Capitalism and Taxes

While people are generally governed to a large extent by self interest, it isn't often that self interest and the good of the country don't go well together.

It was called the invisible hand of economics and the idea is that everybody pursuing what is best for them will result in the overall best result.

There are some problems with that, the different level of power and influence being the main one, but generally it works pretty well and is to a large extent the basis of capitalism.

No other system has in fact produced greater economic well being than capitalism.  We do have to remember that capitalism is in fact an economic system, not a social one.

Since it does in fact generate the most wealth it provides the greatest tax base.

This is where capitalism as an economic system needs to serve the greater needs of society.

It is never generally in anyone's best economic interest to fund social programs, at lest not directly.  Of course it does help stabilize society and make economic pursuits safer.

This leads to the question of what tax levels should we have to fund social programs?

Well economically it should be the largest amount that doesn't impact economic growth.

Since economic growth is the engine that drives the economy we don't want to kill it, but a tax rate is a funny thing as far as motivation goes.

At every tax rate, a capitalist will engage in activities that are profitable.

We hear some proposals talking about Tax rates as high as 70%.  We had those during some of our most prosperous times.  We have now made it possible for those who have been helped the most by this country to pay a much smaller share in the name of tax relief.

Creating an environment for success is essential but tax rates are seldom much of a factor.  Funding the programs that promotes the good of the many over the few is the role of government.

Social Issues

One of the reasons Democrats can make little headway in certain parts of this country is the social issues they are associated with.

Two big ones are abortion and gay rights (marriage).

If you consider one or both of these things as a sin, you aren't going to vote for anyone who supports them.

That puts Democratic candidates at a big disadvantage to start in many areas.

Generally, with a few exceptions, people who support freedom of choice and freedom of sexual preference, don't vote for a candidate because they support these issues, they tend to consider other factors.

This is partly because for many of us the issues are considered determined, except there is a large segment of the public who wants to change that.

Take abortion.

While I support a women's right to choose, I would never want anyone I knew to have one unless it was medically necessary.  Ideally we would eliminate the need for most abortions via education and availability of birth control.

Similarly I support the right of people to love whoever they want to and to have that love recognized as valid in the same way that heterosexual love is.

This is however more of an intellectual position than an emotional one, while those who view it as an abomination are much more involved.

This is the situation for many issues and one side uses it as a pass fail criteria and the other isn't.