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Liberalism continues to plague our country

In response to Ryan Fern’s letter in The Inter-Mountain, I happened to notice he left out one important detail — Gov. Jim Justice’s unpaid taxes. When they announced Justice had won the election, I was surprised. I travel the road one day a week visiting customers, and in the course of a day, I travel over 160 miles in West Virginia. In all my travels, I saw only one Justice for Governor sign, and it was just off U.S. 33 near Elkins.

I heard little of him on the radio, television or anywhere else. So, how did he “win?” Is this another example of West Virginia’s infamous dirty “Southern Politics” or did he actually win? It just doesn’t make sense that West Virginia went with Trump, a Republican, by over 75 percent, and we end up with Justice for governor?

What makes even less sense is the fact that Justice’s first act as governor was raising taxes. Here’s a man who owes the state of West Virginia millions in back taxes, and he has the audacity to raise ours? I suppose high taxes really don’t matter if you don’t pay them. Even more ironic is the fact that the state tax department allows him to go on owing them. Would I be allowed to let mine pile up as Justice has?

I’d lose my home, my property and anything else that could be sold to satisfy my tax debt, but Justice is allowed to walk away without a scratch, still owing millions. Why is that? He’s a billionaire. It’s not like he can’t afford to pay them. It’s undeniable proof that there truly are two sets of rules, one for people like Justice, and one for the rest of us. Why isn’t the state garnishing his salary to collect what he owes?

At least they would get something. It just isn’t right to pile more taxes on people who are already struggling, at the worst possible time. In two months, I will be old enough to retire, and after all the years I’ve worked and paid taxes, I’ll be forced to pay more taxes on my retirement. It’s another example of the working stiff being screwed one last time by a giant bureaucracy that punishes people for being productive citizens.

I used to get angry at people who are able to work living on welfare. I called them parasites, and a few other choice words, and then I finally realized I was looking at it all wrong. I could have been enjoying the life of Riley. I could have gone hunting and fishing when I felt like it, slept ’til noon, had my bills paid, a roof over my head and raised the next generation of welfare recipients, or inmates.

I’ve often wondered who the real fools were, me or them, and to be honest, I’m leaning more toward myself than them. It’s really sad when you think about it. All my hard work got me was a bad back, worn-out knees, a bad hip and a lot of wasted time worrying about tomorrow. Silly, isn’t it? I had it all at my fingertips and I let it slip through because I was too damned proud to accept charity.

My grandfather always said, hindsight is 20/20, and now that I look back, I know he was right. I’ll be gone in a few years, and my worries will be over, but I feel sad for the young people. Their Hell is just beginning, and much of the blame rests on our shoulders. We pampered them, neglected to teach them right from wrong, and left them to raise themselves in an environment that offers nothing other than failure.

They’re screwed, and they know it. Maybe it’s a bad attitude, but it’s one befitting their circumstances. We took, and kept taking, until there was nothing left. We left them with an insurmountable national debt, a horrible job market, high taxes and an economy that’s headed straight for bankruptcy, and people like Jim Justice aren’t helping the situation. We’re doomed. I know it, you know it and the young people know it.

We let our industry collapse, our jobs go overseas, and the only things made in America these days are payments. Our coal industry is dead, oil and gas are in the tank, and the only jobs available are low-paying, minimum wage jobs that won’t pay the bills. So what do we do? Sooner or later, welfare is going to end because we’re broke and can’t afford to spend money we don’t have, and millions will starve.

We can’t go back, we can’t go forward, and our only choice is to follow in Nero’s footsteps and fiddle while Rome burns. It’s ironic, really, inasmuch as we’ve painted ourselves into a corner from which there’s no escape. Solomon in all his glory couldn’t get us out of this mess. We’re like a dog chained to a post, and all we can do is run in an increasingly smaller circle until we run out of chain and choke to death.

We chose to form an unholy alliance with the devil and lost. When it all comes tumbling down around our ears, it’s going to make the 1929 stock market crash look like a walk in the park. In short, we’re dying of a self-inflicted wound, and there’s not one damned thing we can do about it. This is what liberalism does to a country.

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