Reply #7: "Taxes are the price we pay for civilization." -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

[Bozita]

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Dave Zweifel: We must stop starving government


By Dave Zweifel
September 16, 2005

"Taxes are the price we pay for civilization."


If I remember right, it was Rep. Dave Obey who reminded us of that Oliver Wendell Holmes quotation during his appearance at Fighting Bob Fest last Saturday.

The point is that unless we adequately support our governments, they're going to be weak and we, ultimately, are going to pay the price. We can't fight expensive wars and then reduce taxes on the wealthy without hurting the country.

We saw the manifestation of that on the Gulf Coast a few days ago. In order to pay for Iraq, FEMA was neglected and a lot of folks paid the price as a result. Louisiana and New Orleans agencies were ineffective because they, too, had been inadequately funded in recent years. Heaven knows how many other agencies that exist to protect the American people from harm are in the same shape.

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