Political Agnosticism for Aspiring Authors?

It has been a long time since I wrote anything political on my blog, which is kind of funny, since I’m really quite political in my personal life.  I have trended away from publicizing my views online in recent years, as my writing career has slowly advanced, and I don’t think an entertainer’s politics are terribly relevant to their product.  We all enjoy books, movies, music, and other things created by people of varied philosophical persuasions.  As an editor, I’ve published stories from writers who span the full spectrum, from diehard liberals to tea-party conservatives, and many sorts in-between.

During my early days online, I wore my politics on my sleeve.  I had an editorial column for a while on a little-known website and sparred daily on various current events forums.  While it made me feel better in my youth to battle it out in such a way, it really did nothing for my fiction writing career.  Oh, I met a few friends in the process, and actually had the pleasure of converting a few people on certain issues, but I can’t say it ever did a thing to help me sell any stories.  I have a lot of political “friends” in real life, but to this day I can count on one hand the number of them who have bothered to read my books.

This isn’t to say that people who share my beliefs aren’t apt to enjoy my fiction.  I’m saying it is a non-factor.  People are not liable to buy your books because you spout off some talking points or you vote for some politician.  However, there are some readers out there who will specifically avoid your fiction if you say something that rubs them the wrong way.  It may not matter when you’re already famous like Stephen King, but for those who are less well known, every reader counts.

So, over the last five or six years, I have shied away from broadcasting my beliefs online.  Oh, I still post things to my personal facebook page now and then, and I remain active in the real world, but on this blog I refrain from spouting off too much.  Many aspiring authors share this philosophy, and keep their politics close to the chest, others don’t.  I can’t say either is the wrong approach; it all depends on how you want to sell yourself.

I have read opinions to the contrary, that trumpeting your beliefs is a must to draw attention to yourself.  There is the school of thought that controversy gains you readers, though that hasn’t been my experience.  It may work if you’re going for a specific niche market, but my fiction is often less specialized.  Yet, it is something to consider, as well, as you venture out into the marketplace.  How do you seek to be seen as a writer?

Feel free to ponder this topic, and let me know your thoughts.

Amazon.com's Political Action Committee

I received a very curious email this morning from Amazon Associates.  For those who don't know, the Amazon Associates program is basically a referral system, where Associates get a small percentage of sales made from links they post.  Examples can be found on my websites.  All of the Amazon ads on www.martiningham.com and www.martinus.us are part of the associates program.  I don't make a lot of money from these referrals, but some people rake in some serious cash from the program—a few people even make their living this way.

As I said, I got a "curious" email.  It seems Amazon.com is summarily canceling all Associates accounts from people living in Maine.  Here is what they have to say:

Greetings from the Amazon Associates Program.

We're writing from the Amazon Associates Program to notify you that your Associates account will be closed and your Amazon Services LLC Associates Program Operating Agreement will be terminated effective October 6, 2013. This is a direct result of the unconstitutional Maine state tax collection legislation passed by the state legislature and signed by Governor LePage on June 5, 2013, with an effective date of October 9, 2013. As a result, we will no longer pay any advertising fees for customers referred to an Amazon Site after October 6, nor will we accept new applications for the Associates Program from Maine residents.

Please be assured that all qualifying advertising fees earned prior to October 7, 2013, will be processed and paid in full in accordance with your regular advertising fee schedule.  Based on your account closure date of October 6, 2013, any final payments will be paid by December 31, 2013.

While we oppose this unconstitutional state legislation, we strongly support the federal Marketplace Fairness Act now pending before Congress. Congressional legislation is the only way to create a simplified, constitutional framework to resolve interstate sales tax issues and it would allow us to re-open our Associates program to Maine residents.

We thank you for being part of the Amazon Associates Program, and look forward to re-opening our program when Congress passes the Marketplace Fairness Act.

Sincerely,

The Amazon Associates Team

When I asked Amazon about this issue, they were unable to cite the "unconstitutional" legislation in question, but I assume they are referring to LD346, which mandates that online retailers collect sales tax for any sale they make in Maine, even if said retailer is outside of Maine. Yes, this is in violation of the interstate commerce clause of the Constitution, so Amazon is correct to call it unconstitutional.  What they don't tell you is that this legislation does exactly what the Marketplace Fairness Act would do for every single State!  The MFA would mandate that every seller collect sales tax for interstate sales; a logistical nightmare for small sellers (like Martinus Publishing).

