What Is a Fair Tax?/Politicians vs Statesmen

The discussions rage over what are fair taxes. And if you have read articles in this blog or elsewhere what tax rates are shown historically you know that they have changed drastically over the years. More specifically that tax rates have radically changed in favor of the rich since the Reagan years. But that is history.

What I think is more significant is how the change in personal income has changed in relation to GDP over the years. That gap has widened significantly over the last 35 years and has created the huge gap between the rich and the middle classes and the poor. The country has grown economically but most of the populace has not grown at the same rate, they have even gone backwards and that is the result of a bad tax code.

It is true that we need to provide incentives for businesses to thrive and grow but not at the expense of those who work for them. And, there are outside causes that beleaguer the small businesses of today. The foremost of those is clearly the out of control medical practices of this country which have grown completely out of proportion with the rest of the economy and has placed an enormous burden upon small business.

And then there is the incredible greed of large corporations and the mammoth banks which have contributed significantly to the difference between income of the rich and the middle and lower classes. It is also this group that through their funding of candidates that support their vested interests that we have the disparity of levels that we have today. They have literally bought the government turning into an oligarchy of the rich.

The tax code obviously needs to be simplified so that these disparities disappear. Each year it should be reviewed to see how income levels of all members of society get a fair share of the national income.

This directs me to the nature of statesmen versus politicians. Admittedly this is an artificial distinction I make, but it makes a point. Politicians, in my view, have come to depict those folk who run for office to for power and authority and cater to whatever vested interests will get them elected. They are not public servants but the lackeys of those who back them. Statesmen, as I define them, are those people who have a political point of view and understand the issues of the day and seek to good of all their constituents; they are truly public servants, who give of their time and talent to work for the good the citizenry. [Read J.F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage to see this concept full fleshed out.]

When we look at the political debates currently going on, they do not bring out the statesmanship of those candidates, but their political savvy. What can I say as a candidate, whether I believe it or not, will be what will garner me the most votes.

In my opinion President Obama is a statesman, who keeps his eye on the ball. But I fear for him as he seeks to accomplish his goals while maintaining electability.

On the Republican side, I think Romney is a good man and the best potential leader, but I also believe he sells himself short as he seeks to cater to the radical fringe groups of the Republican Party. George Will is right when he says “the Tea Party is the passionate part of the Republican party”, but that doesn’t mean they are not radical whackos who want to go back to a time that never was. Moderates, those folk who made the government work in the past, have disappeared from the scene. So, Romney does not want to be seen as a moderate, which is what I believe is what he is. Gingrich claims to be a good ol Reagan Conservative, which is the group that messed up the economy and government.

Note, I have said Republicans here, rather than conservatives, as those folk and their ideals disappeared when Reagan came into office.

Liberal and Conservative statesmen in our political history did work for fair taxes. Democratic and Republican politicians do not. They just bend where the political winds blow and the nation suffers.