Another poetic gem from TMV’s favorite poet, Michael Silverstein, aka Wall Street Poet:
A Tax-Free Nation
Ollie Wendell Holmes once said
About taxes in this nation,
They are the price we gotta pay
To have civilization.
But recently I’m thinking
That this rule we should relax,
‘Cause I’d rather not be civilized
Than pay my income tax.
The money sinks of public ed,
The vet and welfare rolls,
The subsidies for geezer health,
Who needs these wasteful doles?
Our streets would have no pot holes
If we made them all toll roads,
Stock markets would go through the roof
Without dull legal codes.
To keep our armies solvent
We could send our soldiers plundering
No revenue means Congress
Won’t in spending realms be blundering
Who needs a tax-based commonwealth?
For too long we’ve been scamed.
We’ll each care for the things we like,
All other things be damned!
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.