I must certainly confess a liking for the passion and anger of today’s Tea Party. I share their anger at government that seems to have run amok in so many ways. Particularly we witness the economic frustrations and the increasing distances between the haves and the have nots. Over the last three decades the separation between the lower and upper classes have widened immensely and the middle class is shrinking at an alarming rate. Fewer and fewer people today believe that they will be better off economically than the previous generations. It takes two working members of a family to provide what one member provided of economic wellbeing in the past.
But the problems is, as I see it, is that the Tea Party by in large is blaming the wrong folk. Congress, particularly the Liberals are seen as the out of control spenders of society who have great economic benefits, i.e. retirement and medical care, that those they represent do not have (last part is true).
However, if we examine the economic history of the last three decades, and beyond, it clearly seems to me that the conservatives are more responsible for these economic inequalities that exist today. When Regan came to office the country was relatively stable. His political philosophy was primarily that those who worked the hardest should get the largest share of the economic pie; which is true up to a point. And thus began the great beginning of rampant deregulations that he and others believed cramped the American dream. It is also important to know that the tax rate of the very wealthy was 75-95% (I’ve forgotten the exact figure. Perhaps 95% during the Eisenhower administration and 75% during Regan’s administration. Regan chopped the top rate in half to 35%.) And they continued to increase in wealth at those high rates. And they controlled roughly 1/3 of the wealth of the country (again, I can’t recall the exact figures but these are close.) At that point the concept of a balanced governmental budget went completely out the window; Regan just said, “Don’t worry about it, we’ll just print more money.”; again reflecting a rather sophomoric understanding of economics. The only time the budget was balanced was during the Clinton years, (does that make him most reflective of traditional conservative values?)
What has really taken place over the past 30-35 years is the through the lobbyists the very rich have in essence bought the government. Republican and Democrats alike have fallen for this seduction at the expense of the middle and lower classes. Our exceeding complicated tax code has in essence taxed the middle and lower classes to benefit the very rich. The term for that is socialism; it is just backwards to how it is generally perceived. Tax benefits have gone to the rich and taken from those who need it most. But the politics would have us believe the opposite. For a thorough understanding of this I would encourage you to read Free Lunch by Robert Cay Johnston.
The cry of the original Tea Party (The Boston Tea Party) was “taxation without representation.” The rich, the English across the pond were excessively taxing the goods those in the Americas were receiving, for example that tax on tea. And thus ensued the rebellion that changed the world and gave the beginning of American democracy which is both a political and economic system. There were inherent dangers in the system that Alex DeToqueville wrote about and can be seen today, among them being “the tyranny of the majority or minority.” The Founding Fathers also put together a system based on governing 13 colonies which had inherent safeguards built into them in that folk essentially all knew each other and could call each other out who put their individual welfare ahead and at the expense of others. The world has changed a lot since then. Most of you have heard my lament that the major problem of society today being a state of anomie (a state of normlessness based upon anonymity.)
Today the wealth within the last 3 plus decades has been concentrated among a very very few, the top 1% of the top 1% of the country, who now have half the wealth of the country. These are the same conditions that existed before the great depression and following the great wars (Read John Maynard Keynes). We are in great financial and political danger as a result.
Our anger ought to be at those who have stolen the government and taken advantage of all others economically. The tax codes need to be radically rewritten to go back to pre Regan era times and even better. This should not come at the expense of programs for the poor, which in the long run save money. The idea of privatizing medicine again or more so than currently also worsens the problems for future costs to the country in terms of health, and the privation of social security again rewards the rich at the expense and security of middle and lower classes.
Tea Party go at it. Let Sarah Palin wave her pompoms and cheer, but let it be for the common good rather than privileged. We should flood congress with letters, email, tweets, etc., that anti-lobby legislation and taxes that subsidize the rich.
At the beginning our country following the Boston Tea Party and the fight for independence we were blessed with brilliant, well educated leaders who put together a remarkable process to benefit the common good. We need to become much better educated and put together legislation that is needed today to benefit the common good again, not just the privileged few. Today we have people who have a lot of data but our ability to process that data and see the larger picture is more difficult. We need to seek out statesmen, those who see that larger picture, and work for long term growth and good in contrast to today’s politicians who promote short term vested interests of those who can afford strong lobbyists.
We need to educate ourselves to the larger issues of the day and engage in argumentation, the function of which is to discern truth, not just engage in sound bites, meanness, backstabbing, and sensationalizing that seeks to win for the sake of winning. Here is to intelligent debate among well meaning people; liberals, conservatives and independents. We can and should be those people.
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