Letter: Does a gerrymandered Congress have the right to deny the American people access to their life savings?

An open letter to 1st District Rep. Blake Moore:

When I looked online for your email address, I did not find one, but instead found dialogue boxes that attempted to profile me and prove that I was not a robot.

So I called your Bountiful office. The young lady there said to write to you through ben.palmers3@mail.house.gov. I wondered if lobbyists and corporate contributors who want your ear are instructed to write to Mr. Palmers?

I was struck also by the single survey question: whether illegal aliens should receive Social Security? Well, as a Biden Democrat, I say that they certainly should not. But the question is a red herring: one must pay into Social Security for 40 fiscal quarters (10 years) to receive Social Security benefits.

The real question is: Does a gerrymandered Congress have the right to deny the American people access to their life savings? Although past retirement age, I still work, and I paid about 25% of my gross income in taxes earlier this year, including payments to Social Security and Medicare. I don’t believe Donald Trump pays taxes, so the question you should ask is: Should he be entitled to receive Social Security?

The late conservative columnist William Buckley proposed that everyone pay a 15% flat tax. He argued, “Why should a taxi driver who drives 60 hours a week be taxed at a higher rate than a taxi driver who drives for 40 hours a week? Why should the harder worker be penalized for his greater productivity? He’s already paying more tax.”

Actually, what we have is a graduated income tax in reverse, the wealthier you are, the lower your tax rate, all the way down to zero. Now, China is trying to make the yuan rather than the dollar the world’s reserve currency. A growing number of countries is abandoning the dollar in favor of the yuan. And those countries are courting Mexico to join the yuan group.

The United States could join with its allies to create a composite currency, too: Canada, Australia, the European Union, Japan, South Korea, and even Taiwan would join our bloc.

However, how can a country that is about to default on its debt be the anchor for such a currency? Republican congresses under George W. Bush and Donald Trump gave huge tax cuts to the wealthy, and that began the deficit spiral. If they paid taxes, couldn’t we eliminate the deficit?

Do you know why Karl Marx disliked democracies? He said that in democracies, powerful financial interests commandeer the democratic process and take it away from the people. The world is coming to the conclusion that the United States is the proof that he was right.

Whit Wirsing, Salt Lake City

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