Real Indian at tax protest

Ira Taken Alive at the Rapid City Tax Day Tea PartyIra is a Native American who comes from the Standing Rock Reservation. Ira said he is a 258th-generation South Dakotan and a 300+ generation American, a member of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, “and more importantly, a taxpayer.”

And he said he was “Plain fed up” with all the government’s inept policies.

He said that at the original Tea Party in Boston some folks dressed up as Native Americans, but he was the real thing. He said it was a little too cold for him to dress up in loin cloth and feathers.

He pointed out that some stereotypes concerning Native Americans are not true, and also pointed to the many, many government programs on the Reservation that do not work.

Indeed, governmental Native American programs and agencies are a fine example of how government programs are usually abysmal failures–including government health care.

If you want to see living examples of why we need to keep government limited, as Ira said, “Go to the Reservation.”Comment:  II appreciate that Taken Alive may have busted some people's stereotypical notions of Indians just by appearing. But that's about it.

For starters, this fellow is no mathematician. 258 generations at 20 years a generation would be 5,160 years. There were no Lakota Indians in South Dakota that long ago.

He warms up the crowd by dispelling two stereotypes: that Indians do rain dances and don't pay taxes. Yes, these stereotypes are generally false. Of course, we could list a few dozen other stereotypes he didn't mention.

Taken Alive = closet liberal?

Then Taken Alive starts talking like a typical Democrat:We love our country. We love good roads, we love good schools, we love clean water, we love clean air. We love all these things. We love a good strong defense. [Cheers] We love a good strong America.Yes, these are the things most liberals care about. Conservatives can't admit to caring about anything government does except defending the country, because that would expose their hypocrisy.

You gotta love how the crowd kept quiet for every government service except a strong defense. Must be tough having government's good works rubbed in your faces, eh? Any of you tax protesters sincere enough to forgo driving government-built roads, drinking government-filtered water, or eating government-inspected food? No, because you're hypocrites.

Alas, then Taken Alive goes off the rails:I'll gladly pay my taxes. But when it starts subsidizing bad things, when government gets involved, that's when I say, "I'm fed up."When government gets involved? Who do you think is responsible for clean air and water, roads, schools, and the military, among many other things, genius? Are you under the delusion that these aren't massive government programs?

And why did you become "fed up" only now, five months after the election? Where were you when Bush flushed a trillion dollars down the drain in Iraq? When he set a new record for deficit spending?

In case you're as dense as the other protesters, Obama hasn't raised your taxes. I guess you obeyed when talk radio and Faux News told you to march like a goosestepper to the nearest "tea party." Next time, try thinking for yourself.

Taken Alive invents problem

Most of Taken Alive's rant turns out to be against government-run healthcare. Maybe he should've checked with his fellow right-wingers, because the protests weren't about healthcare. They were about real banking bailouts and fictitious tax increases.

But let's address his irrelevant point for a second. Why would government be good at some things but not at others? Fact is, experts say Social Security and Medicare have lower costs and are better run than private social programs.

If the Indian Health Service hasn't done the job, it's probably because it's underfunded and it's difficult to deliver services to remote reservations. In any case, Taken Alive hasn't made a legitimate case against government-run healthcare. His finger-pointing is akin to pointing at Vietnam or Iraq and saying, "See, the government-run military sucks. Let's outsource the job to Blackwater."

Taken Alive finishes with an inane plea: "We need to take back the country." We just took back the country, bright boy. The majority of Americans voted to take it back from the rich white men and give it to the rest of us. That includes the 90% of Indians who voted for Obama.

If you were on a vision quest or something, have your Lakota relatives fill you in about what happened last November. Ask your elders to explain why most Indians are Democrats and Democratic values = Indian values. You may not understand economics or politics, but they do.

Conclusion

For those who are still unclear on the concept of taxation, I suggest you read these postings:

A Short Citizen's Guide to Kooks, Demagogues, and Right-Wingers On Tax Day"We have a patriotic duty to stand up against Washington taxes!" Just the opposite. We have a patriotic duty to pay taxes. As multi-billionaire Warren Buffett put it, "If you stick me down in the middle of Bangladesh or Peru or someplace, you'll find out how much this talent is going to produce in the wrong kind of soil. I will be struggling thirty years later." President Teddy Roosevelt made the case in 1906 when he argued in favor of continuing the inheritance tax. "The man of great wealth owes a particular obligation to the state because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government."Juice Boxes, Not Tea Bags[O]n Wednesday, as I left the daily press briefing at the White House, I had to pass by two hundred or so soggy teabaggers. And what I saw convinced me that many of them were--oh, how to put this politely--too dumb to know to come in from out of the rain.

These people were not protesting particular policies of Obama; they were decrying the foundation of the American political system: citizens pay taxes that cover the costs of government services.For more evidence of the protesters' racism, see Teabaggers Stray Off Topic, HuffPosters Report. EPIC FAIL. For more on the "teabag" subject, see Teabaggers Misuse Indian Imagery.

P.S. Is this another of those cases where I shouldn't criticize an Indian because he or she knows best? I have an MBA from the University of Chicago and 25-plus years in business. Unless you have better credentials than I do, don't bother telling me that my opinion doesn't count.

Below:  Ira Taken Alive can't figure out that taxes pay for the government services he "loves."