IF ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS JUMPED OFF A CLIFF, WOULD YOU JUMP TOO?

"Well, I just did it 'cause all the other guys were doing it," you said.  And your mother asked, "If one of your friends jumped off a cliff, would you jump too?"  Mom wisdom, you know, something we all got as kids and perhaps still remember.  I think about that when I think of religion, especially Christianity.  It's hard to remember a time when religion didn't dominate your life, and getting free of it can be difficult.  All my friends told me it was the right thing to do, so I followed along.  But I'm old now, and I no longer follow friends.  I don't follow religion either.  I've even distanced myself far enough from it now to where I can make fun of it, but I still feel foolish for having once believed in it.

Ok, so here's the sales pitch from the biggest of all religious groups, the Christians.  So, there's a God, and he loves you as long as you love him back, but if you don't, he might smack your ass around to remind you who's boss.  And if you don't believe in him, and prove that by joining some church where you profess everlasting loyalty and devotion to God, you'll be left out in the cold with all the other lost people.  But don't worry about getting too cold 'cause if you don't straighten up and join the church, you'll die and go the Hell where it's really hot.  And then there Jesus, God's son, and you have to accept him too, and that means join up and toe the line.  All sorts of bad shit happens to you if you don't.  There's more.  You have to give money to the church to stay in good graces, and you have to think like other church members do.

I'm among the lost, so look out Hell, here I come.  The way I've got it figured Heaven is really Hell because it's full of Christians (if you believe them), and that would most certainly be Hell for me.  So, if I can't go to Heaven, then where will my lost soul end up?  Maybe I'll get recycled again like an aluminum can, end up next time full of English peas instead of beer.  But then again, I might just float off into space looking for other lost souls, and that's just fine with me.  I don't give a shit about streets of gold, harps, angel wings, puffy clouds, or any of that mythical bullshit . . . and I sure don't want to be surrounded by a bunch of Christians.  As for God, I think maybe the concept deserves more consideration than simple dismissal.  Maybe we could think of God as a superior intelligence that once conceived all of this stuff about life on earth.  Who knows, maybe the earth is God.  I think maybe the entire earth was once a true Garden of Eden, and then . . . people showed up.  So long Garden of Eden, hello people.  You know, sort of like being a really happy dog until the fleas show up, and ever since then the earth has been trying to kick us off.  Maybe that's why Christians want to go to heaven, that great dog in the sky where fleas can have a field day.  I think they've about sucked the earth dry.

So, dear hearts, there is no Hell down there anywhere, and there's probably no Heaven either.  It's just life for a while, and then the great mystery either ends or begins.  I'd like to think it ends for me without great fanfare, only to find myself suddenly standing on a lonesome dirt road with nothing in sight but nice terrain.  I did Ok in finding my way in this world, so I think I can find something to do in the next one.  And if that's not the plan, I'll look forward to a very long nap.

THE TAX NOBODY NEEDS?

Somewhere in a far off distant land, there are no taxes.  Right. 

Somewhere in government offices, there is no discussion about taxes.  Right.

Somewhere in the Great Hereafter, there will be no taxes to be paid.  Do what?

The period of enlightenment brought about lots of changes in the world, all for the better in my opinion.  People around the world had been taught for centuries a concept called the divine rights of kings, which meant that God had selected these monarchs and that it was your christian duty to obey them.  And kings were big into taxation because the notion of taxing the masses had been around for  a long time.  One of the things enlightenment preached was that we should scrap the divine rights of kings concept.  Life should be more than living under autocratic rule where the kings took what they wanted and left you very little.  Don't wait on the hereafter as a promise of reward for being dutiful citizens . . . do something about it now.  Get rid of the kings. Get a government that works better for people.  Get rid of taxes that choke the life out of you.

And we did get rid of kings, and government is better than it was several centuries back . . . but wait!  What about the tax thing?  We've still got 'em, and they're still choking us down . . . well, most of us.  Some people, because they have influence with government, pretty much skate when it comes to taxes.  And we, meaning those of us who live in the U.S., are suffering under a heavy tax burden that needs to be changed.  Inequity is the biggest problem with it, and most taxes are too high.  So, why do we still have them?  'Cause we're suckers, that's why.  We've been chumped by propaganda that for the most part says government needs all that money so it can take better care of us.  We're still being told, in a round about way, that God wants us to pay taxes so we can save liberty and all that good stuff. 

I won't argue that we don't need some taxation.  Government has never come up with a way to make money any other way, so they take it from the citizenry.  They always have, and it may always be that way . . . and there's some justification for it.  And you can't argue that we don't get back a lot from what we put into the system.  Everyone wants good roads to drive on, good schools for our kids, prisons to put away the bad guys . . . and to defend our country . . . and to take care of the poor and disadvantaged.  And that's not the big problem because most people will willingly pay taxes, regardless of the reasoning behind it.  It's the inequity, the unfairness about how taxes are applied and collected.  And there is a big reason for that - politicians.  Do you trust these people to do it fairly?  I don't.  And you want to know what really burns my butt?  I don't have a solution to the problem, and apparently neither does anyone else. 

There's an old saying that the only thing we really have to do is die and pay taxes.  Right.  But if you're thinking that one fixes the other, that when you die the paying of taxes will be over, you're wrong.  You won't have to pay it because you're dead, but whoever gets it will damn sure be taxed.  It looks like taxation is more permanent than even death.