Our Threatened Freedom

Who Is Congress Working For? (04:15)

R.J. Rushdoony

Transcript:

R.J. Rushdoony: 00:01 Who is Congress working for? This is R. J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom. In the first quarter of 1982, Congress did something that I should have commented on at once. But I decided to cool off first before I did. I can’t say that my disposition on this matter has improved too much, but here it is anyway. Congress voted itself a number of new benefits to increase the take home pay. Members of Congress can now deduct almost anything they feel is even vaguely related to their jobs from their income tax. According to Human Events, members of Congress can now take generous tax deductions for their food, housing, servants, laundry, home maintenance, utilities, you name it. Members of Congress already have the most generous expense allowances above and over their salaries. They have a dream pension plan to protect them from problems if they lose an election. By means of this new law, members of Congress simply by using these special deductions which apply only to them can get a write-off of as much as $22,875 of their annual income, according to the Washington Post.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:28 Add to this the deduction of their mortgage interest payments, their property and other taxes, and their other deductions, and their total tax-free income goes even higher. Much higher. When Congress passed this measure, the jobless rate was increasing. Some unions were signing new contracts at the same or lower wages to keep their jobs alive. And many corporations were close to bankruptcy. Congress, however, voted itself a very substantial back door pay raise. You and I must pay the bill. At the same time, Congress was grumbling about a tax cut for the rest of us. In fact, more than a few members of Congress were calling for higher taxes. We heard statements about how you and I are getting away from the IRS with too much of our money because of supposed loopholes. I wonder what constipated idiot decided to call it a loophole if you and I get to keep some of our own hard-earned money. These days it gets harder and harder to earn it.

R.J. Rushdoony: 02:38 Congress is supposed to represent we the people of the Untied States. Instead, it represents itself, and we are treated like sheep to be sheared. Congress is supposed to provide for foreign and domestic defense against all our enemies, according to the Constitution. But we are in a bind now the framers of the Constitution never dreamed of. We need protection from Congress. I do not mean to imply that all members of Congress voted for the bill. A substantial minority voted against it. These men deserve our respect. The point is that a Congress should represent under God the people. It should be responsible to God and to man. If Congress gives itself special privileges which are withheld from the rest of us, then our form of civil government is weakened, and a serious lack of representation exists. The battle cry of the colonial era was, “No taxation without representation.”

R.J. Rushdoony: 03:44 If a member of Congress is immune to the tax laws which govern you and me, what kind of representation is that? He then ceases to be anyone who shares my problems and understands them. And my freedom and my vote are seriously diminished. We need a Congress which is subject to the same tax laws as the rest of us.

R.J. Rushdoony: 04:08 This has been R. J. Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom.