I am not a "taxpayer"

Here's a subject I've been thinking about since the election. I haven't done the research, but somewhere in the last few years, we have all become "taxpayers".

You hear it from every side. "We have to be careful with the taxpayers' money." "We paid $700 billion of the taxpayers' money to bail out the banks." "I have to think of the taxpayer when I vote on the xxyyzz bill." "Healthcare will be a disaster for taxpayers." "As a taxpayer, I don't want my money go to for xxyyzz."

Let's think about this term, "taxpayer". There is an implication there. It implies that the taxpayer is a party in a transaction. Like buying coffee from Starbucks. I pay my money, you give me my coffee. If I don't like it, I have the implicit right to complain about it and probably get my money back. The transaction was my money for your specific product.

I have 2 problems with that view of taxes. First, it isn't a transaction. I am not buying something. I am paying my taxes - which is a legal obligation (I have to or I go to jail). The government has the right to impose that tax and I am under an obligation to give it to them. There is no implication that I get something specific back. I am not buying something.

The second problem I have with it is that it means we expect something back. We are owed something as "taxpayers". I paid my taxes so you, the government, owe me something. If I'm not getting what I expect to get, something is wrong with the government.

And then there is the whole individuality of it all. When one talks about taxpayers, he isn't talking about a group of people - a nation, say. He is talking about lots of individuals. Each taxpayer has paid so each taxpayer is due. When I become a "taxpayer", I want my due. I don't care about any group, because I am a "taxpayer". And there is the gist of the problem I have with "taxpayer".

A nation (or a community or a state or whatever) has an obligation to work towards the "common good". For example, I pay my real estate taxes and a large part of that goes to schools. I don't have any kids in school. But I can't complain that I am not getting my due from my taxes (well, I can and people do but I guess that makes them "taxpayers"). A community needs schools. Education of our children is a common good. In order for my community to provide for the common good, it needs to have my taxes. I cannot expect a direct individual benefit.

I am writing this now because of the current health care reform debate. You see, I work for one of those evil health insurance companies. When the debate on healthcare started in Congress, we were "asked" by the CEO of our company to send a very specific message to our congressman (all I had to do was click on a link and this pre-defined message was sent). The idea being that my company might be in jeopardy depending on the direction of the debate. And therefore my very own job would be in jeopardy (so goes the thinking). Individually I could be affected in a negative way. My job could be in jeopardy. My taxes might go up.

But I can't think that way. And I think the people of this nation shouldn't be thinking that way, either. We need to do things for the common good. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as individual "taxpayers" and start thinking like citizens of a country. Sure, it is unpleasant for an individual "taxpayer" to pay his/her taxes. But isn't it reassuring that as citizens we have a strong national defense? Aren't we glad we have the Centers for Disease Control working on the h1n1 swine flu virus? Don't we expect government workers to come to our aid if we are in a hurricane? Shouldn't we feel pride in the work our firefighters do?

And aren't we glad we have a system to pay for healthcare for the elderly after they're done working? What would we do otherwise, as a country? Don't we have an obligation to those who are downtrodden to ensure they don't starve, have a place to live? Don't we want to provide the best education possible for our children?

There are many things our governments (federal, state, local) do that we would not want to live without. Many of them do not benefit us directly. I may never need the FDIC to make good on my bank account. I may never have my house destroyed by a storm. I may never visit a National Park (OK, I have but many have not). But don't we take pride in a country has these things?

We are citizens of the United States. Part of that privilege means we pay taxes. I do not want to be known as a "taxpayer", please. I'd rather be a citizen, with all the sacrifice and honor that goes with that. As a citizen, I want to participate in the common good. So let's all start thinking collectively to what is good for our country, our community. Thinking like a citizen with a responsibility to our fellow citizens. Not thinking like a taxpayer expecting something for ourselves.

2009 National Park Trip - Day 7

Triathlon day. We started out early and rode our bikes 5 miles to Signal Mountain Lodge planning to tackle the Signal Mountain Trail. According to our brochure this was a moderate 4 mile 2 hour hike. Go to the top and see all over. Signal Mountain is not part of the Teton chain, but is across Jackson Lake from the Tetons. It’s relatively short – according to our brochure it was a 900 foot climb.

I knew it that the brochure said it was 4 miles. Michelle thought it was 2.5. But anyway we started up, being sure to make reasonable noise to scare the bears. Once again we saw none. It was a pretty easy climb to start through a forest. It came out to a pond and some meadow. Nothing strenuous. We found out there was an echo out there and so made goofy noises to hear the echo. Nice views of the Tetons.

We came to a fork where it said it was 2.5 miles either way to the top. This was confusing since this wasn’t a total of 2.5 miles nor did it add up to 4. But we took the Ridge fork, saving the Lakes fork for the return trip. More of the same, really. Beautiful meadows, some forest. We came to a place with a stream on the right with a slope above it. Then the mosquitoes came. We battled mosquitoes for about ½ mile.

Oh and the trail started climbing. And climbing. This was a double cutback climb up to the top. At one of the cutbacks, a grouse was sitting along the trail, not 10 feet from it. It didn’t even bother looking at us. We continued the climb and were rewarded with a fantastic view of the flats to the east of the Teton range, with views of the south range. Beautiful.

While we were climbing up that climb, we heard someone talking on the trail below us. Sure enough, as soon as we got to the top, here they were, running up. Yes, we had hiked up the trail, and they had run. Oh, and the sign at the top indicated it was 3 miles back to the bottom. That’s right, a 6 mile trail.

We turned to go down, and Michelle was inspired to run – it was down after all. So we started running down the trail. The third leg of our triathlon (bike, hike, run). We certainly didn’t make it all the way back running, but we ran quite a bit. And since the trail wasn’t 4 miles as we thought, we were pretty tired when we got to the bottom. Still didn’t see any bears nor anything else for that matter (except the grouse and a snake).

So we hopped back on our bikes (hopped being inaccurate – it was more like dragged ourselves), went to refresh at the little convenience store, and headed to Colter Bay. That’s about 5 miles on the other side of Jackson Lake Lodge. Michelle wanted to eat at the salad bar there – I think I mentioned it before. It is a great salad bar. So we rode the 10 miles there, loaded up a plate (and a bowl of delicious veggie soup), and ate ourselves silly. Then we rode the 5 miles back.

Time for a nap. Actually I used to time to take a shower and do this blog. After about an hour or so, we went to the pool. Yes, I swam. Is that a quadathlon? Tetrathlon? Whatever. Of course swimming overstates what I did. I got wet. Went underwater. Refreshed. Then got out and read for another hour or so.

Since it was our last night at GTNP, we decided we needed to go out and look for wildlife. The shuttle driver told me of a route where we could go find the antelope and most especially, the bison. We started down the main highway and didn’t go far before we found some bison off the side of the road, about 100 yards from a pullover. We stopped, took pictures, got back in our car. ½ mile down, the bison were right beside the road, about 20 yards away. Everyone was pulled over and taking pictures – you know, doing exactly what they told you not to do.

We still hadn’t taken the road where all the wildlife was supposed to be. We continued on, turned down a 2-lane road going east and saw some bison far off to the north. We turned south, and saw some far far away to the west. Then we turned back west and southwest, and saw an antelope with it’s calf about 50 yards off the road. Then more behind us. Eventually the ones behind us crossed the road about 30 yards behind us.

Just up ahead all the cars were stopped and the buffalo herd (50-100) was milling on both sides of the road and crossing randomly. It was pretty cool. They were right there. A woman in the car ahead of us got out to take a picture on her left and one came up on her right just behind her car. Scared the heck out of her. We got pictures taken of us there with the bison behind us. As we got back in the car, the biggest one we’d seen came right across in front of us. So close that Michelle wanted me to put the car in reverse, just in case. Since there was a car behind us, I didn’t figure that would do us much good. We got a good picture of him and decided to move on.

We then went to Jackson and walked around. It’s sort of a cross between a cowboy town and an artist community. Lots of art shops alongside a Cowboy Bar. Lots of motorcycles beside Patagonia shops. (did I mention it was also a haven for outdoor activity?) We went to this bar with a second floor balcony overlooking the main street and had a beer and some food. It was a beautiful evening – very enjoyable.

It was dark going home – the first time I had driven in the park at night. I drove carefully looking for something to jump put in front of me. We finally saw a deer or elk (it was dark) beside the road and decided we’d see wildlife if we took the Signal Mountain road. We turned off and went up. It was very very dark and I was freaked out that 1, something would jump out in front of the car and I’d hit it, or 2. a bear would come out, or 3. something would happen to our car and no one would know where we were. Mostly I had an irrational fear of being there. Michelle had me stop a couple of times and turn off the car and lights but I couldn’t last long doing that. Maybe it was all those campfire stories of the guy with the hook or something. We got out at the bottom and there was our wildlife – a deer/elk/something. I took a flash picture, but I don’t think it came out very well. We went back to the room and collapsed to sleep.

