Last night, Troy Davis was executed

Last night, Troy Davis was executed. Despite the lack of physical evidence, despite the recantations by seven of nine eyewitnesses, and despite a global campaign by more than a million people insisting there was simply too much doubt, Georgia put this man to death.

But in this moment of sadness and anger, it's up to all of us to make sure that Davis' struggle does not die with him. That the fight to fix a criminal justice system riven by racial and class disparities, and to stop our country from executing the innocent, is made stronger because of his example. 

As Davis wrote in a letter when he was facing execution in 2008:

"... no matter what happens in the days, weeks to come, this Movement to end the death penalty, to seek true justice, to expose a system that fails to protect the innocent must be accelerated. There are so many more Troy Davis'. This fight to end the death penalty is not won or lost through me but through our strength to move forward and save every innocent person in captivity around the globe. We need to dismantle this Unjust system city by city, state by state and country by country."

Though President Obama was reluctant to weigh in on the controversial execution of Troy Davis on Wednesday, his predecessor Jimmy Carter wasn’t so shy. Carter issued a statement partly reading, “If one of our fellow citizens can be executed with so much doubt surrounding his guilt, then the death penalty system in our country is unjust and outdated. We hope this tragedy will spur us as a nation toward the total rejection of capital punishment.” Davis was executed in Georgia, which is Carter’s home state. The former president pledged to redouble his efforts to fight capital punishment 

On taxation

I do not believe that in our greatly advanced culture that we should run our country based on the thoughts and beliefs of a handful of wealthy men who lived more than 200 years ago, regardless of their importance to our countries founding. 

I do believe that if we are to base our political stance on the the thoughts and beliefs of the founding members of our society, then we should rely only on the thoughts and beliefs that are quantifiable and not speculative.  This means that when you argue from the so called founding father’s perspective, that you `show me’ where a given position is spelled out.

I think that it is clear that through manipulative legislation the wealthiest do not pay thier proportional share in taxes. Warren Buffet, the third wealthiest person in the world according to Forbes Magizine, called on the United States Congress to raise taxes on the wealthiest .

Buffet used himself as an example, showing that his tax burden was only 17.4 percent of his taxable income  (He earned seven million during the year.), and that was a lower proportion than any of the other 20 people in his office whose tax burdens range from 33 percent to 41 percent, he said.

How can that be? According to Buffet, the mega-rich continue to get extraordinary tax breaks. Many of the wealthiest people in our country earn thier income not through labor, but through capital gains and dividends which are taxed at a much lower rate. 

Herein lies the conflict. Every GOP presidential candidate has spoken out against raising any taxes. Candidate Michele Bachmann said that if elected she would abolish the capital gains tax,( which Buffett said should be increased) and amend the tax code so every American pays income tax.

Is this the position  on taxation that the  founding members of our society had in mind? 

I suppose it is possible that the Republican's position is  brought about by poor education and not an underlying attempt to cajole campaign contributions from the wealthiest. I know that some argue that the Republicans (and some Democrats) are not arguing from any patriotic philosophical position,  considering that most of the positions taken by the Republicans seem incentivized by money: They get money from Wall Street when they vote to deregulate Wall Street.  They get money from the oil companies by continuing to vote them tax breaks despite the fact that oil companies are making billions in profits. They get money from the military industrial complex continuing to support outrageously large military budgets and the `need’ to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

If  I could show you what the founding members of our country actually thought about taxation, then would the true patriots in our country back our founding members beliefs? Or, more likely, will it be revealed that the majority of all politicians are not actually patriots but merely actors and actresses playing a part and speaking from a script  written for them by nefarious demons who call themselves strategist?

So for all who seek to know if Mr. Buffet's beliefs, or the Republican politicians beliefs, on taxation are more in line with the beliefs of the founding member’s beliefs, I offer you this from a letter written on October 28th, 1785 from Thomas Jefferson to James Madison.

Thomas Jefferson, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence, the third President of the United States and one of the most  influential `Founding Fathers’ , wrote this about taxation:

“Another means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise.”

Simple. Mr. Buffett is right, the tax burden on the wealthiest needs to be raised. Past legislative loopholes created only to benifit the most wealthy must be removed.