I have definitely had times in my life with little to no money to my name (and a bunch of debt), but I was always extremely careful about how much I spent and went without a lot of things.
Everyone always wants to tax the rich more and I'm sorry, but that's not right! Let's dig deeper...
The three mantras have always been:
Communism: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"
Socialist: "To each according to his contribution"
Capitalism: "From each to himself"
Let's take a look at cash flow in the U.S.
"Class" / "Pay In" / "Get Out"
RICH - TONS - Very Little (Social Security probably, but most have their own IRA's and 401k's too)
MIDDLE - DECENT - Little (Social Security, Medicare, Unemployment maybe)
POOR - NOTHING - TONS (Welfare, Medicaid, WIC, Unemployment, "Disability", and the list goes on)
If you put that in a bar graph, it'd look quite disproportionate! In fact, it looks almost exactly like communism! (Or as our president put it, a "redistribution of wealth"). Of course, in this case it's the adulterated form: "From the rich, because they can afford it, to the poor, because they need it." And that's why Communism never works, because not everyone contributes "from their ability" and you end up with a large group that just wants handouts. If you think the United States is capitalist, then I'd say you don't know economics very well. We may be the CLOSEST developed country TO capitalism, but since the early 1900's we have become quite clearly Socialist. The current "Social Security" (need I say more) system is based on the quintessential quote from above "To each, according to what they contributed!" Not to mention welfare and unemployment, which falls completely into the category of communism. And anti-trust/monopoly laws prevent true capitalism as do higher taxes on the rich.
Here's my vision for America:
Federal Government: (shockingly this all comes from the Constitution)
- Handles national security/defense (military)
- Handles immigration with the help of the states
- Handles foreign policy
- Handles making sure that interstate commerce is not inhibited by any state(s)
- Handles interstate highway system (maintenance, plowing, etc)
- Is funded by a flat income tax on individuals AND businesses (fair share)
State Government:
- Handles local law enforcement
- Handles state and local roads
- Can choose a tax system of it's own (none, income, sales, etc)
- Assists federal government with immigration (all states, not just border states)
People:
- Handle their own finances, including, but not limited to: retirement, healthcare, higher education,
- Pay taxes
- Maintain their own property (this includes land, homes, vehicles, etc)
- Strive to make their country better
There is only one thing that I believe should be added to the Federal Government's "control" that currently is not something that Constitution allows and that is Education! As we have become more of a nation and less of individual states, I believe it is important for all citizens to be on an even playing field with regard to education. If states were in charge (as we see currently), education levels would (and do) vary drastically from state to state and I don't believe that is good.
It's really not a difficult world to live in and it's based on personal responsibility!
I do have one pet peeve to add and it relates to elections. The current electoral system is horribly flawed and needs drastic changes. Here's how I envision it being fixed:
- You may not run for any public office while holding another public office (*cough* all you representatives that aren't doing your job because you're too busy campaigning, including presidents *cough*)
- By the same token as above, that would mean that you cannot be "re-elected" immediately after your current term, you'd have to wait at least one election cycle!
- There would no longer be "campaign funding". That means politicians would not be dipping in the pocketbooks of corporations or the rich! Here's how campaign funding would work: You fill out a form that requires a set number of signature (let's say 5,000) from tax-paying citizens (if you're delinquent, you don't count). If you collect sufficient signatures you are now entered into the race!
- Each person is given 1 page to explain their platform (or really, use however they want) in a bi-yearly election publication (I'm thinking magazine-form).
- Also, all BROADCAST (that's the Over-The-Air stations that are controlled by the FCC) would be required to show a 5 minute video for each entrant over the course of a week during the election "season" (so there would be 10 videos a day, shown over the course of an hour at 3 different time slots so that people of all shifts would get to see all of the videos). The broadcast stations would have to give up this time as a condition of being allowed to broadcast OTA (let's be honest, it's not that much time in the grand scheme of things!). These videos would not be the political ads you see today, but rather would only be allowed to be the entrant, standing in front of a seal of the president and an American flag, saying whatever they want for those 5 minutes.
- That is all the promotion you get, other than you going around and talking to people.
This completely removes the idea of political parties (which have honestly destroyed much of our nation) and "primaries". Everyone is on a level playing field for elections and may (hopefully) the best person win!
My fingers are tired and I feel winded... /END RANT