Another Inconvenient Truth

The great thing about blogging is that I can gripe, complain and pontificate to my heart's content. This particular diatribe is aimed at our dysfunctional Congress.

First of all - an open note to the Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives. You people didn't get elected because we love you. You got elected because a large number of older, white, thoroughly pissed-off citizens drug ourselves out and voted for the least objectionable alternative.

But let's get real. Voting this time around was sort of like being forced to choose between drinking spoiled milk and drinking urine. You just hold your nose, close your eyes, and get it over with. Just because we voted for you doesn't mean we like you. It just means we opted for the spoiled milk.

I know you folks can't wait until January, so you can have control of everything. You're already formulating your great Machiavellian schemes to shame, embarrass, and frustrate the opposition - all the while laying the groundwork for the next election in two years.

Well, just forget it! You were hired to run the country, period. If you're so dense that you can't read the sentiment in the voting public this time around, I guarantee you that you're in for a real education in the next election.

Republicans talk endlessly about smaller government. That's like the couple who moans about how they're spending more than they earn, and trying to make up the difference by clipping coupons in the Sunday paper. Not a bad idea, but worthless in solving the real problem.

Democrats go on an on about inequality, devising ways to make the rich people pay for their social programs. That's called wealth redistribution. It's the business that Robin Hood was in.

Neither approach solves the real problem. We're spending more than we're taking in. And taxing the rich won't produce enough revenue to close the gap. There's only ONE real answer.

Jobs. When people work, they pay taxes and government doesn't have to support them. If the average tax rate is 20%, someone has to earn $5 to cover every $1 that government puts into social programs.

Therefore, it stands to reason that taking one person off of government support is equal to creating five jobs. Do the math. Take people off welfare. Put them to work. The economy automatically grows by leaps and bounds.

Once you get enough people working to generate sufficient taxes, and you pay off that huge deficit hanging over our heads, then you can knock yourselves out bickering about how to spend the excess.

Until then, shut up and do the job you were hired to do. If you don't, you'll be on the street the next time you come up for election.

Guaranteed.

The Republic of Dumbovia (A Parable)

In the olden days, a great country arose in the West.  Based on the concepts of freedom and social responsibility, the Republic of Dumbovia became a world power - spreading its influence and style of government to the four corners of the civilized world.  Other nations wanted to be its allies and friends, and it become the central hub of world power and finance.

But all was not well in Dumbovia.  The poor had very little in the way of possessions or opportunity.  "Certainly, we cannot allow this to be!  We are such a wise and enlightened country - nobody should go hungry or be ill in our fair land," decreed the politicians.  "We should provide for these unfortunates!"

And it was made so, and it became law in Dumbovia that no person would ever be sick or hungry.  Since Dumbovia was the center of global commerce, they could well afford the small tax necessary to quiet their collective social conscience.  And, indeed, the suffering of the poor was greatly relieved.  

But, the poor were still poor, and could never hope to attain the wealth and power of the average citizen of Dumbovia.  It seemed that they were forever destined to be a lesser class of people, forever shunned, but provided for.  Some complained it was as if they were treated like pets of the rich and powerful.

This hurt the pride and conscience of the ruling classes.  To compensate, even more social programs were enacted, designed to help the less fortune attain a higher position in society.  And a great many of them took full advantage of these programs.  But others remained in their downtrodden circumstance, unable or unwilling to take advantage of the ladder to affluence, and believing it would always be just outside their grasp.

Some politicians decried these oppressive living conditions, and attempted to enact even more social programs to aid the poor and illiterate.  Other politicians cried, "Enough!," claiming that the poor had sufficient help and opportunity and simply lacked the willpower and initiative to better themselves.

So the oppressed, not being stupid, voted for the first group of politicians.  And they received more social programs and benefits - paid for by the wealthy upper-class socialites, who were by that time beginning to become quite irked at being forced to pay for all those social programs.

Class warfare eventually erupted, pitting the oppressed against the wealthy.  Behind the scenes politicians flamed the fires by promising more and more trinkets to whichever side seemed to have the most voting members.

Eventually, the oppressed gained the upper hand.  Once they achieved a clear majority and elected sufficient numbers of willing politicians, they enacted laws seizing property and money with impunity, so long as it was "for the common good."

In time, the oppressed greatly overwhelmed the wealthy, both in numbers and in political power.  Slowly, the numbers of the wealthy faded.  Some simply gave up, overcome by the whims of modern government.  Others left the country, looking for more favorable treatment elsewhere.

And it came to pass that there were no longer sufficient wealthy individuals left to pay for all the grand social programs.  In the resulting uprising, the government fell under the withering ire of the masses who had been trained for generations that entitlement is always superior to initiative.

Finally, the great Republic of Dumbovia was no more, having collapsed under the weight of crushing public debt and lack of any useful commerce or business opportunities.

And Dumbovia assumed it's rightful place as a footnote in history, under the chapter on "Failed Social Experiments."

Meanwhile, somewhere in the East, a great country arose, based on...