There is a simple inverse relationship that seems to be noticed but not explicitly promoted. Under all the glorifying of “protections” and “safety nets” are the accompanying restrictions , regulations and controls that are making life much more cumbersome for the people fiscally supporting government as it continues to impose barriers to prosperity and the pursuit of happiness.
Just a few for instances: Take a look at your tax booklet and see what you can or can’t do to keep some of the money you earned. You can deduct some of the medical expenses you incurred but only a percentage which of course requires you to make enough income to make the percentage significant. If your illness or accident lowered your income and you couldn’t work for some of the year that impacts the percentage you can deduct. The tax law assumes your earnings will not be affected by your illness or injury consequently there is no provision to take this into account. This from a government who says the only way to make health care affordable is for the government to take it over and run it.
Every time the government passes a law it must create some way to enforce it. The more laws, the more enforcement needed. This translates into police of some sort, a record keeping facility complete with personnel and equipment. This means the people being affected are now able to do less while the enforcing agency increases its activity to prevent unlawful activity. Eventually this evolves into police state. American’s have often poo-pooed the idea that this country could ever turn into a police state because after all , “This is a free country’. Anyone who thinks our freedoms are not disappearing hasn’t been paying attention.
You cannot burn trash. The government can. You cannot drive fast in an emergency. The government can. You cannot do many things without government approval or consent. The government passes laws that affect you without your consent. This is all happening under the auspices of an agency charged with the implementation of justice.
So why does this creeping injustice continue? If the incremental steps are identifiable and continue to happen why is there no resistance? There are petitions and letters and phone calls and some of these are effective for instances but the trend is ongoing and the results are becoming more clear. It is the trend that is disturbing.
It is readily apparent that the stimulus needed is a loosening of the yoke. Reduce income taxes and people will have more money to spend and invest. Reduce the capital gains tax and more investment will occur. Reduce the requirements of the kind of cars the government thinks should be produced and let car marketing find out what the buyers want and watch car sales increase. Reduce the fines and imprisonments directed toward business and watch investors reappear.
The thing that makes business thrive is the possibility of profit. The thing that kills business is the choking of the possibility of profit and government is the most effective means of doing this. We are now seeing a more blatant approach by government to destroy business. They want to run the businesses witnessed by their talk of nationalization. They can’t run the businesses because profit disappears and subsidies appear. Political favoritism rules and corruption expands. Shortages begin, black markets arise and fear takes over. The “change” is happening and it is the very change thousands of our soldiers fought to avoid. Fighting for freedom loses meaning when the freedom (choices) has been replaced by government control.
With both major political parties fighting for power to further corrupt and control, a major real change is required. That change will require a far more comprehensive and integrated vision than simply an emotional appeal. It will require the kind of deliberation and dialogue that created this country, not the kind of chaos and fervor that created Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union or Castro’s Cuba. America needs to quit looking for a messiah and seriously discuss what is going wrong, what has caused it and how can it be remedied and prevented. Or we can continue to follow the path of totalitarianism who placed all their hopes on elections and revolutions and Fuehrers.
Tags: government
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