I could tell you our interesting story of driving home, but you know that story. We drove home. Maybe we took 2 days to go the 1400 miles, or maybe we drove straight through. You decide which is more interesting.

A great trip! We now have to figure out how to retire and work summers there. And winter somewhere warm. Michelle even stated that given the choice of a Mediterranean cruise or this trip, she’d choose this. That’s saying a lot.

2009 National Park Trip - Day 6

Today Michelle and I split up (activity-wise – we still love each other). As I said yesterday, I wanted to do a long hike into the mountains and Michelle wanted to do a shorter one, and perhaps go into Jackson. I had to get up relatively early to catch the shuttle down to South Jenny Lake to where the trailhead starts (actually the trailhead starts about a mile or more south – more on that later). Then I had to have this 10-mile 8-hour hike and be back by 3:50 to catch the shuttle back. Let’s do the math. I get to Jenny Lake at 8:40, buy some stuff for lunch, hike the mile to the trail head…that’s a 9:30 start. 8 hours later is 5:30. Looks like I really have to hoof it.

As I said, I had to walk the mile to the trailhead which is through flat open ground full of lupines and sagebrush. Luckily there were shortcut trails so I didn’t have to go the long way on the road. There are many cars there – probably 50 or more. Most had been parked, but a fair number of people were just arriving. About half were going to backpack into the backcountry and the other half were going to climb one or more of the peaks.

I set out and it was immediately up. I had worn a long sleeve shirt because it was chilly in the morning and I had it off within ½ mile. After a mile my shirt was completely soaked. A couple of the backpackers walked with me awhile and I thought this would be good, with someone to talk to, but at the first trail junction, they turned on another trail. They explained that the ranger had told them there was too much climbing going the way I was. Not something I wanted to hear.

So, the real climbing began. There were several cutbacks with absolutely no relief from the up. The view was amazing and just kept getting better. There were 2 lakes below that had the trees reflecting on the water. There was the huge valley below with mountains in the distance. And there were the wildflowers.

These were what was known as the wildflower “meadow”. My understanding of meadow is pleasant little clearing maybe slightly bowl shaped with flowers filling it. Apparently the National Park understands meadow as extremely steep hillsides filled with wildflowers. This wasn’t “Sound of Music” meadow. This was “slip while picking a daisy and fall horribly to your flower-filled death” meadow. It was absolutely gorgeous but I wouldn’t call it a meadow.

So I continued the trudge upward – and that’s what it was, a trudge. Every time someone came down I stopped to let them pass so I could catch a breath. I stopped a lot to “view the scenery”, gasping for breath. After, oh, 3 miles or more of this I came to the next trail junction. I stopped there to eat a granola bar and take some water and, well, rest. 4 others were coming up and they also stopped there. There were 4 of them, 2 couples. They were there to climb. Had heavy packs, bear containers, ropes, walking sticks, etc. Heavy heavy stuff to carry. Me? I had a day pack with a water pack (generic Camelback), my lunch, a first aid kit, and some other various sundry things. I was struggling under that weight.

Anyway, I had my snack and started up my trail, Garnet Canyon. The trail leveled off for a while which was great and I turned to the west and got the whole enchilada. The mountain peaks were just above me. There was a stream/waterfall to my left and sheer cliffs to my right. The view down was great, too, with those lakes looking like tiny little puddles. My climb was far from over, however. It was over a mile to the end of the trail.

The trail now changed from dirt with a few round rocks, an occasional small boulder (double a bowling ball), and some tree roots to sharp jagged stones about the size of your hand. This was pretty much the trail the rest of the way up. I followed the cliffs to my right and did a couple of cutbacks. The waterfall stayed to my right. I was climbing up to the first show patches left over from winter. Finally, I got to the end of my trail. At that point there was a sign that pointed forward to one backcountry campground, or right for another. The problem was, there was no more trail, just rocks the size of Toyotas. To get to these, you had to climb through these large rocks from there.

I stopped and had my sandwich and more water. Took off the pack and just rested next to the top of the waterfall. I decided that what I needed to do was climb the few extra feet to get to that snow. But first, I had to get over the water. I found a place where I could step on a couple of jagged rocks and be over, but that required one of those Indiana Jones steps of faith to do so. I did so and didn’t get wet or fall to my death. But to get to the snow, I had to climb over more Toyotas. I didn’t have the energy so I gave up that quest. Now I had to get back over that water. I looked at a couple of likely places that I thought would be easier. They weren’t. So I made my way back to my original ford and did the faith leap again. It probably took me a total of 20-30 minutes to do this little escapade.

