…and to about the same extent, the 10,000 pages of accounting rules.  Excerpted:

…

The tax code is a far more subtle expression of abuse of power, and sneaks out of the everyday ordinary absurd into the surreal.[16]  But it is exactly like the Drug War in that it has become a self-perpetuating, money-sucking monster of epic irrationality, as far as sensible public policy is concerned.  The tax code is, after all, a “system” originally designed to collect money, 14 pages of a very reasonable and simple-seeming idea.  It is now 17,000 pages of 8pt. font, and some of it is designed to “encourage” or “discourage” behavior.  Regular Average Joe is very uncomfortable with the Man’s power in general and the tax code pretty much has him by the wallet—and our Joe’s know their wallets are their only tiny share of Power—in debate-silencing ways that are very creepy and odd.[17]

Joe sees the occasional newsperson ask why it’s taking so long to put Ken Lay behind bars, and almost invariably hears how “complicated” the Enron case is, with a shrug, as Big Media plays along that there’s just nothing we can do about it, and it sure is important and good that everyone investigating be so thorough.

And here the insidious evil of the tax code rears its ugly head:  Even Educated A.J. has to be paying reasonable attention, which he’s not because it is 17,000 pages of legal-accounting-speak, to connect the dots between why the Enron case is so “complicated,” “legally,” back to the tax code.  R.A.J. may again sense it on some level, but that’s about as far as it gets, because R.A.J. can’t be bothered with the trivia in the tax code in the first place, since he’s working more in cash and filing EZ anyway.  Both Joe’s know Lay will get it relatively easy whether he’s convicted or acquitted (compared to what would happen if Joe stole tens of millions, or even if it looked like Joe stole tens of millions), so Joe simply disconnects from the frustrating absurdity of it all.  Even Ken Lay is leaving most Joe’s alone, after all.  Joe is just one guy, and he thinks he can handle his own life without the government’s help, at least on the little stuff. 

The reason that Enron and other financial scandals are so boring to Joe is because Joe knows that armies of lawyers and accountants and actuaries are being directed by The Man to find loopholes and ambiguities in the tax code, in the law, places that can be “interpreted” different ways, and to take advantage of them.  “Legally.”  Joe knows that “legal” doesn’t equal “moral,” especially anymore, and Joe knows if a law or rule is complicated “legal” can be a hard thing to determine, indeed.  (Joe has recent TV History for reference material to support this knowledge.)  Joe says, “f**k it,”[18] and shakes his head in scorn at Power.  He is helpless to do anything about it, except for his single vote.  Joe just wants to be left alone, and so far he hasn’t been audited, so Joe has an unspoken deal.  He’ll keep quiet about it, out of fear of drawing attention to himself, and out of knowing he can’t discuss the Code intelligently,[19] and he’ll only cheat a little on his return, at least as far as the 25 pages of Code Joe thinks he “knows.”  He senses intuitively that the whole thing is built to cheat, er, I mean, “interpret.”  At least for the Have’s.  Joe has a creeping, malignant respect for the Have’s.      

Our non-voting Joe’s would just as soon replace the Code, personally, except a lot of them like that property tax deduction; but most importantly, Joe simply doesn’t think it will ever happen.  It is outside the realm of possibility.  Because to Joe it is complexity and powerful self-interest—something Joe doesn’t have—run riot, beyond absurd to begin with.  It never would have gotten to where it is if Joe had anything to say about it.  Thus there is no political hue and cry to do anything about it.[20]

Instead of losing Joe’s jobs as a result of the Man’s laws, starting over on the tax code in a sane manner would cause the Man to lose jobs.  Like THAT is going to happen, Joe laughs!  What would the tax and accounting professions and all the lawyers and insurance and drug companies and utility companies and telecommunications and banks, and Congress and their lobbyists and Big Media, and Big Software[21] do without 10,000 pages of accounting rules and 17,000 pages of tax code to tweak and exploit?  Less, that’s for sure.  Much, much less. 

And in that subset of job-creating inertia resides a whole lot of E.A.J.’s, the one’s who do vote.  We are stuck with the power-stick and absurdity of the existing tax code process because unraveling ourselves from it is too huge and frightening, and too upsetting to the power structure.  American E.A.J. is doing OK so far in his race with death for money,[22] OK enough to leave it all alone, right down to voting in the case of even many E.A. Joe’s.

Joe has not yet assimilated that the U.S. tax code is where Power and Money go to cheat legally; to build complexity beyond Joe’s ability and/or desire to comprehend or question; to keep Joe quiet with bones like the property tax deduction while Saddaming away all the juicy meat for themselves.  Joe hasn’t seen the relative total tax burden (all 17,000 pages worth, plus State and local) of the top 10% vs. the bottom 90% over the last 30 years in a way Joe can understand.  The tax code isn’t built for Joe, and he knows it.  Really, Joe just wants to be left alone.  Joe disassociates from public life.”

This is at minimum a partial explanation of our voting rate.  Go here if you want to read the endnotes.  They’re not all that important, though.

It is testimony to the rich and lawyerly Dems that they, too, perhaps especially where politics are concerned, have no interest in outflanking the GOP on the RIGHT for radical simplification of the Tax Code.  This Educated Average Joe thinks there are a LOT of votes there.

And is one of many reasons I will not refer to myself as a Democrat.