America. Land of the Free?

What do you think about this new proposal for FORCED health insurance?

I can appreciate people who are a little leery of Nationalized Health Care. After all, I can appreciate the view that people like Dr. Steve put forth when talking about how you wouldn't want the government telling you when/where/how to build your house, nor would you want the government telling you what kind of car you are "allowed" to drive, or where you are "allowed" to buy gas, or what brand of cell phone you are "allowed" to purchase.

I'm sorry. Penalizing people for not having health care is beyond ridiculous. It's flat-out stupid. I'm going to throw out a generalization here and suggest that perhaps 9 out of 10 people who don't have health care don't do it because they don't want to have insurance/health care. They do it because they can't afford it. It's frigging expensive. And now there are a group of politicians who want to tell you that, well, since you can't afford health insurance in the first place, now we are going to fine you for not doing your civic duty and paying thousands per year to the insurance companies.


Or how about the Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009? Nothing like the government telling you that you can't grow your own vegetable garden anymore because you, the lowly American citizen, are too stupid to know how to safely grow produce. In fact, if you try and grow your own food your property could be seized and a 1 million dollar fine imposed upon you for daring to grow food to feed yourself rather than relying on FDA-Approved (see injected with chemicals) produce.

Or how about the IRS using Facebook and MySpace to track you down? There's no such thing as privacy anymore...only piracy and devilry. No one is innocent until proven guilty. You are guilty until proven innocent. Big Brother, We Greet You.

Or how about (my personal favorite) America being the only country on the planet which requires its citizens to pay federal and state taxes even if they aren't living in the country. This one really chaps my ass. More so because I'm having to deal with it as an American citizen living abroad. What makes it even worse is that America is currently trying to force the European Union to allow the IRS access to their tax records to eliminate tax havens. Needless to say, the EU isn't really happy about it, and so far the talks I've been watching have been falling through.

Every other country on this planet says that when you work in another country you pay taxes to that country. Period. You aren't living at home, so you don't need to pay taxes at home. You aren't a burden on your homeland's taxpayers, you are a burden to the other country's tax payers. You are eating their food, riding their trams, taking their taxis, driving their roads, participating in their programs, watching their TV, and etc. Naturally you should be paying taxes to them.

Not America. Nope. The greedy IRS wants every penny they can get their hands on to perpetuate those "freedoms" that Americans think they have.

Don't get me wrong. I love America. I'm an American citizen. The country has afforded me a lot of luxuries and a lot of opportunities over the years that I wouldn't have had elsewhere. But I honestly feel like Johnny Depp does when it comes to the US.

In any case, that's my ranting for the month. I actually have to schedule an appointment later this month with an accountant I found through the Embassy in order to start dealing with the chaos that is filing my taxes from overseas.

So to all you vegetable lovers and people who can't afford health insurance...hope you enjoy starving and being fined to your death-bed! It's all downhill from here.