It is no secret that Amazon.com is a huge supporter of this so-called "Marketplace Fairness Act," as it will empower mega-businesses like them and place serious burdens on small retailers.  Its constitutionality is questionable, and it paves the way for a National Sales Tax, which is what some government officials have been salivating over for years.  It's more big-government BS in my opinion, and we don't need it.

I find it offensive that Amazon is attempting to terrorize Maine Associates into becoming lobbyists for their cause.  Their objective over this action is obvious to anyone who stops to think about it.  They want Maine-based Associates to now write politicians (like Senator Susan Collins) and beg them to support the MFA, aka the "Increase Amazon's Marketshare Act."

This is just the start.  If this political lobbying works with Maine-based Associates, it'll set a dangerous precedent, and Amazon will try it elsewhere.  It's disheartening when big business tries to bully the consumer this way, and we shouldn't support it.  As a retail business, Amazon should spend their resources trying to serve customers and sell products, not advance Federal legislation.

The Tuesday Triple (5)

I didn't sleep well last night.  The heat of summer months tends to disrupt my rest, and my back has been bothering me as well lately.  I'm sure I'll be fine, but in the meantime I'll have to muddle through everything feeling a bit tired.

So, on to this week's three random songs...

My Generation –The Who.  A true classic!  It's the song that really kicked off their career.  Before this song, they were relatively unknown.  It's a bit dated now, but isn't a bad song.

Holy Cow –Lee Dorsey.  Here's another one out of that 1965 hits collection.  Nothing really exciting here, though it isn't offensive or annoying.  It's okay for background ambience, but not anything that would cause me to stop and really listen.

Thing –Matthew Sweet.  A rarity in his repertoire, this was one of his B-sides.  It appeared on the CD single of Time Capsule, and it really is a great little song, far underrated.  Personally I feel this one had real potential, but it was never utilized.  It could have even been a single, itself.   This catchy tune about dysfunctional romance really deserves to be played more.

Three more brief commentaries, quick and easy.  I wish every American a happy Independence Day tomorrow, and encourage everyone to read a copy of the Declaration of Independence.  How can you celebrate something you don't know?  Read the document that started it all, and enjoy the festivities with clarity of sight.  In fact, here's a copy, so you don't have to waste time hunting for it.  God Bless America!

Dropping Out

Well, I was thoroughly trounced in the School Board race on Monday, and while I'd like to say it doesn't bother me, it does have a certain impact.  Losing is never something to relish, and I've experienced more than my fair share of losses over the years.  It's time for a change of course.

There is a lot to be learned from losing, and to be perfectly blunt I'm sick of the lessons.  It is clear at this point that running for office is a waste of my time.  It is a lot of hard work and it's not fun anymore, so I see no reason to continue on this fruitless path.  I doubt I will ever run for elected office again.

There are far better things that I should be doing.  If I weren't wasting time on these failed elections, I could probably write a lot more, or at least sleep easier at night.  So, I'm dropping out of the political pool.  I will leave the field to those more suited to the life, and more popular with the electorate.

It is good that I step aside now, before I am too worn down by political strife, for I could grow bitter and resentful were I to linger amongst the polls for too long, finding no victory in what I do.  For sure, I will find my fortune elsewhere, and I shall henceforth return to my writing exploits, where I truly shine.

In conclusion, I'd like to thank my supporters, as few and far between as they may be.  I am sorry I could not carry the day for you, and truly I hope you continue to support me in my non-political endeavors.  Remember, the winner in writing, as in politics, is not always the person with the best words or the right ideas, but the person with the most friends willing to campaign for them.  I have sadly been lacking in both fields for far too long.  It is time to redirect from the ballot box to the book rack.  Please, speak well of my published works, and grant me victory in the marketplace!

And remember, an Amazon.com review is a great stump speech for any book.  Visit my Amazon Author Page, and pick out one of my books to review!

So Very Tired

I'm sorry that I haven't put together this week's Family Sunday column, but I had to take some time off after the hectic week I've had.  Helping to organize the Washington County Republican "Super-Caucus" was wild, and yesterday was long and exhausting.  We didn't have the massive turn-out we could/should have had, but we did get 306 voters, and had a lot of guests from the various Presidential campaigns, giving us a pretty packed room.

For those interested, the vote totals were:
Ron Paul: 163
Mitt Romney: 80
Rick Santorum: 57
Newt Gingrich: 4
Undecided: 2

It'll be an interesting State Convention in May.

