separate church and state

separate church and state

Ann Althouse wrote a blog entry about Wisconson voters accepting an amendment to their state constitution limiting marriage to one man and one woman, saying:

you don't have to feel so morose about the recent vote. It doesn't mean that much. But don't just cheer up. Milford wants to reinvigorate the amendment's opponents: Keep fighting. You can re-amend the constitution.

To this, I left the comment that "Perhaps the States and the federal government ought to follow the first amendment and abide by the principle of separation of church and state, and get out of the marriage business altogether."

Someone else pointed out that "it would require a massive overhaul of federal and state tax codes as well as social security, to name just two giant stumbling blocks."

Well, good. Tax codes and social security are badly in need of overhaul, not only to bring them in line with the constitution but also to prevent them from bankrupting the nation when the baby boomers start to retire. Although we were talking about Wisconson, the same would apply to pretty much any jurisdiction in the Western world.

A complete overhaul of the tax codes? Great! Eliminate the whole complicated lot of them and replace them with sales taxes (such as the one advocated by fairtax.org) and/or lotteries (ie a voluntary tax on people who can't do math).

Social Security (or Canada Pension Plan) overhaul? Wonderful! Eliminate the taxes withheld from our paychecks to pay for these Ponzi schemes, and let individuals plan for their own retirements. Let them keep all their money and invest it as they see fit. And as for those who plan badly, those whose children will not help them in their old age, those who fall through the cracks? Well, now we're back to the principle of separation of church and state again. Charity is the properly the domain of churches and private organizations, not the government. So, while we're at it we ought to eliminate Welfare as well. It is a tragedy that more people didn't listen to Davy Crockett:

Money with [congressmen] is nothing but trash when it is to come out of the people. But it is the one great thing for which most of them are striving, and many of them sacrifice honor, integrity, and justice to obtain it."

Want to balance the budgets of the United States and Canada? It couldn't get much easier, or follow the constitutions of those nations any more closely, than to eliminate income tax, government pensions, and welfare, and get the governments the hell out of the domains of churches. After all, we wouldn't want the reverse - churches being involved in the business of government - would we?

Technorati Tags: Politics, Religion, Taxes, Pensions, Welfare