Alden resident Ebenezer Howe is chairman of the Freeborn County Republican Party. His views do not necessarily reflect the views of the local party members.

In some past columns, I have attempted explanation of why I feel as I do. I am going to try one more time on taxes.

During my working career, we used to stop off for milk and cookies after work occasionally. Following the creation of Unisys through the merger of Burroughs and Sperry, several younger folks took advantage of the continuing education opportunities that became available. Some of us quizzed those folks about the course work of the endeavor — mostly, I think, because we were

wondering if we could keep up with their extra workload. They all seemed to take a class on critical thinking, or something like that, or might have been logical thinking. One topic I remember discussing was, “who benefits most from new inventions or new technology, the poor or the wealthy?” We eventually came to the conclusion that the poor benefited more from technology advancements. This came after a discussion of the advancements in refrigeration technology that gave way to the home kitchen refrigerator — gone were the days of the ice box. Granted, the wealthy made money from manufacturing refrigerators, but they didn’t want for much to start with. On the other hand, life of the not so wealthy very much improved; you did not have to be home for the ice man to come, and there was less spoilage and mess.

So, now let’s jumpshift to taxes. Who benefits most from taxes, the wealthy or the not-so-wealthy? Oh, a terribly poor choice of words. All taxes are theft by the government. If there is a benefit, it is from wise spending of confiscated tax dollars. Maybe a better way to phrase it would be: Who benefits most from government? But that wording is also misleading. Consider Article I, Section 1, Constitution of the state of Minnesota: “Object of government. Government is instituted for the security, benefit and protection of the people, in whom all political power is inherent, together with the right to alter, modify or reform government whenever required by the public good.” This should be a good spot to work from in our discussion of who benefits most from tax dollar spending. Let’s just look at key words from Section 1: security, benefit and protection. I think most people could see law enforcement, fire departments and courts fall into categories covered by those three key words. The wealthy would have the ability to provide security and protection for themselves. That, in a nutshell, is why I think the poor get more benefit from taxes than the wealthy.

All the rest of the words in Article I, Section 1, form the basis for slippery, slick politicians to use “get out of jail free” cards as they manipulate constitutions for their own benefit. Take, for instance, the phrase from the preamble of the U.S. Constitution, “promote the general welfare,” being used to justify unconstitutional spending of trillions of dollars. And for crying out loud, it is only in the preamble, not even part of the body of the Constitution.

Let’s take some of the buzz-words and phrases from this year’s election campaigns:

• Create a healthy environment for job growth

• Provide access to affordable health care

• Increase availability of quality child care

• Ensure access to quality senior care

• Prepare students for the real jobs of today and tomorrow

My goodness! All these are in the shape they are because of too much government messing in them already.

It should be a no vote for a candidate who uses these or similar phrases without a detailed explanation of what part of government his proposed fixes would eliminate or dismantle, and then how the eliminated or dismantled part of government would achieve the stated goal.

In Ron Paul’s farewell address to Congress he said, “To achieve liberty and peace, two powerful human emotions have to be overcome. No. 1 is envy, which leads to hate and class warfare. No. 2 is intolerance, which leads to bigoted and judgmental policies. These emotions must be replaced with a much better understanding of love, compassion, tolerance and free market economics. Freedom, when understood, brings people together. When tried, freedom is popular.”

If Ron Paul’s advice had been applied to Article I, Section 1, of the Minnesota Constitution, only legislation falling under the key words of security, benefit and protection would have been adopted. Adding the rest of the words and the emotions of envy and intolerance, we got started down the slippery slope of socialism. The rate of acceleration down this slippery slope is alarming.

When folks analyze socialism and freedom, they find freedom more popular.

Donald Trump’s policies are taking us in the direction of more freedom, even though he has to drag part of the party kicking and screaming. Vote Republican in 2018. Legalize freedom!