Small Man, Ugly Soul

He is a small man with an ugly soul. So are his cohorts. They care about gaining and retaining power. They care about punishing the people and country they perceive as guilty: of success, of political world influence and dominance, of economic vibrancy which they perceive as unfair inequality.

There is no impulse to improve, enhance, grow anything. It is all about control and destruction and envy. What a way to lead.

Time for a Big Picture Campaign

Okay, Mitt Romney, you now have the ball. You no longer need to defend yourself from competing Republicans. Now is the time to go on offense with a philosophical panoramic vision of the future of this country.

We need a country where people take care of themselves when they can, take care of others in need, invest in the Federal government only the tasks assigned to it by its enumerated powers, and establish a tax code that has the sole purpose of collecting revenue and eschews the business of social engineering.

You do all that, Mitt Romney, and this country would soar.

1. Self reliance and local control are paramount.
a. People are most productive and creative when they have to look out for themselves but also when they benefit from their efforts (i.e. keep what they earn).
b. Federal level support programs are highly inefficient because they cannot respond to individual situations and because they must run resources through huge bureaucracies that burn up a lot of those same resources.
c. Programs as large and impersonal as such federal programs provide cover for a great deal of waste, over-charging and fraud.

2. Private, local support for people who need help (the poor, the sick, the helpless). No society should leave them behind. Federal level programs are
a. clumsy
b. inefficient
c. subject to waste and fraud
d. not attuned to individual and particular needs

3. Reduce the federal government to its appointed tasks and leave the rest to the states. Shrink its size and cost.

4. Rewrite the tax code
a. Simplify and equalize the tax laws.
b. Use the tax code only to fund federal expenses.
c. Eliminate social engineering tax laws.
d. Require all citizens to pay some tax, no matter how small. Skin in the game concentrates the mind wonderfully.

The 16th Amendment

What is the legitimate purpose of income taxation? One could argue it is to generate revenue to cover the costs of running the government. I would argue that this is its sole purpose and should remain so.

The Federal tax code has long since its inception moved way beyond that purpose to 1.incorporate all sorts of social engineering goals, and 2. benefit special interests that presumably vote for the politicians who enact the favorable exceptions.

Congress should eliminate the entire tax code and replace it with a simple and simply understood law with no exceptions, loopholes, exclusions or favored treatment. Perhaps somewhat progressive, since wealthier people have more disposable income as a proportion of their total income and so can survive at a higher tax rate. But all citizens should pay some amount, however small, towards the support of the government and wealthy taxpayers should pay a larger portion only to the extent required by a lean government. Limiting total tax revenue to a certain percentage of GNP would preclude government's never-satisfied demand for more revenue. It would also provide a financial barrier to growth of government, something the public sector lacks because it has no profit and loss mechanism. Of course, government's ability to borrow would also have to be restricted, perhaps based on the size of the economy.

Whose Money Is It, Anyway?

"Wealthy people are not wealthy because they are taking something from the poor or from government. And they don't stop anyone else from being wealthy," writes David Harsanyi on RCP.

"...or from the government." I think David Harsanyi has pinpointed a problem with liberal thinking. This phrase encapsulates the way liberals see government and taxation. A taxpayer who keeps some of his money is taking it from the government, as if the government has ownership of all wealth and taxpayers are allowed to keep only what the government deems is a fair portion.