Maine GOP Disenfranchises Voters

Last night, the Maine State Republican Committee & Chairman Charlie Webster decided to announce the "winner" of the Maine Republican Caucus Straw Poll, totally disregarding the fact that Washington County and much of Hancock County have not yet caucused & voted.  Following their declaration of Mitt Romney's "victory," they affirmed that anybody who hadn't yet caucused wouldn't count, and their votes wouldn't be added to the Statewide totals; never mind that towns legally have until March 20 to caucus.

This is very questionable behavior, for the race was very tight, and Romney only has a 194 vote lead over Ron Paul.  Washington and Hancock county caucuses will be held on February 18, and they could very well eat away or even eliminate that lead, giving Ron Paul a victory, but we can't have that, now can we?  The Great and Powerful Chairman has spoken!

This disenfranchisement should be an insult to every voter, regardless of party or ideology.  Basically, a few elites of the Republican Party are saying that those of us in Washington County "don't matter."  It is a spit in the eye, and an insult to everything the Founding Fathers fought for... and it should never be tolerated in a free Republic!

Here's a draft copy of a letter I will be mailing to my fellow Republicans in Robbinston, hoping to inform them of the situation and fire them up for the caucus:

As you have no doubt heard by now, the Washington County "Super-Caucus" scheduled for this past Saturday had to be postponed due to the snowstorm.  The rescheduled date for the caucus is February 18, 2012.  As previously planned, it will be held at Washington Academy on Hill Street in East Machias, starting at 1:30PM.  We'll have a candidate forum, where every Republican running for public office (from the Presidency, Congress, U.S. Senate, and the Maine Legislature) will be in attendance or have a spokesperson there to speak on their behalf.  We'll also be electing delegates and alternates to the State Convention in May, and reform the town committee.  Then, we'll be voting in a presidential straw-poll, which is perhaps the most important reason to attend the caucus this year.

As you may have heard, the State Republican Party decided to go ahead and announce a "winner" of the caucus straw-polls on Saturday night, even though most towns in Washington & Hancock County have yet to caucus.  When some of us objected to our votes being disenfranchised, State Party Chairman Charlie Webster dismissed us entirely.  He said there'll end up being fewer than 200 total votes cast in Washington County, so basically we don't matter, and he doesn't intend to add our votes to the statewide results!

This is an outrage, and we should all be upset.  By State Law, Maine towns have until March 20 to caucus and vote in the straw poll.  What Webster and the State GOP are doing is equivalent to closing the voting booths at noon on Election Day and telling us "tough luck, your votes don't count."  This cannot be allowed to happen, and no American should tolerate this sort of behavior.

It is important that as many Republicans from Washington County show up as possible.  We must send the State GOP a message, that we do matter out here, and that we have a right to vote!  I implore you, if there's any way you can take the time on Saturday afternoon, make the drive down to East Machias and join your fellow Republicans in the caucus process.  Together, we can make the entire country hear from us!

Hopefully, enough voters will show up to make Charlie Webster think twice about trying to cheat us out of our say!

Fly Me to the Moon

I've always been a big supporter of the space program.  While dreaming of the future is a prerequisite for a writer of Science Fiction, I have also held very practical views on exploring and colonizing outer space.  I feel it is mankind's ultimate purpose and destiny to travel to the stars, and the first step toward doing that is to get some colonies set up in our own metaphorical back yard.  By that, I mean setting up shop on the celestial bodies in our own solar system.

Newt Gingrich said something unexpected last week.  Now, I'm no fan of Newt, but he said we should establish a colony on the moon, and I feel that has merit.  Of course, he was just pandering to voters in Florida (where NASA is located, duh!), but where he might say it as a cheap political maneuver, I actually believe in doing it.  The United States needs to go back to our nearest celestial neighbor in a big way.  It's time we picked up where Apollo 17 left off, and actually do everything our forefathers were dreaming of during the 1960's and before.  It's time to build our moonbase.

A lot of people don't care about space these days, and even more would argue that this "isn't the right time."  But when the hell is?  The simple answer is it will never be the right time if you take that attitude.  We're never going to "fix things" on Earth, and there's always going to be some crisis or war or stock market crash that's going to scare people away from "wasting" resources on such a venture.  If we'd taken this attitude in the 60's (like Walter Mondale wanted), we'd never have gone into space at all, and the frontiers of science and technology would be far suppressed.  Much of the fantastic tech we use today was subsidized and perfected by the space program—but if you prefer your slide rule and think the Commodore 64 was the best computer ever made, I'm sure you'd love the alternate reality without a space program.

