There are several versions of this floating around the internet.
This seems to be the original, written by John Gray of Cincinnati, Ohio….
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to prepare his morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With his first swallow of water, he takes his daily medication. His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to ensure their safety and that they work as advertised.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer’s medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance — now Joe gets it, too.
He prepares his morning breakfast: bacon and eggs. Joe’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting on his body and how much it contained.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for the laws to stop industries from polluting our air.
He walks on the government-provided sidewalk to the subway station for his government-subsidized ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay, medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe’s employer pays these standards because Joe’s employer doesn’t want his employees to call the union.
If Joe is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, he’ll get a worker compensation or unemployment checks because some stupid liberal didn’t think he should lose his home because of his temporary misfortune.
It is noontime and Joe needs to make a bank deposit so he can pay some bills. Joe’s deposit is federally insured by the FSLIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Joe’s money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression.
Joe has to pay his Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and his below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Joe and the government would be better off if he was educated and earned more money over his lifetime. Joe also forgets that in addition to his federally subsidized student loans, he attended a state funded university.
Joe is home from work. He plans to visit his father this evening at his farm home in the country. He gets in his car for the drive. His car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards to go along with the taxpayer funded roads.
He arrives at his boyhood home. His was the third generation to live in the house financed by Farmers’ Home Administration because bankers didn’t want to make rural loans.
The house didn’t have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn’t belong and demanded rural electrification.
He is happy to see his father, who is now retired. His father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Joe wouldn’t have to.
Joe gets back in his car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn’t mention that the beloved conservatives have fought against every protection and benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day. Joe agrees: “We don’t need those big-government liberals ruining our lives! After all, I’m a self-made man who believes everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have.”
Lost in the 21st Century 
My Thoughts: On Tax Day and the Social Contract
Today is Tax Day, the deadline for filing one’s income taxes in the USA. Even though I filed mine a while back, I still always stop and ponder our tax situation on the deadline day.
First of all, I pay a lot of taxes and I really don’t mind it. I’m lucky enough to have a good job, at least for now, so I don’t mind contributing to the good of the country.
I don’t mind paying Medicare and Social Security withholding taxes as they are a part of the social contract we have with the government to support today’s seniors now and ensure we aren’t destitute and without medical care when we get old. I’ve kept my part of this bargain by paying into the system since I was 16 years old and I expect the government to live up to their end of the deal and not change things this late in the game.
I don’t mind paying taxes even though I’m a Gay man who can’t file a joint return with his partner. I don’t mind paying taxes to support education even though we will never have children. I don’t mind paying taxes to build high-speed rail and save our crumbling infrastructure. I don’t mind paying taxes to prevent those people and their children not as lucky as me from starving or doing without medical care. I don’t mind paying taxes to build give poor children a head start or to create jobs by exploring clean energy and energy efficient cars. I don’t mind paying taxes that support internet improvements and expansion so we can link the country to the world. I don’t mind paying taxes to provide benefits to our Veterans who have served our country. I don’t mind paying taxes to enrich our country’s cultural and artistic life.
I do mind that my taxes support unnecessary wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. I do mind that I pay more taxes than Exxon Mobile, GE and Bank of America, who don’t pay any. I do mind that my tax rate ended up being higher than the 17% tax rate that most of the wealthiest 1% of Americans paid- if they paid at all. I do mind that so many Corporations don’t pay any taxes and spend billions lobbying Congress to keep it that way.
I guess my thought has always been that we have an obligation to give back. It’s part of the social contract.
None of us will ever be completely happy with how our tax dollars are spent. But we do need to realize the obligation we have to society to pay these taxes. We also need to do our best to elect Representatives that will make everyone pay their fair share and use these tax funds to the benefit of the nation as a whole-not just the lucky few. That is becoming harder and harder to do as the Rich and the Corporations buy the Government piece by piece.
We have an obligation to learn the true positions of the people we elect to manage the nation’s finances. We are not doing our duty as Americans if we fall for public relations campaigns and smoke and mirrors that hide a Candidate’s true agenda. That certainly happened in last year’s Congressional Elections….
So on tax day, don’t resent having to pay. Remember, death and taxes are the only two inevitabilities in life.
Just think about how you can best work to be sure everyone pays their fair share and our nations funds are used wisely.
And I know, that alone, is asking a hell of a lot…..
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