How Can Anyone Argue We’re Not Slaves to a System That No Longer Serves Us?

For generations, we were told a comforting story:

“Everyone pays into the pot so we can maintain infrastructure, keep communities safe, and build a better society.”

That was the deal.

That was the social contract.

But look around.

Roads crumble.

Public safety is stretched thin.

Schools fight for scraps.

Communities are left behind.

Yet taxes go up. Spending goes up. Budgets balloon. And somehow — the people get less.

Where is the money going?

Who is actually benefiting?

And why does the working citizen — the one who funds the entire system — feel like the last priority?

It certainly doesn’t look like representation.

It looks like extraction.

And historically, that has a name:

Taxation Without Representation.

The same grievance that sparked a revolution.

The same grievance that created this nation.

If the people funding the government aren’t being heard — and aren’t seeing the results they’re promised — then what exactly are we?

Partners?

Constituents?

Or unpaid labor fueling a system that ignores us?

Because when a government:

Takes your money

Controls your movements

Limits your rights

Ignores your voice

Delivers nothing in return

…that begins to resemble something far closer to servitude than citizenship.

A people are only free when:

Their voices matter

Their rights are respected

Their government is accountable

Their communities actually benefit from the taxes they pay

Right now? It’s hard to argue that’s happening.

We’re told to “trust the system,” but the system hasn’t earned it.

We’re told “this is how things work,” but that’s how things fall apart.

Representatives who don’t represent are no better than rulers who don’t ask permission. And when the government forgets who it works for, it is the duty — not the luxury — of the people to remind them.

You’re not crazy.

You’re not extreme.

You’re saying exactly what millions of Americans feel but are afraid to put into words:

If you take from the people but refuse to serve the people…

then what separates government from a master?