A Cycle of Bullsh*t

The Cycle of Bullshit happens when we blame things that aren't actually causing our problems.

We point to boogeyman and start sharpening our axes, or, if you live in the 21st century, capitalizing every typed letter in a very heated debate on the many forums accessible through the internet.

We say things like...

ABOLISH THE GOVERNMENT!

...TAXES...BAD!

STOP FEEDING THE HOMELESS!

What many people don't realize is that all these issues are interconnected in some way or another, a manifestation of many, many screw-ups of days gone by, and pandemic within a society like ours.

I'll explain before you can say the words 'evil leftist.'

Yes, government can be bad, as well as business. Yes, taxes are a huge pain in the arse, and the cost amounts to a chunk of your flesh and your soul.

Yes, we are all dead-eyed and disillusioned with our system and talk shit about it when we can (and feel much better for it afterwards), except for those annoyingly happy people who are still able to find optimism even looking at a horrible Breaking News story on the television.

Society is a cycle of bullshit.

Government is just a way to organize society in a legalized, lawful way, so people won't be hurt by what amounts to the schoolyard bullies of big industry we rely on for all our physical and emotional needs. The shiny, impeccable, flawless and fabulously wealthy kids in school who say they can do no wrong. But you and I know better.

Government is there to protect us. At least, it was supposed to be. From overzealous companies, and overzealous politicians, and environments that are so toxic and cut-throat, they create overzealous criminals. We were supposed to have some kind of balance.

Everyone now is able to game the system, and many are getting away with it because of our dysfunctional way of organizing our society.

People complain that government takes far too many taxes from them every year, but they don't ask themselves why.

Why does government take so much money in taxes? Is it really because they're evil? Greedy?
We have to remember that the congressmen and women of the old days didn't get paid nearly as much as they do now. It's PUBLIC office for crying out loud, they shouldn't be multi-millionaires rolling in dough.

I mean, they still have to use our tax dollars to fund social programs that are beneficial and inclusive to everyone in society.

• They have to fund public education, to make sure everyone has the basic skills to survive in the working world, regardless of class.

• They have to fund things like unemployment benefits for those individuals who find themselves in hard times through no fault of their own, like being hurt on the job, unjustly fired, or finding it difficult to find a job in recession or depression.

And many other reasonable, social programs.

If congress members and public officials are rolling around in dough (at least on their personal checks), why is spending on education getting cut left and right in various states?
Why is it that state scholarships or Pell grants still not enough to pay for college education, which equates to the price of a house without the house?
Why are governments selling public utilities to corporations because its cheaper for them not to have to maintain it and they get a kickback from said corporation?

We get most of our sustenance-our survival-our lives-in the form of money.

This is money that someone else gives to us. In return, we work for them. We rely on a boss to give us money to get all the things that are necessary to life. The boss, however, is not responsible for whether or not its enough to sustain ourselves, and frankly, doesn't care at times. Even if you're a skilled worker, there's a chance things can still be pretty tight financially.

We have to remember that education was not always a public option. That at one point in time it was only for the wealthy, because it was expensive and private, you see. Paying taxes for public education is a way to allow everyone, low or middle class to attend school without paying through the noise, because everyone buys into the system for a beneficial result-Educated children. And not just educated so they can do a job, but educated so they can become good citizens, good sisters, brothers, mothers, business people, etc.

Because more industries are employing technology, outsourcing, paying under the table for undocumented workers, cutting back full-time workers to part-time workers, layoffs or not hiring workers at all because its profitable not too, we get a situation where government has to take more and more of your dwindling paycheck just to keep functioning and keep the programs for the social  good working. Or, they can just rely on wealthy benefactors.

The tax base is effectively destroyed when politicians have to rely on wealthy benefactors, like corporations and very wealthy patrons, who don't usually reflect the views of the general public and probably don't care much for public roads, public education, a public option of healthcare alongside a costly private one, or other safety nets in general for when someone becomes disabled or maimed on the job. Probably because they're too high up on a cushioned pedestal to really see. In consequence, politicians need the money of these entities to run campaigns, which are very expensive, and didn't come from the majority of voters. They now have allegiance to big, money interests. That's where you get the two-faced game. Telling the public one thing, and telling moneyed interests another just to win the election.

So recap: You don't want a lot of the population to be low-wage or struggling because then government won't have a lot of money for social programs that help people get into the middle class. These social programs create a better society.

When companies don't pay workers enough to pay into a good, non-confusing, reasonable tax system, which taxes should be used for, not for unnecessary wars for example, then these companies have power to sway congress their way.