Why Rand Paul's Anti-tax Libertarian-ish Ideas Excite Some Men
By Spocko
I can barely wait for the Rand Paul announcement for President. It's perfect timing. I know he will be talking about his views on taxes. It would be interesting if someone dug into where some of the craziness comes from.
Tax time makes right wingers crazy. Especially men. The thing is, even though I'm only half human male, I get freaked out around tax time too. I wonder how much of this is traditional guy stuff? Or white guy stuff?
You know the lines you hear from rich male jerks? "Money is just a way of keeping score." and "He who dies with the most toys wins." There is still a part of me that buys that and it takes a Vulcalean effort to look at it rationally.
At this time of year in the male money world of "Keeping score" guys ask themselves, "What have I accomplished?"
First, there is the "I never get enough."feeling.That's because it's always a moving goal post. Then I focus on what is "taken away." (Never on what I got in services, always what is taken.) This focus on what is taken diminishes my self image, which I correlate with self worth. When I calculate my "net worth" on paper I can see that if I keep more, I'm "worth" more. Simple equations are seductive.
I don't gratefully pay for services I got last year because, like Oscar movies premiering in January, I forget about them and nobody reminds me. I see no services, only taxes. So I take things like firefighters, clean air and water for granted.
Intellectually I know that my "worth" as a human being is not really measured by the numbers on a page, I'm more than that, but during this accounting time it's my focus.
When poor conservative white guys vote with rich conservation white guys on something like the estate tax (Which doesn't kick in until estates are in the multiple millions) it seems bizarre to us. But the mindset the rich men tap into with the poor men is the same:
"You are 'reduced' as a man when you pay taxes."
(And we know what organ they are thinking about when they think of something being reduced.)
So the announcement of Rand Paul for President and his anti-tax Libertarian-ish views are perfect during this time of year:
"Vote for me and your penis will never be small again!"
These ideas are like boner pills for some guys. I understand why they work, but I’m not buying.