Protecting Me from My Own Government
12th June 2021
I have a simple job. My patients pay me money to prevent them from becoming dead. I then put that money in a bank account, and use it to pay for groceries and electricity and bourbon and other necessities. Despite my simplistic finances, I hire an accountant to prepare my tax returns. Which are over 100 pages long. He gives me an envelope with over 100 pages of God-knows-what in it, and he says, “Be sure to read through that before you send it in.” As if I could decipher even the first page. I’m a really good doctor, but I don’t understand tax law. So I hire my accountant named “Chris.” Who recommends somebody who recommends “Chip.” Who calls somebody who recommends “Chad,” who recommends working with companies who advertise during golf tournaments, so that I can save some of my own money. And I don’t understand what any of these people do. And this is my money. And, technically, my country. And my government. Pretty much, I thought. After a fashion. Which is passing laws I don’t understand which require me to hire people I don’t know who work for companies I don’t understand to do something that makes no sense. All so that I can save some of my own money.