On this day when we’re expected to send money to the Federal Government so they can give it to General Motors, or to AIG who will then give it to Goldman Sachs, I wonder if we’re reaching a tipping point – and I hope we are.

The Tax Day Tea Parties around the country (including Denver’s, starting at noon on the west steps of the state Capitol) represent the largest, most obvious public reaction to the ever-expanding size and cost of government during my lifetime. The only nearly parallel events were elections, of Reagan in 1980 and of the “Contract with America” Congress in 1994. But even those were not truly public demonstrations of explicit anger with government.

I would not be surprised to see half a million Americans participate in Tea Parties around the country today. And although it’s still a longshot, wouldn’t it be tremendous if the number reached a million? We still have nearly two more years of this Congress and nearly 4 more years of this President. The only way we stand any chance of slowing down their inexorable drive toward a devastating combination of socialism and fascism is if they believe that continuing down their current path with cost them dearly at the next election.

Over at the Wall Street Journal, Ari Fleischer has written an article about a very important topic: The persistent reduction in the percentage of Americans who pay any income tax. The article, entitled “Everyone Should Pay Income Taxes” is a must-read, pushing into an issue which I believe will become of much higher priority in the next couple of years as the Democrats’ budget proposals will further reduce the number of Americans paying income tax and push more of the burden on to “the wealthy".

Keep in mind, there is NO WAY the budget can be balanced (or anything close to balanced) by raising taxes only on people who make over $250,000 per year. Indeed, you could simply take all the money those people make and not balance the budget. (Only Democrats would assume those people would still keep working if that were the case…)

We are perilously close to a critical tipping point: The point at which more than 50% of Americans pay no income tax. If (when) the Democratic budget is passed, combined with a weak economy, we could pass that point in the next year or two. Consider the political implications of a majority of Americans who don’t pay income tax deciding whom to vote for. The majority of that majority will never vote for someone whose platform includes bringing those voters back into the income tax system, and back from being a free-rider on the work of others when it comes to covering their “fair share” of legitimate expenses of government. After all, is a strong national defense worth nothing to someone who makes under $30,000 or $40,000 per year?

As Mart Laar says, a progressive income tax is “the grand idea of Karl Marx.” Now the Democrats want to make it that much grander. We are NOT the People’s Republic of the United States of America. We have not reached this position as a nation with beggar-thy-neighbor policies. We have not reached this position by adopting the failed soft-socialist policies of Western Europe or the hard-socialist policies of the USSR. But since the fall of the Berlin Wall, Eastern Europe has moved with great success to flat taxes and Western Europe seems to be in a trend of electing more center-right governments than center-left. They have learned the lessons of history, but since it’s their own history the lessons really hit home. Our politicians are not smart enough to learn that the pretty face of “progressivism” hides what Jonah Goldberg accurately calls “Liberal Fascism", with all the loss of economic and personal freedom that term implies.

When you pay your taxes, remember: YOU earned that money. It should be presumed to be yours, not government’s. And remember, when you hear about unconstitutional government spending and bailouts, they’re not only putting a match to money that you should have been able to keep, but they’re burning your children’s and grandchildren’s futures as well, all in pursuit of buying a few more votes and maximizing their own political power.

As you send your check to the tax man today, I urge you to be angry, sad, and afraid…and to do something about it. Go to the nearest Tax Day Tea Party. Contact your elected representatives and tell them that you will not just vote against them if they don’t start governing like Americans (rather than French or Bolivians), but you will also help fund challengers.