Pragmatic Politics

So Mitt Romney is going with Paul Ryan as a Vice President candidate.  There is no doubt that our country is a mess.  And as much as I really like Barack Obama, he does have some responsibility for it, although, given that the house has refused to let any of his programs pass for the past two years, it really isn’t fair to criticize him too much.  The fact is, as a result of the stoppage by the GOP, we really don’t know whether or not he’s a good president. 

In fact, the only program that has passed is the Affordable Care Act.  As someone who is battling advanced stage breast cancer, I can tell you that Obamacare is okay with me.  It’s better than what we have now- a system in which I had to shell out $30,000 last year in medical costs and am on schedule for a repeat of that again this year (and I have very good coverage).  Paul Ryan wants to cut Medicare, but as a U.S. Representative, he and his family have got coverage for life without paying any premiums. 

But the thing that really gets me about politics in the 21^st Century is that we seem to have lost sight of the goal:  a better country for all.  We are stuck in this dysfunctional system whereby the House seems to have a drinking problem (that would be a Kool-Aid drinking problem), the senate a gambling problem and SCOTUS is Bi-Polar.  On top of that we have a president who is much like the co-dependent mother- she’s trying to deal rationally (but ineffectually) with the situation, because she really doesn’t know how to deal with chaos. 

We used to be a country that was the envy of the rest of the world.  People had their ideals, but Washington was more concerned with the business of getting things done.  Did they overspend?  Yes.  But look at what we had:  the best schools, the best economy, the best work environment, the best social programs.  We began losing that when people started getting cheap and demanding lower taxes.  What got cut was all the stuff that made us shine. 

The idea that a good government can also be an efficient government is a conservative Utopian ideal.  It sounds good, but it’s not possible.  Well, actually, it is possible, but not in a free society.  If we want to give up our freedoms and let a dictator come in, no doubt our country’s governance will be much more cost effective, but then, we will also be a country that no one wants to live in. 

Often conservatives want to return to the America of our past- when, economically speaking, things were better for everyone.   However, the things that existed in that economic heyday were a 90% tax rate on the top 10% of earners and unions were at their strongest.  Ironically, the conservatives want this utopia back, but decry the very things that gave rise to it. 

Thom Hartmann often points out that in the 50’s and 60’s, the tax rate was 90% on the top earners, but that was only imposed upon wages over $300,000.  People who earned more than that, the “job creators,” would decide that instead of giving the money to the government, they would put the money back into their businesses.  They would create more jobs, give more benefits, take more risks and even donate more to charity.   It worked beautifully- as it was designed to. 

In addition, because of the high tax rate, there was more money for social programs.  It was the main reason why we were the envy of the world.  It was why we had no homeless people and why our schools were second to none. 

Now I’m not saying that we need to turn a blind eye on government spending.  Certainly we need to make sure that we aren’t paying $3,000 for toilet seats, but I think we need a return to pragmatic politics.  Instead of a $300,000 cap, let’s raise it to $3 million, but then impose a 75% tax rate on all monies earned over that.  I’d even be okay with getting rid of the inheritance tax if we went back to a system like that.

All Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney want is to dig our economic cesspool deeper by cutting taxes and spending.  They feed their followers the half-truth that big government is bad.  Too big of a government is bad.  However, too small of a government is just as bad, if not worse.  And that’s the problem we are facing.  Without a government to protect us from tyranny, we become vulnerable.  I can’t help but picture Romney and Ryan waiting in the wings, licking their chops, ready for the kill- their trophy: our democracy.