Are Taxes Patriotic?
No, but religion is; at least according to George Washington. Here’s a snippet from his farewell address concerning the importance of religion and morality:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.
Here from the same speech is his thoughts on public credit which gives partial insight to his view of taxation:
As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it, avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertion in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to your representatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should co-operate. To facilitate to them the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment, inseparable from the selection of the proper objects (which is always a choice of difficulties), ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate.
Who am I?
Who am I and why should you keep up with my blog? Good question. I am no one and maybe I have nothing noteworthy to say. But then again, I might.
You see, I’m a pastor….whoa wait! I know what you’re thinking. Dull. Boring. Sermons and homilies (for you catholics out there), polyester and ties from the ’70s.
Nope. Not this guy.
Yeah, I’m called to be a spokesman. God wants me to minister. But that doesn’t mean that I have to perpetuate religion. God is real and I want to point people to Him. Not some go-through-the-motion-so-I-can-feel-good-about-me religion. So it may just be that I will write something that could be, well, controversial. I will surely write something that is “non-orthodox”.
And you, you’re sick of religion. If you’re not, you should be. God isn’t about religion. He’s about life. Are you living? Would you like a new life?
My name is Cliff…Come join the FAITH REVOLUTION!







