SECOND OPINION
Tyranny of taxes limits our freedom

By Cliff Slater

This long weekend, we celebrate Independence Day. Hawai'i's beaches are full of families at play, the hot dogs and hamburgers are on the broiler and the drinks are flowing, all in "the pursuit of happiness."

Little thought will be given to the reason for the celebration — independence — which is to say, our freedom and independence as individual Americans.

It would be preferable if our citizens on this day were to give just a little thought to what we Americans have gained — and what we have lost — since the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence as representatives of 13 "free and independent states."

Certainly we have to celebrate a complete revolution in race relations. The abolition of slavery has been the pre-eminent gain. Here in Hawai'i, it is difficult to imagine that 40 years ago, haoles excluded Asians from their clubs, classified ads for help wanted routinely listed "AJA only need apply" and it was unacceptable to have a Filipino supervisor over Japanese employees. Those are real changes.

The founding fathers had a different opinion of the meaning of independence than most Americans today. Ask the average American for the meaning of freedom, and he or she will tell you it is about freedom of speech. The fathers were more concerned that we should have freedom from the tyranny of government.

"The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground," as Thomas Jefferson put it.

The sadness of it is that few of today's celebrants know that to gain our independence, the founding fathers fought the British over a tax burden that was a tiny fraction of what it is today. Today we have so many taxes that the U.S. Tax Foundation estimates we work the first four months of the year just to pay taxes.

That is tyranny.

Historian A. J. P. Taylor, a socialist, wrote: "If we were offered the freedom which our grandfathers enjoyed before the first world war, we should not know what to do with it. We should be like men released after a long prison sentence, overwhelmed by our unaccustomed liberty."

For example, in 1900 there was no income tax, Bayer heroin could be bought over the counter and no one needed passports, let alone drivers' licenses. The endless federal regulations that ensnare us today were then so few that there was not even a Federal Register.

So as you bite into your hot dog, contemplate this: A much-quoted remark by a political leader is that we should not ask what the state can do for us but rather what we can do for the state. Who said that?

Soviet Russia's Vladimir Lenin, Italy's Benito Mussolini or President John F. Kennedy? Are you sure?

The price of our independence is eternal vigilance. As we celebrate Independence Day, are you being eternally vigilant? How?

Cliff Slater is a regular contributor whose footnoted columns are at www.lava.net/cslater.