Tools

            I have a lot of hand tools in my garage: hammers, saws, screwdrivers, pliers, etc. And I have a lot of power tools: table saw, saber saw, drills, sanders, router, and even a power paint sprayer. My computer is a tool in my vocation. In our home we have a dish washer, and washing machine and dryer, vacuum cleaner, brooms and mops…

But here’s the thing: none of those tools does anything—until I pick one up and use it. There is no inherent value in any of my tools. They are no better or worse than my skill level.

Marketing is a tool. It has no inherent value except in theory. In practice, it is no better or worse than the one who applies it. Sadly, an increasing number apply it in ways that are “worse.” In his 1957 classic, Hidden Persuaders,[1] Vance Packard exposed the manipulative and exploitive ways marketing was being used. Today, marketing has become intrusive and even invasive. But that’s not the tool’s fault!

Statistics is a tool. I have enough training to be dangerous, and I don’t remember how to do mean deviations or to calculate a confidence factor; however, I know how to interpret other people’s conclusions and to recognize when numbers have been manipulated to say what people want them to say—especially politicians and media pundits. Republicans and Democrats can take the same economic data and come up with 180-degree opposite conclusions. Fox News and MSNBC do the same. But don’t blame the tool!

And, of course, media itself is a tool. Many believe media forms public opinion. I don’t. In general, I believe people’s minds are made up and they rarely change their biases. I believe media measures public opinion and feeds a chosen market. It’s about profit, not influence. So, don’t blame the tool!

So, to my point (you knew it was coming, didn’t you?): taxation is a tool. Aside from monetary (which is significant), it has no inherent value until it is applied. I have no issue with the concept of taxation. It is a necessary tool of government. I have tons of issues with the way taxes are levied and applied! What is the value received for the taxes we pay? And what is a fair and equitable way of assessing tax rates?

Indeed, government itself is a tool; again, no better or worse than the ones who administer it. Our Constitution creates and designs a government as a tool “… to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity...” The government is a tool to do all that for “we the people.”

Democracy is a tool. Capitalism is a tool. Communism is a tool. Socialism is a tool. Zig Ziglar said, "Any system (tool) will work for you if you work the system." The system (tool) has no life of its own.

Therefore, when people blame “thuh guh-vuh-mint” or curse taxes, they have the tail wagging the dog! It’s not government or taxes that make life good or bad. It’s the people who apply those tools.

Thoreau said, “That government is best that governs least.”

I know of no one—no one—who disagrees with that principle. But can we be honest here for just a minute? It’s really not about the size of government at all, is it? It’s really about the government enforcing my values and principles and providing the services I want, size be damned, and allowing me to do anything I want to do while prohibiting others from doing things I don't want them to do. Period. It’s all about me. So don’t blame the tool!

Nor is it really about taxes, is it? We want the services that make taxation necessary. We just don’t want to pay for it. Again, it’s all about me. So, don’t blame the tool!

Well, here’s the “catch-22:” not everybody shares my values and agrees with my principles; furthermore, in order for me to be free to do anything I want to do, it’s necessary that everybody else also be free to do anything they want, and there are just some things that some people do that I don’t like. Government is the tool by which (theoretically) elected representatives sort out those things. Don’t blame the tool.

And the reality is that taxation is a necessary tool to make all that happen. Yes, there’s a lot of waste in government spending. Yes, there’s a lot of graft and corruption and embezzlement related to the distribution of taxes. And yes, the burden of taxation is inequitably shared; indeed, many of those most able to pay a “fair share” pay virtually nothing!

But don’t blame the tool!

And if you vote for people who support your values and principles and legislate and administer the policies you want, you have to be aware that other people are doing the same! But don’t blame the tool!

And the fact that we disagree about some values and principles and policies doesn’t mean that we have to hate each other. Between me (or you) and any other human, there are more similarities than differences. Why do we focus so much on the differences?’

And why do we blame the tools?

Pogo said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us." It's not the tool.

That’s the way it looks through the Flawed Glass that is my world view.

Together in the Walk,

Jim



[1] David McKay, Publisher.

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