BEST OF JIM COOK

November 16, 2006

DRINKING THE LIBERAL POISON

The first thing liberals want to do when elected to office is raise taxes. They especially want to punish the rich. In fact, they prefer taxes to be so high they become a disguised means of confiscation. They overlook the fact that people with money provide the savings, capital and investments necessary to foster new business and grow existing enterprise. High taxes are a penalty on progress.

Recently, Hilary Clinton told a group of wealthy people, "We’re going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good." Of course, the liberals and socialists want to determine exactly what the public good is going to be. So far, their efforts on behalf of the public good have led to one failed socialist scheme after another. The philosopher Leonard Read wrote, "statism is but socialized dishonesty; it is feathering the nests of some with feathers coercively plucked from others on a grand scale. There is no moral difference between the act of a pickpocket and the progressive income tax or any other social program." The writer, Craig Cantoni put it this way. "Those on the receiving end of a public good like the public good more than those on the paying end."

Liberals believe an inexhaustible fund exists that can be tapped endlessly to pay for government social programs. Tax the rich and give it to a long line of moochers, pork barrel hustlers and ne’er-do-wells. These funds would otherwise have been employed as additional capital indispensable to economic progress. When taxes become too high, capital is consumed rather than accumulated, and profits, wage rates and living standards fall. The progressive tax system favored by the left eventually liquidates itself. It kills the goose that laid the golden egg.

The great economist Murray Rothbard put it this way, "….soaking the rich to subsidize the poor, does no such thing. In fact, soaking the rich would have disastrous effects, not just for the rich but for the poor and middle classes themselves. For it is the rich who provide a proportionately greater amount of saving, investment capital, entrepreneurial foresight, and financing of technological innovation that has brought the United States to by far the highest standard of living – for the mass of the people – of any country in history. Soaking the rich would not only be profoundly immoral, it would drastically penalize the very virtues: thrift, business foresight, and investment, that have brought about our remarkable standard of living."

All of the huge, expensive social programs run by government are hatched by liberals. Public housing, Medicare, the varied subsidies of the "great society" all came from the left. This orgy of vote buying worked to the benefit of liberals who were rewarded by voters with public office. The other side took notice and began to climb on board. Now conservatives promote huge Federal subsidies. It’s become a race to see who can come up with unique ways to dispense benefits. Republicans have drunk the liberal poison.

The founding fathers established a government to keep us safe inside the country and to protect us from enemies without. In a modern society we justify adding government protection of health, safety and the environment. Beyond that, it’s all subsidies and spending. We take money from those who earn it and give it to those who don’t. Would you voluntarily donate your money to a major corporation to subsidize gasohol or give it to abusive mothers whose delinquent children may someday be a threat to your safety?