You display a stunning lack of awareness of the framers of the Constitution and their weary eye on wealth accumulation. First of all, it certainly IS the job of a government to decide what part of your income you keep! Would you rather that gun-toting thugs, like on the streets of Somalia, decide that? I suspect that even you would rather that the government, which you have been taught to loathe, should provide protective services like police, the military, a fire department, etc. Why can you not see that because you USE more of those services than someone who makes less income than you, you OWE more than they do? Or is it just that you don’t want to see that? Do you really think that your shit doesn’t stink?

Secondly, the framers were ABSOLUTELY aware of and concerned about the accumulation of inordinate amounts of wealth, for several reasons. They saw first-hand, what a large international corporation, attending only its own selfish concerns, could do to colonies and sovereign nations. That large international corporation was called the East India Corporation and it was run by the royals and their wealthy courtiers. It engendered slavery, poverty, illegal trade, the pillaging of natural resources and defacto control of the British Parliament in the first part of the nineteenth century. That is why, when the United States was founded, corporations had very limited roles. In fact, this reading from Third World Traveler says it best:

Early American charters were created literally by the people, for the people as a legal convenience. Corporations were “artificial, invisible, intangible,” mere financial tools. They were chartered by individual states, not the federal government, which meant they could be kept under close local scrutiny. They were automatically dissolved if they engaged in activities that violated their charter. Limits were placed on how big and powerful companies could become. Even railroad magnate J. P. Morgan, the consummate capitalist, understood that corporations must never become so big that they “inhibit freedom to the point where efficiency [is] endangered.”

The two hundred or so corporations operating in the US by the year 1800 were each kept on fairly short leashes. They weren’t allowed to participate in the political process. They couldn’t buy stock in other corporations. And if one of them acted improperly, the consequences were severe. In 1832, President Andrew Jackson vetoed a motion to extend the charter of the corrupt and tyrannical Second Bank of the United States, and was widely applauded for doing so. That same year the state of Pennsylvania revoked the charters of ten banks for operating contrary to the public interest. Even the enormous industry trusts, formed to protect member corporations from external competitors and provide barriers to entry, eventually proved no match for the state. By the mid-1800s, antitrust legislation was widely in place.

In the early history of America, the corporation played an important but subordinate role. The people — not the corporations — were in control.

And finally, you are completely off the rails and repeating self-serving, right-wing LIES when you say that the government “confiscates your wealth”. Tell us, Mr. Successful, how that occurs exactly? The US Government taxes INCOME, not wealth. No one comes to your house and takes your marble table as this year’s payment to the government.

You might have ‘success’ but you must have gone to a third-rate university. Either that, or you bought your education right along with your wealth and didn’t learn a goddamned thing about history or economics.

Apparently, the LAPD are working for Chase Bank. In reaction to this ridiculous investigation of the artist, let me quote that well-known ‘terrorist’, Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States and Author of the Declaration of Independence:

I observe an idea of establishing a branch bank of the United States in New Orleans. This institution is one of the most deadly hostility existing against the principles and form of our Constitution. The nation is at this time so strong and united in its sentiments that it cannot be shaken at this moment. But suppose a series of untoward events should occur sufficient to bring into doubt the competency of a republican government to meet a crisis of great danger, or to unhinge the confidence of the people in the public functionaries; an institution like this, penetrating by its branches every part of the union, acting by command and in phalanx may, in a critical moment, upset the government. I deem no government safe which is under the vassalage of any self-constituted authorities, or any other authority than that of the nation or its regular functionaries. What an obstruction could not this Bank of the United States, with al its branch banks, be in time of war! It might dictate to us the peace we should accept, or withdraw its aids. Ought we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so hostile?

–Letter to Albert Gallatin (13 December 1803) ME 10:437 : The Writings of Thomas Jefferson “Memorial Edition” (20 Vols., 1903-04) edited by Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert Ellery Bergh, Vol. 10, p. 437

But, there IS a choice: the Green Party of the United States. I used to be caught in this bi-polar, self-limiting thinking that it was Republicans or Democrats. That’s simply not true. I’ve sent my registration for a change of party to the Greens. All that’s left is getting the proof of registration.

Take a look at the Greens:

There is a place for progressives to go and The Green Party of the United States will welcome you and value you

Tell them you DO have a choice: the Green Party of the United States. More and more liberals and progressives are moving to the Greens. If enough of us do this, it will be the viable third party this country so desperately needs! You DO have a choice.

Agreed: I’m quitting the Dumbocratic Party and changing my registration to the Greens. I do not do this lightly. I’ve been a member of the Democratic Party for over 25 years. But when the Dumbocrats won’t defend their core values/programs, I won’t defend them. What good are they, really?

After much consideration, I am changing my affiliation to the Greens. At least my principles will remain intact. And, my hope is that the Green Party of the United States will grow and become that viable third party we all need and want. A Party to break the logjam in Washington.