I also firmly believe that our landing on the moon gave us a real shot in the arm toward winning the Cold War.  We proved our superiority over the totalitarian Communist Russians, and that bit of psychological warfare did a lot to shape the future.  If the Commies had landed, it would have told the world that collectivist authoritarianism is superior and can "get things done," and that could have given the Reds enough pride in their own accomplishment to advance even farther.  I truly believe that without Neil Armstrong's historic step, the USSR would still be a dominant power today.

So, now, almost 42 years later, we have a new batch of authoritarians plotting a space race.  The Communist Chinese have been saying for some time now that they intend to set up a lunar colony.  This is not something those of us in the free world should take lightly, nor should we ignore the worth of setting up our own moonbase.

We are at a point in human history where building a base is perfectly viable.  We have the technology, and the resources.  All we really need is the national will to do it.  The longer we wait to get back to colonizing space, the harder it will be, as more Earthly problems crop up.  There is no telling what the future may hold, and all it would take is a few extremists to drop a few bombs and we'll be back to pre-industrial technology, or worse.

In case of terrestrial catastrophe, we need someplace to store the collective knowledge of the present era; a safe haven that will assure that everything we have written, everything we have uncovered, will not be obliterated by our own follies.  There are countless stories throughout history that have been lost.  What secrets could we have known, if the Library of Alexandria hadn't been burned by an illiterate despot?  How many lost writings are we still uncovering in the deserts, and how many will never be found?  This is something that should not come to pass again, but it likely will if we don't establish a secure storehouse off-world.

It is high time mankind build a base on the moon, and pretty soon somebody is going to do it.  The question is, who do you want in charge of the base?   Do you want it run by a fascist regime that views its people as little more than farm animals, a government that has murdered millions of innocents, and has no respect for civil rights or individual freedom?  Or do you want a free democratic republic in the driver's seat, assuring that the people who go into space will be bringing the tenets of liberty and justice with them?

I say let it be free men and women who colonize space, and let it be now!

Blast from The Past: Stop Taxing Books!

I've had a lot of letters published in various newspapers over the years, and once in a while I'll share one here.  While some of my letters address matters of limited interest that become antiquated with time, there are quite a few that remain relevant.  Here's one issue I still feel strongly about, and it isn't being remedied.  I wrote this letter when I was 18, and I'll still feel the same about the issue when I'm 80!

June 25, 1998  Thursday

I went to the book store the other day and was disturbed to find out that there is now a tax on books.  It had been a while since I purchased a book, due to the high price of new books these days, but I hardly expected this.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I believe that taxing reading material of any kind is wrong.  It's bad enough that the price of paperbacks has doubled in the past five years.  We don't need to be charged an extra six percent.

Taxing books is like penalizing people for reading.  You wouldn't want to be taxed for speaking, would you?

This tax is imposed with total disrespect for the first amendment.  I hope that our state officials realize this and choose to do the right thing by removing this tax.

[This tax is still imposed on the people of Maine.]

Priorities and Limitations

I find myself at a point of decision, and it's hard to let go of some things that I feel must be left behind.  This is harder than dropping an addiction, for it isn't so much a vice as a virtue which might be diminished.  I'm talking about my involvement with various political organizations and movements.

I have always been a strong believer in right and wrong.  Ever since I was a kid, I had concrete beliefs and spoke up about them, though the older I've gotten the harder it has become for various reasons.  Now, I fear I may be stretching myself too thin, and I wonder how much I can really handle.

One problem is time, though I've always made sure to find the time to fight for what I believe in.  Everyone else who should stand up uses this as a convenient excuse as to why they can't get involved:  "I've got no time, sorry."  So, that's a bit demoralizing.  Isn't my time just as valuable and precious?  If so, why am I wasting it?  Other people feel their time is better spent on a night at home with the kids or taking in a movie.  I have rarely seen it that way, and believe it's important to take on the workload of fighting for what is right, yet that dovetails with my second point.  What is right?

I still have firm beliefs.  I know what is right, and what is wrong, though I have to wonder if doing the "right" thing is the right thing for me at this point.  I have to question what benefit I'm getting out of it, or if I may even be working against my own self interest.  Many of the things I stand up for hold no personal benefit for me, and are only done as a matter of principle, seeking to help others and shape society.  Spending so much time fighting for what is right, I've found myself neglecting the people who are truly important to me, especially my family.  Does that make it the right thing at all?

