Ah , perhaps because I am kind of idealistic. So even if I get nothing but taxes :
Would you make a fair society?
Would you trully help the world become more democratic?
Will you help every american citizen have equal oportunities for education or to get a job when equally qualified or the chance to build a small company ( even if it's a hot dog stand)?
Then sure enough I would vote for you. (but that's only me )
And you've proven my point. You just gave me a list of things you want in exchange for your vote.
Now, I can certainly promise you those things, that takes no effort at all.... Sure, Culture, vote for me and I'll make society fair and the world democratic! Everyone will have everything and we'll all be living in harmonious bliss. While I am at it, I'll eliminate sickness and poverty and we'll never have war again. So I can count on your vote, right?
You see there are some problems here... How do you propose we make society "fair" when there is no such thing? This is Utopian fantasy, a society that is totally fair for all in all circumstances. It doesn't exist in our reality. You recall the Lincoln adage; "You can please some of the people some of the time....?" Well this is what he's talking about. It's not possible for 350 million Americans to all universally feel like things are fair in society.
The very nucleus of the concept behind individual liberty is impossible to have with complete fairness ensured. Think about it. Individual liberty means that I am free to go out there and gain the wealth and status which I desire. It means I am free to use my own mind, to develop my own ideas, to reap the reward for those ideas in their own right. I am not obligated to be fair to others who lack my wisdom and insight. We can't have a system that ensures fairness without destroying individual liberty.
Now we can do things to ensure equality of opportunity, and I am all for that. I don't think it should be done on basis of race, I don't mind it being done by economic status so much. I never voted for Clinton but I liked the policy of "empowerment zones" and that sort of thing. Whenever government can be used to foster generic free capitalist growth, they should do that.... don't have a problem with some tax dollars going to that.
One: Stop electing unscrupulous politicians with no character and integrity. and Two: Take away the corporate tools of leverage found in Federal regulation.
Ahhgg. That's the very very hard part. I think there is an undersupply of politicians with character and integrity. And I really , really wouldn't know how to start fixing that.
Hey, it's a real problem we've gotten ourselves into and it isn't easy to fix. Our entire perspective of the political system is askew. Every election, we line up to vote for the politician who promises to do stuff for us. This means passing more laws, more regulations, more restrictions, more government solutions. We vote for the representatives who "bring home the bacon" because we look at politics as a way to get what we want. It doesn't matter if you are republican, democrat, conservative or liberal... even independent or libertarian.
This was a major fear of both Madison and Jefferson, as well as other founding fathers. The Nature of Government, as they put it, is to always grow and consume freedom of the individual. This is why they enumerated powers of government and believed strongly in a limited federal government. We've gone WAY over the boundaries of anything they would have ever considered.
Take away the corporate tools of leverage found in Federal regulation.
Simple rules. I am clueless how they can build rules which are ever more complex.
But I am pesimestic to this argument : Corruption allways finds a way in.
Of course it does, and when you regulate and restrict those who are operating legally above the law, this makes the potential corruption more important than ever. It is counter intuitive. As has been pointed out, the corrupt individuals are simply not going to follow your rules. The rules punish the honest not the corrupt.
We have to strongly enforce anti-corruption. When we find a quid pro quo, we have to frogmarch a Senator or two out in shackles. We can't tolerate unethical behavior in persons who have political power. We have to punish this harshly instead of ignoring it or spinning it politically while refusing to hold our favored politicians accountable. That is really all you can do for corruption.. send butts to prison when they're caught.
Corporatists are mostly not criminals. They aren't doing illegal stuff, for the most part. They are using the power of government and their influence, to line the pool balls up as they please for their trick shot. You can take the pool table away or remove the balls, but this destroys the game for all. It's better to remove their ability to manipulate the balls.
