Chapter 20: Myth—Politics Doesn’t Matter

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What are some things Democrats and Republicans both want?

1. Better health care 2. More affordable health care 3. A clean environment

4. Peace instead of war 5. Elimination of poverty 6. Elimination of discrimination 7. Fair and honest elections

8. Adult and umbilical cord stem cell research

A basic philosophical difference between the two parties is that the Democrats want the government to take charge and provide security for everyone from cradle to grave. Yet, when has a government delivered real

security? Just look at Canada’s national health care. I’m told you can wait five weeks for routine surgery. Take a priority number! And when I visited Canada a few years ago, government agencies were shut down two of their five-day weeks for lack of funds. Does a free money ride exist in society?

No, ultimately, someone has to pay. The Democrats soak the rich mentality is not a solution because the rich have investment income instead of wage or salary income. I remember the infamous 10% luxury tax a few years ago that the Democrats passed to “soak” the rich who purchased yachts among

other items. The result was that no one purchased new yachts and it almost eliminated 25,000 good paying industry jobs before the law was repealed.

Another flaw in the soak the rich mentality is that people change the

way they do business. People do not live static lives that allow confiscatory taxation to take place. Once the government decides to punish anything with such taxation, people will change their lives accordingly, because everyone leads dynamic lives responding constantly to changing economic conditions.

Ergo, “They didn’t buy yachts!” The most progressive tax policy we could adopt as a society would be just a straight flat tax with no deductions except maybe mortgage interest and charitable contributions. In Russia’s 9 move to democratic reforms, they adopted a flat tax rate of 13%. Of course, I believe

a minimal amount should be exempt from all income taxes for the sake of family survival. No tax on the first $________ of family income?