Another major issue is my introverted personality.  I'm generally shy and can't stand being around strangers.  Heck, there are even times I get uncomfortable talking to friends!  Perhaps I understand the human heart a little too well, or I just have an overactive imagination.  As Matthew Sweet once sang, "I don't like knowing people.  I don't like people knowing about me."  That's something of a stumbling block when it comes to my writing career, though I've been willing to step out of my comfort zone when it comes to that, and stick my face into public view when necessary.





Screaming politicians can be
hazardous to your health!



Putting yourself out there on the political scene is a million times worse, as there are enemies galore eager and willing to rip you apart, which is more than a little disturbing.  Unlike my father, I don't enjoy fighting with people.  It bothers me greatly to argue, and it wrecks my creative talents.  If I waste energy bickering, I can't write, and that is a dangerous thing.  It also makes me irritable, which isn't good for family life.

It's time to assess my limitations.  There is only so much emotional strain I can subject myself to, and now that my "side" seems to be scoring some points, it may be time for me to back off and let others take their turn on the intellectual battlefield.

I'm not a quitter, and there are people counting on me, so I won't drop out entirely. Though, there is only so much I can do.  I can't be a selfless warrior like the Founding Fathers were, sacrificing life and limb for a noble cause.  While I can't sit by and do nothing while everything I care about slips away, I'm not going to stick my neck out so readily anymore.  Most of my energy is going to be diverted to my burgeoning writing career, and the physical labor I must perform to make ends meet.  If something particularly important comes up, I'll still be here, but it's time to recharge and get ready for bigger and better things.

As a parting thought:  With rare exception, none of my so-called allies have given any support to my writing career.  Straw...camel's back, anyone?  I'm tired.

Jimmies Are Racist?

Those of you who are outside of New England might not know what "jimmies" are, but they're the little chocolate bits that people like to put on ice cream.  Some places they're called sprinkles, and in the UK I've heard they call them chocolate vermicelli.  Personally, I never cared for them (just another one of my little eccentricities).

I learned something new the other day from a Boston talk radio show.  There is a growing myth out there that the term "jimmies" is racist; that it somehow comes from the Jim Crow era of segregation.  There's absolutely no factual evidence to even suggest this is the case, yet some people have taken the claim seriously, and a new war of local vernacular is brewing.

The most widely accepted origin of the word is that a guy called Jimmy, who worked in a chocolate factory, took chocolate shavings home with him and started selling them for use on ice cream.  Again, there's no concrete proof of it, but it seems a lot more likely than the little chocolate bits being named after people with dark skin or something of that nature.

There is a growing movement in America to classify anything that's brown or black as being racist, and I'm really sick of it.  You can be sued for using the term "black hole" in a courtroom, and don't you dare mention the word niggardly!  Oh, how far we've swung from the days of white oppression.  Now we have to be so politically correct that soon there won't be a language to speak of.

So, would you like some jimmies on that ice cream cone?

I Am Not A Communist!

In my life, I have been called many unwarranted things. Whether it was "groundhog" from child antagonists, or "neocon" from miscreants who didn't like my political take on things during the Clinton/Bush years, I have often been the target of slurs and insults. However, this week my detractors hit a new low.

I received the following "comment" on last Friday's "Talkin' DMV Blues' post: "Your such an anarchist. Watch out it doesn't conflict with your commie leanings." (Copied verbatim, bad grammar included.) It was left by an "anonymous" poster, and I declined the chance to publish this comment at the time, because I didn't feel it was appropriate. However, it is useful as an example of some misconceptions that have apparently started to flow as of late.

I also heard a comment from someone else about several of my posts last week. They wondered what I was doing, slipping in the subliminal communist messages, such as "spread zee wealth," and putting a picture of Stalin and Company on Thursday's post. This reader (you know who you are) was "concerned" that I might be criticized and mistaken for a member of the Red Menace. Lo and behold, it turns out they were right, after all.

Please be assured, I have no sympathies toward Communists or their ideology of conformity and central control. The confusion comes from my subtle jokes, which some people have taken seriously. Anyone who knows me personally in most any respect can tell you that I am not now, nor have I ever been, a member of the Communist Party (I so solemnly swear, Mr. McCarthy). I am truly a capitalist American pig, and proud of it!

