Deacon923
Scooter Banks
It is pointless to argue with libertroll over the definition of charity. The larger point is that incomes and upward mobility have stalled out in America, and the top 5% of earners are reaping the entire benefit of economic growth. Worse, our political system seems to have reached the end of its useful life and will be locked in partisan sniping to win the 24-hour news cycle for the foreseeable future.
I believe that the role of government should be to maximize liberty for the maximum number of people. The current Republican definition appears to be entirely focused on maximizing the liberty of a small minority of Americans to pay as little in taxes as possible. It is not liberty to be locked in poverty and want with little chance of setting your children on an upward trajectory. It isn't liberty to have your local school defunded and allowed to decay on assurances that you can have "school choice", but only if you have the means to transport your child to that school. It isn't liberty when your best chance of improving your lot in life, a college education, is increasingly priced out of your reach. It's not liberty when you can't afford health insurance and can't get the health care you need to be a productive member of society. It's not liberty to be told you can't marry who you want to marry.
The Democrats haven't done a great job either. They love regulation, as a party are captured by a million special interests, and continually find ways to create more causes of action for plaintiff's lawyers. That greatly decreases the liberty of people to start and succeed in small business and tends to protect large businesses with lobbyists and compliance departments. It has also created an environment where there are so many laws that all of us are breaking some of them at any given time, and it's up the discretion (or bias or vendetta) of the police and prosecutors to decide who gets prosecuted.
Democrats and Republicans are both responsible for creating a loophole-ridden monstrosity of a tax code that imposes huge unproductive costs on American businesses and citizens but still doesn't raise the revenue needed to run the government. They're both responsible for the hugely counter-productive war on drugs. They're both responsible for gerrymandering our congressional districts, guarantying that many of our votes just don't count and our elected representatives don't have to be responsive to sizable portions of their constituents. They're both responsible for cheapening our politics to an endless series of ad hominem attacks and gotcha moments.
I agree with many libertarian critiques of our current system. A thorough reform is needed. Where I differ from most libertrolls is my hope for the outcome of reform; I don't think we need a government-free armed to the teeth Darwinian Ayn Rand utopia. I think we need a government that is actually responsive to the people it is elected to serve, and that is able to act more quickly and decisively to the rapidly changing conditions that characterize a modern global economy. That government needs to have the ability to redistribute income and wealth effectively, so that initiative and hard work are rewarded (and not only to management and shareholders, but also to workers), while those left behind by changing economy or stricken with sickness and disability are supported and enabled to participate in the national economy for the good of all.
I believe that the role of government should be to maximize liberty for the maximum number of people. The current Republican definition appears to be entirely focused on maximizing the liberty of a small minority of Americans to pay as little in taxes as possible. It is not liberty to be locked in poverty and want with little chance of setting your children on an upward trajectory. It isn't liberty to have your local school defunded and allowed to decay on assurances that you can have "school choice", but only if you have the means to transport your child to that school. It isn't liberty when your best chance of improving your lot in life, a college education, is increasingly priced out of your reach. It's not liberty when you can't afford health insurance and can't get the health care you need to be a productive member of society. It's not liberty to be told you can't marry who you want to marry.
The Democrats haven't done a great job either. They love regulation, as a party are captured by a million special interests, and continually find ways to create more causes of action for plaintiff's lawyers. That greatly decreases the liberty of people to start and succeed in small business and tends to protect large businesses with lobbyists and compliance departments. It has also created an environment where there are so many laws that all of us are breaking some of them at any given time, and it's up the discretion (or bias or vendetta) of the police and prosecutors to decide who gets prosecuted.
Democrats and Republicans are both responsible for creating a loophole-ridden monstrosity of a tax code that imposes huge unproductive costs on American businesses and citizens but still doesn't raise the revenue needed to run the government. They're both responsible for the hugely counter-productive war on drugs. They're both responsible for gerrymandering our congressional districts, guarantying that many of our votes just don't count and our elected representatives don't have to be responsive to sizable portions of their constituents. They're both responsible for cheapening our politics to an endless series of ad hominem attacks and gotcha moments.
I agree with many libertarian critiques of our current system. A thorough reform is needed. Where I differ from most libertrolls is my hope for the outcome of reform; I don't think we need a government-free armed to the teeth Darwinian Ayn Rand utopia. I think we need a government that is actually responsive to the people it is elected to serve, and that is able to act more quickly and decisively to the rapidly changing conditions that characterize a modern global economy. That government needs to have the ability to redistribute income and wealth effectively, so that initiative and hard work are rewarded (and not only to management and shareholders, but also to workers), while those left behind by changing economy or stricken with sickness and disability are supported and enabled to participate in the national economy for the good of all.