What happened without any big to do over all this? Your taxes really went up! There was no coverage in the newspaper, on TV or your congressman calling to say, “Look what happened.”

1. Medicare tax went from 1.35 percent to 2.35 percent.

2. Top tax bracket went from 35 percent to 39.6 percent.

3. Top income payroll tax went from 37.4 percent to 52.2 percent.

4. Capital gains tax went from 15 percent to 28 percent.

5. Dividend tax went from 15 percent to 39.6 percent.

6. Estate tax went from 0 percent to 55 percent.

All these taxes were passed in the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare.

This is money out of those middle income people that also pay tax on their house, their car and sales tax on everything we do.

I was in Birmingham, Alabama; the sales tax at the hotel was 17 percent. The one that hurts the most is the estate tax.

A farm where someone is making a living may have to be sold to pay the tax on what you do for a living. What we need to do is stop the waste that is happening from state level to all over the big government spending machine.

This is going to be a major wake up call to everyone. That is the way I see it!!!

• • •

You get DNA from your parents.

Yes, it can be good or bad things in your past. If one of your parents was an alcoholic, there’s a 10 times greater chance of you becoming an alcoholic.

Recently researchers have discovered something they call epigenetics, “on top of the genes.” They realized that the genes passed down to us are not always activated. Their influence on you depends on your decisions, your environment and your experiences.

That means you have a lot of say-so in what happens. You can go the bar route and party and drink and bad things will happen.

Life is full of choices we have to make each day, good or bad. Just because your mom was a heavy drinker does not mean you have to be.

Just because your dad was a heavy-handed guy does not mean you have to have a fast temper and always in a fight with someone. You have the choice to be as mean as you want to be or as nice as you want to be.

You have the choice to turn off the alcoholic gene if you want. So much of life is making the choices that are best for you.

You be the person in your family to change the family tree. One of my friends talks about when he was a young boy people referred to his father as “The Drunk.”

He never took a drink. He made a decision that he would break the tradition his father had set.

He is older than me and never tasted liquor. Life is full of choices, I dare you to start your own tree!!!