. He is simply playing politics to get across his agenda. He believes the American public to be so naive, so ignorant, so gullible, so trusting, and so easily duped that he would dare name his plan in such a way. It is obviously a throwback to the FairTax and the Flat Tax. He is hoping that people will be ill-informed (thanks to our government schools) so that when election time comes, he can say he is in favor of the "Fair Flat Tax," and by throwing those at you like buzz-words and cliches he hopes to win your vote.

Senator Wyden. We are no longer ignorant.

We are no longer stupid.

We are no longer slaves to the main-stream media.

We are our own media. We do our own research. We know what is going on. We know what you have done, what you are doing, and what you want to do.

You won't get away with it any more...

This plan is not a compromise between two plans, but a bastardization of both. It implements the taxes without getting rid of anything at all. The tax loopholes are still there (although they are less numerous, and who is to say they won't come back like last time?). The corrupt IRS still exists (upsetting the FairTax) and the graduated income tax gets more severe and even more punishing on corporations (upsetting both the FairTax and the Flat Tax).

The Flat Tax is a plan to eliminate tax breaks and loopholes from the tax system, and make the number of tax tiers a minimum (only two I believe, 17% and zero%). The plan is designed to be revenue neutral, and it is supposed to eliminate the corruption that goes on within the current tax system. The FairTax eliminates the entire current tax system (including the IRS), and replaces it with a National Retail Sales Tax (NRST) rebated up to poverty level spending for all American households. It is designed to eliminate the punishing tax structure of taxing corporations and "soaking the rich." It ends up being highly progressive because of the rebate, and it is also revenue neutral.

The problem here, is that both plans are now easily manipulated. There are loop holes in not only the income tax code, but in the sales tax code as well. This is not even close to either the Flat Tax or the FairTax. This is a plan to take your money from you in an even more discreet and secretive way than before. Sen Wyden wants control of your money and to tell you what to do with it. To him, all money earned is property of the government, and what they don't take in taxes is what they are giving you as a gift. Thus comes the idea that tax-breaks that are across the board are really just "gifts" to the rich because they benefit more from it. They get to keep more total money because the percentage is of a higher amount.

I am not going to get into tax-breaks, and graduated income tax brackets, and deductions, etc. I am going to say that this is a Senator playing politics and waging class warfare. He is creating tensions between the classes and using that tension to stir hatred, a sense of competition and urgency. He wants to get our blood boiling and he wants us to vote for him to make sure those rich bastards don't take more than they deserve of the giant American (economic) Pie. He wants those of us who do not have as much as Bill Gates to think that he is stealing it from us, and that because he has so much, we don't have enough. It is his fault we don't have enough money to buy those rims for our new car, or that its his fault that we can't get that extra media package on our cell phone. He wants us to believe it is Sam Walton's fault that we couldn't quite afford to get the house with the second study, or that its his fault that the man begging on the side of the street lost his job.

I say enough is enough. It is time to take that power out of the hands of the politicians and put it back into our hands. They have manipulated our vote for far too long, and we have bought into their lies and deceit one too many times. It is time for change. It is time to get rid of the income tax and the IRS. It is time to let how you live, rather than the government, determine how much you pay in taxes. If you live richly, and way beyond your means, you will pay a higher percentage in effective taxes. If you only buy new what you need new, and buy everything else second-hand or make it yourself, you will pay virtually no taxes. If you invest or save your money on things that will bring a return, you will pay no taxes on that. Things like expensive cars and grills will lose some of their appeal to those who know how to handle their money. They will realize they can make more money with the money they have, rather than imply spend it.

America is ready for the FairTax.

America rejects the "Fair Flat Tax."

America demands Fair Taxation Now!

Monday, July 24, 2006

Introductions...

I am a student at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida.

I am studying Industrial Engineering (not for long I think), and I am a supporter of the FairTax.

I first heard about the FairTax (heretofore known as FT) while listening to 97.3 The Sky [www.thesky973.com] , a local talk radio station. The talk show host who was talking about it was Neal Boortz [www.boortz.com]. He says that he had supported the idea of a national retail-sales tax (NRST) [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sales_tax]. To replace the current tax code for over twenty years, and recently he had begun learning specifically about the FT from Rep. John Linder (R-GA) [http://linder.house.gov/], the author of the FairTax Bill, HR 25.

The FT, to him, was the most reasonable plan in motion that would help our country escape from the current punishing income tax, and replace it with a workable NRST. I began to do a little research and became interested, but the concept was still beyond me, and I lost interest.

Then Neal announced that he was going to release a book with John Linder entitled the FairTax Book. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0060875410/002-8285521-8840858?v=glance&n=283155] I waited for weeks until the book was finally released. I went to purchase the book on the day it came out, but every book store in town was sold out. Neal Boortz came to Gainesville that week to a book store for a book signing, and I did not arrive in time to get a book, but I did get a book plate signed.

I then finally found a book in a book store in Jacksonville, and I read it in a few days. I ate it up!

The whole concept was amazing, and from that day forward I became a supporter.


I didn't start getting involved in any kind of activism, however, until a few months ago. I joined a forum [www.fairtaxgroups.com], and the support and energy I witnessed on that site immediately drove me to join the local Gainesville group. I am now in charge, along with my female friend AA (these are her initials, her name will not be mentioned until she gives me permission to use it), of the local events subcommittee. We work to find events in the surrounding area where the group could promote the FT.

I am now starting this blog to talk about my efforts specifically. I want to describe the different types of people I communicate with about the FT and their reactions. I want to post my own rebuttals to anti-FT articles that I come across. I want to be a resource to whomever needs information on the FT.

I am also going to be starting an official group on the University of Florida campus. I will be documenting my efforts to do this, and the responses I get from individuals on the college campus.


Until next time!
FairTax Gator

About my blog...

This blog is going to be about my personal experiences on the road to getting the FairTax passed. I will be posting links to articles I read about the FairTax, quoting good parts and bad parts, adding to good points, expounding on better ones, and refuting bad information.

People I run into and discuss the FairTax will be included here as well. I will only post their names if they give me permission to, otherwise they will be known by their initials or descriptions (blonde female student, short curly-haired professor, etc).

I am writing this blog for many purposes. To track my view of the FairTax, and see if it changes over time. To see the reactions of the general public over time (the written word has a longer memory than does the mind). To be able to reference my responses to certain complaints and/or questions about the FairTax. It may even get to the point where others can use it for their own benefit.

This blog may have five viewers, it may have twenty, or it may have twenty-thousand. I do not know, and the size of my audience is not my main concern. I want to use this blog to help move the FairTax forward, and if that means using it to get the word out to many people, so be it. If it means simply using it as a personal reference, then that is fine too. I just want to do all I can to get HR 25 passed as quickly as possible.

I will try to make this blog as simple and easy to follow as possible. I will be looking for ways to update it with searches and categories. I will be scouring the web, looking for blogs and websites with good ideas that I can incorporate into my page. If you have suggestions specifically for my page, I think I will have a separate section to put those comments.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy FairTax at UF.