Paying My Taxes

Yes, it is April again and time to file our taxes. And though it can sometimes be a bit painful, I don't really mind doing so because I see true value in most of what my taxes go towards.

There is value in the infrastructure I use on a daily basis - the roads, bridges, airports; the offices, ports, and streetlights.

And the teachers, police, and firefighters; the military and even the nameless bureaucrats who toil away in offices throughout the country.

The food inspectors, the border patrol, the air traffic controllers, and the diplomats. The postal workers, the Coast Guard, the staff who manage our public lands and parks. They all have value for me.

The newly released 1940 Census records online received nearly 40 million hits in the first hours they were released. How many public employees worked countless hours over the years to ensure that this priceless information is available to all citizens hungry to learn about their history?

We the people pay for all of this and it has great value. "We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

That's pretty good to me. I thank the teachers who inspired me, the firefighters, police, and our military who risk their lives every day. I thank all government workers on all levels who work to make this a more perfect union. Granted, it's not always perfect, but by continuing to strive, we all can enjoy the blessings of liberty.

Let's all be patriots and pitch in and pay our fair share.

I don't mind.