Useless employees, large and small, Part 7

Yeah, I know; I'm early. Sue me.
Okay, then. Having begun to lay some marvelous plans to attend the Blackmore’s Night concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, I’m feeling inspired. Let’s see if it helps any…
(Yeah, I know; I wish I could tell you more about the plans, too. Sorry.
Tell you what, though, if you make it to the show, look for us 3rd row, center stage. You’ve all looked at my profile; do you think you could miss that face? I don’t think so, either…)

So we ended up last time by mentioning something most of you have never heard before – perhaps inciting a fresh desire to write demeaning emails to your history teachers. But there it is. Those marvelous men that met in Pennsylvania back in 1787 didn’t do what the people - those who gave them their positions, their pay, and their marching orders - told them to do. And you thought it was a contemporary phenomenon.
But a little history within the history lesson is in order here.
Remember the illustration of the BB rolling down the highway? The allegory finds its justification in the fact that the total tax burden imposed on the colonies by the British Empire was approximately 1% in the North and 2 ½ % in the South. Zoundz! Against this “tax tyranny”, the fledgling nations fought a war that lasted about 6 years and, for whatever reason you want to credit it to, won.
When the French fleet gained the attention of the British warships in a surprise attack on September 5th, 1781, and proceeded to spend the next 4 days ventilating their gunwales, Cornwallis knew the jig was up. No more crumpets – or bullets, powder, and stuff like that - would be forthcoming from ol’ Mother England. Maybe because of a lack of proper tea times due to the fog of war, General Cornwallis didn’t attend the surrender ceremony; said he wasn’t feeling well. That much was probably true. He sent his guy Friday, General O’Hara, with the sword. O’Hara, evidently in a fit of pique, tried to give it to Comte de Rochambeau, who in turn gave him the tenir a l’ecart and pointed him to General Washington. In the background, not missing the chance to add their own Bronx cheer to the proceedings, the British band played “The World Turned Upside Down”. The nerve! 2 years later, FedEx and Boeing being a few years off yet, the Treaty of Paris was signed. Those 13 newly-born countries had rid themselves of their oppressors. You know, the ones who had burdened them with that staggering 1% tax rate.
I think they did the right thing. I think it was right because the propriety of a thing is not determined by the impact it has on your pocketbook. If a thief breaks into my place and only steals one CD, it is still stealing – especially if he makes off with my new copy of Beyond the Sunset. He doesn’t have to take 34 of them to qualify for a free trip to the pokey.
Likewise, a 1% tax burden is just as wrong as 60% burden - which is what the average, middle-class American is now paying when the total effect of federal, state, and local taxation is added up - if that taxation is improperly applied…
…the definition of which I’ll offer next time, as well as a different look at what happened at Independence Hall in 1787.

Oh, and just ‘cause I’m such a swell guy, I’ll save you the trouble; it means “cold shoulder”.