I hope this has put your minds at ease (unless you are a Communist, in which case I'm sure this has saddened you greatly). God Bless America!

If you haven't read the United States Constitution, or The Bill of Rights lately, do it today. It could change your life.

False Promise (Minstrel Mondays)

When I was first considering a run for elected office, a lot of things were going through my head. Thoughts of the political system in general made me wonder if it would be a good idea. I asked myself, how could I win at a game where the rules are often skewed by disparate interests on all sides, where honor and integrity are commonly irrelevant? Well, I couldn't, obviously, as was proven by my failed run for the Maine legislature in 2008. It was probably for the best, as I have better things to do than become a politician.

While I was mulling it all over in 2007, I wrote this little poem, which expressed my feelings at the time. I hope you can find something of value in these words.

They don't want to hear the lies
the truth is what they seek,
until they hear a truth they dislike.
When reality is harsh,
and you can't have your candy store,
just run to a false prophet
spewing forth promises
for a million special interests in constant contradiction,
none of which bear fruit.


False promise,
the key to power and prestige.
you can't get it for real,
so you lie and steal it from the
unwitting populace of peons.


No choice is given
when all play by the
same crooked rules.
Break away, rewrite the
book on victory, and
tell it like it is.


That's what we all want,
the blunt observer, unwilling
to compromise or postulate platitudes
for people who want a handout or a kickback.


People seek leaders, but
it's not what they need.
A representative, not a ruler,
that is what one must be.
Throw away the domineering games,
and forget what you think you know.
The politics of politics is
a deadly road,
a source of endless fraud.


I'm no politician,
I guess that's why
they won't let me play.

Dare The Citizens Create A New Tax Order?

I started to prepare my taxes yesterday. Yes, I do it myself. No professionally-paid third-party preparer for me. There are many reasons why I prefer to do my own taxes, though for the most part it's because I don't make that much, so I cannot afford to spend hundreds of dollars to have somebody else crunch the numbers. Also, since I don't make much, it's not extremely complicated, and I did work as the accountant for my late-uncle's last Chiropractic business back in 1998, so I am a qualified (if not certified) accountant.

Doing my taxes always brings up some interesting ideas, the sort of concepts people are executed for espousing in other countries. By this, I mean thoughts of the relative unfairness of the tax system, and how much the government is bleeding from us all. As a self-employed laborer, I get to see every last cent the Feds suck out of me each year, and as I was filling out my 1040 this year, I came to a funny revelation. Why should I have to do this? No, I'm not saying we shouldn't pay taxes, and the government doesn't provide legitimate services with that money (in addition to a lot of other things). However, why are we forced to waste our valuable time (or pay someone else for their time) to figure out what we owe the government?

Think of it; who else in the world would tell you "hey, you owe us money," and then make you fill out the bill. Then, if they suspect you may not have filled out the bill to their satisfaction, they then send goons to your house and threaten to steal whatever you own if you don't cough up the difference.

Imagine going into a grocery store and placing items in your cart. When you get to the register, the guy or girl at the register hands you a book and tells you to calculate how much you have to pay. After spending hours standing in line holding a 5-pound book, you calculate the base cost of the merchandise, add 22.2589% for the owner's mark-up, deduct 1.773666% because you have a child, then tack on an added 15.259% for social security "savings," and then you come to the value of your purchases. Confused yet?

Better yet, later in the day the grocery store goes over your calculations and they discover that you made an accounting error.  You actually owe them an additional 25 cents! They send over a pair of "agents" that threaten to freeze your assets and confiscate your home if you don't cough up $2.00 immediately (.25 for the actual amount owed, +1.75 for interest and fines for making the error).

Do you think that people would stand for such behavior? I don't think so, and this comparison is not much of a stretch. It is applying government standards to a private business. The fact that it might seem absurd should make you realize how truly outrageous our current system of taxation is.

When someone gives you a bill, it is incumbent upon them, not you, to calculate the charges. How is it logical or fair that we are forced to expend our time and/or money to figure out how much we need to give the IRS? That should be their job! If they're going to make us calculate our own taxes, or pay someone to calculate them for us, they should be paying for it! Additionally, if they audit someone, and the investigation turns up nothing, the citizen should be financially compensated for the time and effort they were forced to expend to prove their innocence.

