politics

A Cornerstone of Smart Policy

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Many people do not understand what the notion of being a progressive is about. It’s the notion that the more wealth, the more power, the larger the insitution, the faster the regulatory and taxation burden should grow. A progressive taxation system would follow a curve like this:

  • $1 Earned, 5% taxation on first dollar
  • $2 Earned, 10% taxation on second dollar
  • $3 Earned, 15% taxation on third dollar
  • $4 Earned, 20% taxation on fourth dollar
  • $5 Earned, 25% taxation on fifth dollar

In other words:

  • You make $1, you pay a total of 5 cents in taxes
  • You make $2, you pay a total of 15 cents in taxes
  • You make $3, you pay a total of 35 cents in taxes
  • You make $4, you pay a total of 80 cents in taxes
  • You make $5, you pay a total of 125 cents in taxes

Alternatively, a progressive scheme can be created/and or enhanced by “flat” tax cuts, such as giving a equal tax credit regardless of wealth. For example, let’s say you cut everybody’s tax bill by $500 per year. The rich person who pays $10,000 in taxes gets them reduced to $9,500, while the poor person who pays $750 in taxes, only pays $250 in taxes. The value to the poor person is far greater then the wealthier person.

There are three reasons why progressive taxation (and regulation) is an important concept for society.

  • We want to encourage growth by making it easier for people to get started in business with a much lower regulatory and taxation burden
  • The Law of Diminishing Marginal Utility states that every additional dollar or additional product that one owns, the value to the owner decreases.
  • We want to discourage businesses from growing too large, dominating the economy, and discouraging innovation.

Untitled

Society needs taxes to pay for the public services, programs, and infrastructure that are used in common or are neccessary to promote a just and fair society. Yet, when we tax society, we should always be working to create a tax and regulatory structure:

  • That encourages small businesses to grow.
  • That encourages creativity and new approaches to old problems.
  • That allow less affluent people to accumulate money and resources to help them invest in their own future and become more affluent.

Good tax policy encourages innovation and growth. That’s what progressive tax policy does, unlike other more regressive schemes of taxation that over-tax the poor, and discourage them from making the investments needed for growth and personal improvement.

Term Limits

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  • Term limits put fresh blood into office.
  • They allow voters real choice in electing officials.
  • They allow for primaries to help select both party’s candidates.
  • You create a wall between lobbyists and elected officials.
  • They unprofessionalize legislative bodies.

Capitol

Fresh Blood. When you prevent a person from spending a life time in office, it allows new people to serve in the office. New people have fresh ideas.

Real Choice in Elected Officials. People say that term limits prohibit people from choosing who they want to vote for. Yet, we know elections with incumbents are rarely a series of fair choices. Incumbents use their official duties to curry support with special interests, ensuring that they almost always win.

Legitmate Primaries to Select Both Parties Officials. There are rarely legitimate or even competitive primaries against incumbents. Incumbents enjoy so much financial support from the special interests and political parties, that most challengers can not unseat them.

Create a Wall Between Special Interests and Elected Officials. With long-term incumbents, they have much more time to get to know and trust special interests. With long-term incumbents, they are much more likely to have served in office the same time as the people who are trying to lobby them.

Unprofessionalize Legislative Bodies. While you probably want your denist or automobile repair shop technician to a professional, you don’t really want your politician to a be professional. You want people not to be stuck in their ways, and to try innovative things. Leave it to the professional and non-political bureaucracy to implement things.

Likes and Dislikes

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Tea Party Likes.

  • Not afraid to question, criticize the establishment; their independent
  • Anti-tax sentiment, especially when it comes to fees and hurting the average Middle Class American
  • Anti-regulatory sentiment, and highlighting some of the abuses of our bureaucrats and their power grab
  • Pushing for change and reform, a new breed of politician

Hope

Tea Party Dislikes.

  • Too closely tied to Republican Party and Republican Candidates
  • Too caught up in conservative rhetoric
  • Takes libertarianism to it’s logical extreme — it takes questions of personal liberty to the extreme of corporate domination
  • Too anti-union, anti-fair labor practices
  • Unwilling to see when government can do the right thing

100,000 Iraqis Dead

Indeed, if the Tea Party Movement could get away from all it’s conservative and libertarian extremist rhetoric, it would be something I could support.

If the Tea Party Movement could get behind moderate Democrats — those who progressive economically, but also libertarian or even somewhat conservative when it comes to social issues, it would be something I could support.

I don’t want to see our country ruined by a lack of a good government, nor do I want to see our country become a totalitarian state run by liberal activists.

Should We As A Society Plan for the Future?

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If you want to make god laugh, tell him your plans.
— Van Zandt, Help Somebody

It seems like there is a lot of talk about planning these days. People are constantly urging us to make retirement plans on the radio, especially for the young. Cities are told they have to make 20 year solid waste plans, along with Comprehensive Plans through 2030.

