“Stick to baking, not making political statements.” “You’re an author, stop trying to be a news commentator.” “I liked your content about personal finance, but now you’ve gone woke.”
Comments like these spread rapidly across social media, carrying the same subtext: I am uncomfortable when you make me think about human rights during my day-to-day activities.
People don’t want to buy a bagel and also think about the person who made it, or the climate impacts on the cost of wheat and sesame seeds, or the empty tip jar on the counter. They just want a bagel.
Just a bagel.
Just a story. Just a movie. Just a tax return.
But nothing is “just” anymore. It’s not that simple, and it hasn’t been for a long time.
Access to food, media, and financial strategy is inherently tied to our political climate. As Trump’s authoritarian regime tries to find a foothold, Republicans have worked toward defunding the Department of Education, technology companies have rapidly increased proliferation of AI, and the Department of Justice has undermined the Constitution that all government officials are sworn to uphold.
Less education + more realistic false narratives + normalization of pick-and-choose Constitutional law = a destabilized population of people who can’t tell what’s real or what’s normal.
Why would the Republican party support the defunding of public education? Because robust public education creates media-literate critical thinkers. Authoritarianism runs on false narratives, so the more critical thinking skills the population has, the harder it is for MAGA to reach their base with inflammatory messages.
Thus, censorship is the name of the game. Under the guise of “protecting our children,” far-right entities like the Heritage Foundation (responsible for Project 2025) instill fear in parents and pressure on school boards and administrators to remove certain titles from public libraries. The American Library Association collects data from libraries about the attempts to ban books, and there’s a consistent pattern showing that these interest groups loudly challenge books that show honest looks at oppression, like homophobia, racism, transphobia, and other discrimination.
At the heart of the problem is a lack of accountability.
America is a patriarchy with racism and sexism built into its engines. So anyone outside the norm of able-bodied, cisgender, straight, white, maleness is seen as a threat to the delusional narrative that only one type of person is supposed to exist here. Learning about people different than ourselves is one of the most important functions of education. Different perspectives help develop empathy and understanding—two things that aren’t welcome in an authoritarian system, because once the people start working together and caring about each other, the false narrative falls apart.
It’s happening in Minneapolis. It’s happening in the NFL. It’s happening in your local library.
And it’s happening on your tax return.
The American Revolution happened because of taxes. As the British Crown levied more taxes on its colonies, the colonists resisted. If we want to talk about upholding the Constitution and representing traditional American values, our role models are back in Boston, throwing tea into the harbor in 1773.
Through careful revision of history and control of public school curricula, the ruling class (in this case, Republicans) actively denies its population the knowledge that would lead to class consciousness. Instead of promoting critical race theory and social-emotional learning in schools, Republicans cry discrimination and indoctrination of children, instilling fear in parents and further driving a wedge between the populous and a robust education.
Many Americans still care about representation alongside their taxation. We’ve fielded many client questions about how to stay legal on taxes without paying into the American war machine that grossly misuses our tax dollars. Unfortunately, we do still have to pay our taxes. But we can help you strategize so that you aren’t loaning the government free money and you’re paying in as little as legally possible.
Book a consultation today to get started with Tree City Tax Service. We file in all states except California, Maryland, and Oregon, and we provide tax services for individuals, families, and sole proprietors/LLCs.