The legacy of the American taxpayer can certainly rival that of any great civilization. Clearly our accomplishments have been meritorious. In our relatively short tenure on this earth we have built a great nation. Largely though our taxes we have built the infrastructure needed to progress our society.

It has been through the sacrifice of red-blooded Americans that much the world has been spared from many of the plagues of mankind such as polio and cholera. It has been the American taxpayer who has kept foreign troops from the continental United States for almost 200 years. We can thank American taxpayers each time we ride down a freeway, walk into a library, or visit a National Park. American taxpayers have financed the expansion west, the Panama Canal, the Hoover Dam, and the effort to put a man on the moon. We have built great universities and small schools. American taxpayers provide for our disabled, sweep the streets, and provide parks for our children.

Yet in spite of our many accomplishments, few of us enjoy paying taxes; frequently with good reason. It is not easy to work hard all week to see a portion taken in taxes. It is difficult to conceptualize that your contribution to a new road on the other side of the country or yet another military contract is more important than a new bicycle for your child's birthday. Let's face it folks. On a tight budget, paying taxes can be just plan hard.

You would think that the candidates from both parties would recognize what we, the taxpayers, have accomplished. You would think that they would frequently remind us of the progress we have made possible. Perhaps they could at least show some common gratitude for the sacrifices we all make for the common good.

But alas, rather than provide us with the emotional support we need to carry on our duties as tax-paying citizens we are often reminded of how painful, real or imagined, that taxes can be. In the past few presidential elections what should be a civil discussion on what is the best way to raise the money to run our government has degenerated into a childish food-fight over which party taxes the most. Yet like our medieval philosophers who spent hours arguing how many angels could dance on the point of a needle, our modern day candidates are long on rhetoric and short on evidence.

For example, if we were to believe the Republican characterization of the

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