Paint Mine Creek

What’s the obsession with plans? Why can not we as a society simply learn to live in sustainable ways today, and not spend so much effort focusing on tommorow? There is a difference between planning and sustainability:

Planning is…

  • Abstract plans
  • Based on a view of tomorrow by today’s ziegist
  • Educated guess based on today’s technology
  • Excuse for not doing things right today

Sustainability is…

  • Taking sensible steps today that are right for today and tomorrow
  • Not consuming more resources then we currently have access to
  • Avoiding debt unless it shows short-term benefit, and can be shown also to have a long-term benefit equal to payback time

There is a lot of talk about short-term pain for long-term gain these days. Yet, what should be the threshold for pain? While it would be irresponsible for us as a society and individuals, to ignore long-term consequences of our actions, it’s just as bad to scrimp today on false beliefs on what tommorow would look like.

Thru a Tree

Planners of all stripes are bound to take issue of prioritising sustainability over planning. They say, without a plan, how can you really know if your actions will lead you where you want? I disagree. Do what’s right for today, but also don’t destroy your world for tomorrow.

Agreeing with Tea Party Sentiment; But Not Really Their Politics

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I agree almost 100% with the message of the Tea Party protesters. Too often our elected officials are not serving the public interest, but only their own narrow special interests. Politicians are unwilling to confront both wealthy donors, much less any sector of their demographic that they represent. Too many politicians have spent too much time in office, and have grown too distant from the people they are supposed to represent.

It’s not just a problem with the Democratic Party. Indeed, it’s a problem with both political parties. Many Republicans are too friendly to big business based on their ideological predisposition. Republicans often exploit government for the special interests that they are involved in. Republicans are too willing to oppose taxes on behalf of the rich, while either depriving the public of much needed services or leading to higher user fees on the rest of non-rich populous.

100,000 Iraqis Dead

Both political parties need to have a tea party revolt that kicks out the bums their respective parties. There needs to be fresh blood, corrupt and evil practices should not be tolerated. Legislators need to have term-limits and primaries that force the old out and the new in. Legislative sessions need to be shortened, and legislative bodies made unprofessional, so that new elected officials have a connection with the people they represent are elected into office.

The Tea Party folk are right. It’s time for a new politics, a new generation of thinking and caring politicians. The old must come and go, the new blood must come in. The beloved old politician of yesteryear is the problem of today, holding us back into a politics of yesteryear. We as a society must move forward and not backwards. And for that, my hat’s off to all reformers of politics be it the Democracy for America and MoveOn folks of the left or the Tea Party folk on the right.

Socialism

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A common rallying cry these days from the Republicans is that the Democrat’s programs are socialism. They fear government-imposed equality that will deprive individual choice and the freedom to live one’s life as one chooses. The reality is that logic is faulty in a modern-era with big businesses staffed with lawyers that abuse the most basic principles enshrined in our laws.

Good government policy does not impose socialism or deprive choice. Instead, it protects and enhances the individual’s ability to make choices. People are allowed to make good choices based on accurate information thanks to government regulation. Government ensures that there is a basic level of quality or safety in the products they buy and use. It also protects sellers of products to ensure that they receive the compensation they are due, and labourers their pay.

Delaware Avenue After A Fresh Snow

Neither of the major political parties is advocating forced equality. What most Democrats want is to provide accurate and truthful information to consumers, and ensure that they get ensured a basic quality of life. Democrats don’t want to force people to one equal standard of living, but they do want to ensure that nobody is deprived basic healthcare or the ability to make ends should a terrible life event happen such as a job loss.

I don’t want the government telling me how to live my life any more then the next guy. Yet, I believe government can regulate businesses to ensure fairness without infringing on my personal choices. What one does to make money is fundamentally different then what one choose to do on their leasure time.

Wanting A Bigger Truck

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Notes on the Re-Run for Monday, August 22nd.

I do like my Ford Ranger. It’s big enough and powerful enough for me needs right now, but I would love to have a little bit more space for camping, and in a year or so I think it will reach it’s end of cost-effective life at 13 years of age. Maybe not, but I’ve been saving for three years and the reality is full-size trucks now have fuel economy in the range of compact trucks of a decade ago.

— Andy

It’s probably no secret to anybody who reads my blog that I’ve been coveting a bigger pickup truck, with an extended cab, bigger bed, and a better off-road capacity. As I’ve also noted, I’ve been saving a big chunk of every paycheck to have enough money next year or the year after to buy that truck.

Yet, I realize it’s kind of silly. I still have a decent 1998 Ford Ranger regular cab short-bed, with only 95,000 miles on it. Driving only for pleasure, I probably will have less then 5,000 miles on it before the year’s end. It might be a bit old and rusty, but it still runs well with minimal problems. But I still want a bigger truck.

My Truck

It’s not totally rational. I know I am buying into the consumerist mindset that I one level I supposedly reject as being vapid. But it would be so much more fun then my current Ford Ranger. Who wants to put money to upkeep a truck that I don’t really like that much, when I could be putting towards getting a new one?

It’s probably not a good attitude to have. I probably will drive more carelessly with my Ford Ranger and not maintain it as well as I should, secretly hoping that it will die, so I have to buy a new pickup. I need to avoid that attitude, as the truck is something I want to keep working,I also want to avoid financing as much as possible.