Here's where things get a little tricky. How can the Federal Government possibly afford to cover such a venture? How could their tax agents calculate hundreds of millions of tax returns each year? The simple answer is they can't. Not with the corrupt, convoluted, and unfair tax system they have spent the last hundred years formulating. In order make things reasonable, we'd have to totally rework the tax structure.

The way the IRS system works today, it's more like the Mafia. "Pay up, or we'll break your legs, foget abawt it!" That analogy probably isn't fair to the Mafia, but you get the point, and it's perfectly valid. The IRS rules through terror, and it's time we made things more accountable to the people.

There are plenty of "popular" propositions to simplify the tax system.  Flat taxes, national sales taxes, and a whole lot of good ideas that are generally ignored.  Leaving the nuts and bolts of the taxation amounts to another day and another blog, I'd like to explore a different concept that I haven't heard anyone suggest before.

Under this new system, each State would be assessed an overall tax burden, based on population, land mass, and the gross income of the populace. Depending on how large a state is and how much money its people make will determine how much they need to contribute to keep the Federal Government running. This will also give the States a larger stake in Federal spending, as the more the Federal Government spends, the more the States would have to provide. States would therefore put higher pressures on Washington to spend more responsibly.

Each State would be free to determine how they collect the needed money to pay the Federal Government every year. Most likely, they would raise income taxes for this purpose (in addition to whatever they're collecting already). Therefore, we would be shifting the tax system from one big centralized bureaucracy in Washington into 50 smaller, more local, accountable tax agencies. This way, citizens would not be paying income taxes to the Federal government. They would be paying their State (which is really a more Constitutional form of taxation) and the State would then pay a "membership fee" for being in the Union.

How could we do this? Would we need a Constitutional Amendment to alter the current tax system in such a drastic manner? Well, I suppose so, though the 16th Amendment, which gave the Federal Government the authority to tax incomes, was never legally ratified in the first place. After a few State Legislatures approved the Amendment, Woodrow Wilson's administration just said, "Meh, close enough," and deemed it passed, but they never got ¾ of State Legislatures to legally ratify the Amendment (which is required under Article V of the Constitution). This has been a bone of contention with Constitutionalists for over 90 years, though there's really nothing anyone can do about it now. The system is in place, however it was imposed, and now to change it we would require a new Amendment.

Would enacting this new system be hard to do? Of course it would, but isn't it necessary? I dare say something will have to be done eventually. The current system is growing untenable, and when things become too burdensome to tolerate, the people will look to create a new tax order, one that will be both fair and just for all citizens. Whether this radical proposal I have just suggested will be used or not is anyone's guess, but I doubt the present system will still be in use when I am an old man. Change is coming, and we must be prepared to shape it positively, or face the unpleasant consequences.

Vote for Paul LePage

The following is an appeal to my fellow Mainers:

The race for Maine's Governor has never been as crucial as it will be this November.  With the economy in shambles, and a multi-billion dollar deficit looming, it is important that we pick the right candidate to keep our state solvent, while also preserving our traditional values and way of life.

When people say Libby Mitchell is the person for the job, I have to laugh.  She's been in the legislature in one form or another for over 30 years!  She's one of the crooks responsible for the mess we're in. She's already had her chance to fix things, and she has done the opposite, voting for higher taxes on everyone, imposing onerous regulations on our businesses, and wasting valuable time pushing social issues like same-sex marriage.  If you like what Baldacci has been doing for the last eight years, she's your choice, but if you want a genuine change, and to actually get this state back on track, you must look elsewhere.

Some folks are saying Eliot Cutler is a good alternative to the traditional party politicians, but if you examine Cutler's positions on the issues, and his planned "solutions," you'll see he is virtually a carbon copy of Mitchell.  He's playing on his "Independent" status, even though he was a life-long Democrat before choosing to run for governor.  His work with Jimmy Carter helped spawn the hyper-inflation of the late 1970's, and his prospective plan is to create more government bureaucracy to further regulate the way we live.  It's more of the same.

When it comes down to it, Paul LePage is only really independent choice for Maine voters.  He's proven that he knows how to fix the economy, because he's done it as the Mayor of Waterville and as the General Manager of Mardens.  He believes in standing up for our traditional rights, and cutting the red tape and high taxes that block small business from expanding in our state.  Best of all, when you ask him a question, he gives you a straight answer, which is something you rarely get from any of the other candidates.

If you want lower taxes and accountability from Augusta, vote for LePage.  It's that simple.  If you want to know more about him, visit http://www.lepage2010.com/