Now I started down. And I don’t care who tells you different, down is easier than up. I started making real time. I passed a few more people going up and gave them encouraging words. One poor soul going down had gotten sick on the climb and had to come down without succeeding. There were some older people up there, and some at the lower spots that I didn’t think would make it. And while the climb down was much easier, it was also a very long way. I finally got back to the trailhead.

I stopped there to change my socks, have a snack, and rest a bit. I still had that mile back to the shuttle, as you recall. I had made it back down by about 2:30 so I had plenty of time to catch the 3:50 shuttle. I munched on my salty trail mix and had the fresh footwear and set foot across the field. I went to get a drink from my generic Camelback and found I had sucked it dry. Not good. It was hot, sunny, and dusty. So I trudged across the field. As I going through the second of 2 fields, a wolf ran across the trail about 100 yards ahead of me into some woods on my left. I couldn’t see him when I got there so I missed the photo opportunity.

Made it back to the stop with plenty of time to spare and got some water, an apple, a diet pepsi, and some Ho-Ho’s. Then I just sat there waiting for the shuttle. I was glad to get back.

Michelle meanwhile had driven to that same spot and taken a different trail to Inspiration Point. Her trail didn’t climb as much but it was at least 6 miles and at the end there was a climb to that point. She had the trail to herself until Inspiration Point because there was a boat shuttle that could take you across to that point and pretty much everybody did that.

After her hike, she drove down to Jackson where she went through some shops and had lunch.

When she got back, we were both hungry and went to Signal Mountain Lodge for some excellent burritos and margaritas. We went into their gift shop and walked around the marina for awhile just looking at the water. Then we went up to Colter Bay to look at their gift shop. Saw some elk near the road on the way. We bought some shirts and stuff and headed back to our room. I went back up to the lodge with binoculars and spotted some more elk. End of this day.

But a word about being in shape. I thought I was in pretty good shape and I was proud of both of us for doing those hikes today. But that’s nothing. While I was struggling up on my little day hike, there were people with 50-70 lb backpacks going up to camp in the backcountry. And there were people with just as much equipment going up to climb a peak. My end of trail was their halfway. And then there was the guy who was jogging up the mountainside I could barely walk up. I guess I’m not as in shape as I thought.

Jackson Lake Lodge in Grand Teton National Park

A word about Jackson Lake Lodge. This is a national historic site, built in the ‘50s , typical of National Park lodges of the day. There is a main lodge, with a huge lobby and picture windows overlooking a vast meadow, Jackson Lake, and the Tetons. And there are 2 kinds of “cabins” where most people stay. There is the single story with front porches out to the road where your car is parked, and there is the 2-story with balconies or patios out back – some looking over a meadow between here and the main road (ours) and some with the same view as the main lodge (the ones we wish we had). There is also a pool and shops and 3 restaurants (one is the bar).

The lobby is amazing. Huge 2-story thing with massive picture windows. People are sitting everywhere in comfortable couches and chairs. There are some benches up by the window and a back patio area with some tables. And you don’t see that when you first walk in. You check in downstairs with no view, and then walk up the stairs to get this stunning vista. I have watched people from all countries sit playing games, talking, sleeping, working (playing) on their computers (good wireless there) and generally milling around. It’s fun to see new people come up and just stare.

You can see the wildlife from inside the lobby in the evening, or you can walk out to the patio area. So far all we’ve seen are elk and cranes, but they talk of seeing moose, bear, and other wild things.

Our room is a spacious second story room with a tall ceiling, a king bed, and the balcony overlooking some wilderness area. The one night we heard, but didn’t see moose strolling by. It has all the modern conveniences except for wireless internet and a TV. Apparently it is tradition at national parks not to have a TV since you’re supposed to be there communing with nature.

All in all, I have been very very happy staying here. It’s expensive, but I expected it to be and it isn’t as expensive as I expected. There’s a free shuttle that’ll take you to some Colter Bay or Jenny Lake, or even into Jackson. Nice people, comfortable room, great public space.

2009 National Park Trip - Day 5

We opted to get the bicycles out and ride today. I checked the topo map and it didn’t seem like any mountains to climb and Jenny Lake was 15 miles south, so we mounted up and off we went.

