A Party United

The Republican Party is a mess. Before I decided to pick a side - as it were - it appeared to be a mess from the perspective of an Independent looking in. However, now that I have come in to inspect the party for my own edification, I have come to find the situation is much worse than I had once believed it to be.

The fact that my representative, Brian Harrison, is compelled by spirit to travel throughout the great State of Texas questing against establishment-backed, uni-party-owned, vapid, placid, fake Republicans is astonishing. The grassroots have been checking boxes next to the same names for far too long, and we must do something about it.

This nation was founded on the belief that people governed themselves locally through their representatives. Our forerunners revolted over a 2% tax on a drink. On December 17, 1773, John Adams wrote in his diary,

Last Night 3 Cargoes of Bohea Tea were emptied into the Sea. This Morning a Man of War sails… The People should never rise, without doing something to be remembered—something notable And striking… Cushing gave us an Account of[] the Quantity of Tea the East India Company had on Hand[], that is Seven Years Consumption…

Leading up to that point was a 10-year-long struggle against Taxation by Parliamentary Authority - that is a tax upon the people by authoritarian decree rather than by the people’s consent. They destroyed 7-years’ worth of tea and subsequently fought a war over taxes. Now, we have taxes in the double digits, and Republicans, those of us who are supposed to uphold the ideals enshrined within the original text of the US Constitution, go right along with it. This is one of the chief fractures within the party.

Another fracture is Trump. Look. The party is going with Trump, so get on board! This never Trump nonsense is a real drag on our goals. Of course, healthy debate is important, but debate becomes unhealthy when the race is under way. We picked the guy, so everyone needs to stop talking about it and move on to POLICY discussions. I was a Ramaswamy supporter; I 100% planned to vote for Ramaswamy in the primary. Ramaswamy announced his withdrawal from the race and put his support behind Trump, I voted Trump in the primary. This is simple; it has an easy fix; let’s fix it.

One could go on about these issues, but that would be unhelpful. The point is we need to work together, vet candidates appropriately, offer good candidates to run against the poor performers, show up, get policy done, and all this together.

How do we move forward? We do what we are supposed to do and stick by the Constitution and its supporting texts. That’s how. We hit the streets, we go to the parks, we get on social media, we get on podcasts, we go anywhere and everywhere to send a clear message that we are for the Constitution, and we shall not bend knee to the uni-party, to the Feds, to big business. Our manual is the Constitution: Follow it.

Texas is the Alamo in this Country

This is a quote from David Stein. He is running for Vice-Chair of the Republican Party of Texas, and I had the privilege of being part of a discussion with him this past Friday morning. The fact that he opened his calendar for us, delegates, to get to know him shows the level of responsibility with which he would take the mantle if elected.

This statement directly falls in line with one of my Pillars of Service: Texas Leads. This is the last stand our nation makes for freedom within this Republic. Our border is embattled by threats both foreign and domestic. We face a foreign invasion from numerous nations across the globe, and we face a Civil invasion from our Federal Government. These are both as a result of our Federal Government abdicating its resposibilities under the Biden Administration.

Article IV, Section 4 of the US Constitution guarantees us a Republican form of Government and protection against invasion. The Biden Administration has failed in its duty to hold up its end of the bargain and has further litigated this State against our own right to secure our own border. While we wait for the wheels of justice to turn as they will, our border is falling as did the stand at the Alamo.

This failed border has caused Texas to call out to our fellows. Some have responded to the call; others have refused the call. All manner of illegal immigrant has been cast to every corner of this great nation, and the nation has begun to awaken when directly confronted with what must be done.

Not all immigrants are bad. I am a fan of immigration and work with thousands of people who came from outside this nation in search of a better life. This being said, the fact of the matter is that people crossing our border unvetted and uncontrolled has a negative effect on everyone within these United States.

Some sanctuary cities, like Denver, are turning immigrants away having run out of resources, telling them to seek refuge in a different city. Some cities, like Chicago, are facing potential recall elections and other civil issues due to the expenses lost to the taxpayers thereof. Some cities, like Athens, have lost lives later finding out the murderers had been arrested and deported for violent crimes in the past.

Again, not all immigrants are bad; however, the sting of these incidents is being felt by those law-abiding citizens and immigrants alike who are legally here, pay their taxes, and go about daily life the legal way. As the Texas border falls, the rest of the nation weeps for the loss and comes to our aid. This was so at the time the Alamo fell, and it shall be so this year as our border’s invasion continues.

Tax Hikes

Taxes are a large part of American life. For most households, the top two expenditures are housing (rent/mortgage) and taxes. There is no larger bill. Some of these taxes are straightforward, such as income tax; some are not, such as capital gains, property, estate, etcetera…

What is clear is that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (made effective by the Trump Administration on January 1, 2018) lowered the tax bill for all Americans, and Biden has stated he will not renew it. Biden has also promised that anyone making $400,000/yr or less would not pay a penny more in taxes. These two ideals are incompatible. One cannot dispose of a tax cut for people making $25,000/yr and not raise taxes on those individuals; this makes no sense.

Now, Biden is threatening to raise taxes for a large portion of Americans making under $400,000/yr again. Biden has proposed an increase to the capital gains tax. Luckily, only Congress has the power to tax, not the Executive branch, but with all the Biden rubber-stampers in Congress, this is not a cause to abandon.

When capital gains tax increases, the burden falls to the middle class, the elderly, and our children to pay for it. Capital gains tax is assessed in situations involving the sale or exchange of:

• A home

• stocks

• bonds

• ETFs

• crypto

• And many more

While a change in this rate impacts nearly all Americans, it dramatically affects one of our most vulnerable populations: the elderly. When working with a financial advisor, usually a plan is set forth with a mixture of cash, non-taxable assets, and capital assets subject to capital gains. Altogether, this is referred to colloquially as a “nest egg”.

If the tax burden of a withdrawal from your nest egg, the amount you need to accumulate therein increases as well. For example, say you planned to retire on $8,500 per month. Assuming a growth rate of 3% and a capital gains tax of 15% one would need $4M in their nest egg to hit this number (this is highly dependent upon how long they have been saving and what the asset mix is, for the sake of brevity, we will say the entire value at retirement is principal invested in the capital markets).

Now, under the same conditions, if the capital gains rate would be 20%, the number goes up to $4.25M. Again, at a capital gains rate of 30%, we would have $4.86M. The capital gains tax determines how easily an American can retire without becoming reliant upon the Government.

This is why it is crucial to fight against these tax hikes. A tax hike causes We, the People, to become more impoverished. A more impoverished people is more reliant upon its Government. A more reliant people is more subjugated. We do not bite the hand that feeds us, after all.