Weekday Post #32: Hate Paying Taxes? Blame Star Wars!

If anyone still needs proof that Star Trek is better than Star Wars, they need look no further than today: Tax Day. Every year, I have to go to the 24-hour post office at 11:45 pm and mail my stupid taxes in. I hate filling out the stupid 1040 EZ form and I really hate that the government takes money out of my paycheck in the first place!

You may be wondering what this has to do with the epic clash between Star Trek and Star Wars. The answer is simple, money. The characters in Star Wars use it, the characters in Star Trek don’t. It’s that simple. Wherever there is money, there are taxes. Captain Kirk and the heroic crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise never had to worry about filing out 1040 forms because they lived in a perfect society where people worked for the betterment of the community and the galaxy at large rather than for personal income. Anakin Skywalker and his Star Wars goon friends all have to pay taxes because they all selfishly work for paychecks. Hell, even the “plot” (if you can call it that) of Star Wars Episode I revolved around the unfair taxation of trade routes. (Just typing that sentence almost bored me to tears!)

I’m not a fool. I know that even in the world of Star Trek, the use of money wasn’t discontinued until after Dr. Zefram Cochrane invented the warp drive and made contact with the Vulcans in the year 2063. But still, our society invented cell phones that somewhat replicated the functionality of Communicators decades ahead of schedule (according to Star Trek time). Every year at this time, I ask myself, why can’t our society move equally fast at adapting the economics of Star Trek? I fear that until we can elect a government that idolizes the utopian future of Star Trek instead of the woefully lucre-based future envisioned by Star Wars, we will be stuck handing over huge chunks of our hard-earned paychecks to the Star Wars goons in the government.