I was right, there weren’t any bad climbs anywhere. Just some gentle rolling and some flats. It’s actually ideally suited for bike riding. You have relatively flat roads, lightly travelled. There’s a nice wide shoulder to ride on. The views are outstanding. It looked like something out of Bicycling Magazine.

So we rode down to Jenny Lake Lodge, which was a cute little place with cabins – but no store to buy food or coffee. So we rode on to South Jenny Lake where there was a store and bathrooms and a visitor’s center. We got something to munch and looked around at the lake. We considered taking the ferry across the lake to climb a climb, but there were a hundred zillion people doing the same thing so it didn’t seem worth it.

Tomorrow is split up day so I went into the visitor’s center to talk to a ranger about a hike. I planned to take a strenuous solo hike and wanted to know my options. He was very helpful and led me to a nice hike. I’ll tell you about how THAT went tomorrow.

There was a bike path there that continued south so we went down a little ways to see and we turned down the road to the Trail Head I was going to take tomorrow. It was long and gravelly and dusty so only I went down all the way.

When I got back we both agreed it was time to head back. The weather had cooled, there were some clouds, and the wind was now at our face. And as a result, the ride back was tougher. We did pass Signal Mountain lodge, too, so we stopped in to use facilities and check it out. It was kind of like a cheap motel. So far we’ve decided that Jackson Lake Lodge is the class of the joint. And we’re very happy here.

Anyway, we left there and only had 3 or so miles to go. The last turn was uphill for awhile and I had to go granny gear and was huffing and puffing. But we made it. Got our bikes locked up out in front and looked to, oh, take a nap or something. Which I did. Michelle lounged by the pool.

We had decided to eat at the fancy place so I went up and made reservations. It’s called the Mural Room and has some famous murals on the wall. The food was excellent and expensive. We hung around the lobby and looked at some shops. Michelle had an ice cream and at that point we were pretty much done. We did get out to look out at the meadow again with the binocs and saw a bunch of elk and a couple of cranes. No bears yet. We keep looking. Another day, another night, Day 5.

2009 National Park Trip - Day 4

Having gotten to the gift shop and purchasing a map, I had a plan for the day. A nice hike over to Colter Bay. It was one of those “easy” 5-milers that would be just the thing for the first full day at 6800 ft elevation. I got my day pack out (that I got from Dad), strapped on my knife (from Dad), had my compasses and fire starting gear (Dad), packed the first aid kit (Dad’s), and added a couple of liters of water and the binoculars (Dad’s again). It was a lovely day.

Off we went. From the map, I knew we would start from the lodge, so I went to the north end and started up a trail. Up a trail – first clue. We hiked along in some pretty well marked and wide trails. Then the trails got more narrow (second clue), and there were forks that weren’t clear (clue). Then the trees were fallen across the trail – lots of trees.(wake up people!) Finally, the only way the path seemed to go was down a steep embankment. We gave up. Went back. And along the way we looked down and saw a nice wide “easy” trail going happily along. We’d probably gone a couple of miles so far.

I located the trailhead we wanted but there was yellow caution tape across it. And a big yellow sign talking about bear activity. I decided the best plan would be to go into the lodge and ask someone whether it was safe to proceed. They insisted it had been opened “last week”. I was a bit cautious but onward! Met up with a couple of horse carts carrying happy campers back from a wilderness breakfast. Spotted a young bull moose wading in a pond. And we hiked.

We didn’t really see any more wildlife. We took a wrong turn that cost us another ½ mile at least (ended up at the spot where they had that wilderness breakfast) but it had a restroom so Michelle was happy. Finally, 5+ miles later we got to Colter Bay. We were dead tired. We found a restaurant that had an EXCELLENT salad bar and fuelled up. We went through their Indian Art museum which was also excellent. And we took the free shuttle home. Michelle went straight to nap. I went to the lodge to catch up on some emails and do this log.

Michelle joined me at the lodge later and we sat outside on the patio and had some local brew and a smoked trout wrap. It was low 70’s and sunny, although the sun was going down. We sat there until the sun went behind the mountains and the temp dropped about 15 degrees. Then we walked out to see if we could see wildlife. A couple of us spotted some cars, but that’s about all we saw.

Michelle and I went back to the room and just as we were going to sleep, we heard that wildlife strolling by behind our room. We could hear the calling (we’re guessing moose) and hear then walking through the woods, but it was too dark (even with the half-moon) to see them. Pretty cool having them right behind us, tho.