Maybe We Do Need Higher Taxes
Jonah Goldberg gets one point very right in this post http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Y2U3MjUxMTc3NmMyZTY2NzkyNTY1Y2I5NWM3NWE4ZmU one of the reasons we have big government is because people in the here and now aren’t paying for it. If the people demanding bigger and better and more government programs today actually had to pay for them in the here and now, overnight we would become a country of libertarians. By constantly passing the cost of government off to a never arriving day of reckoning, we have removed for many, if not most Americans any reason to slow government down. Here in California the state is near bankrupt, but still at the last election the voters approved every single bond issue; raking up spending in the billions. California voters live in this imaginary world where they can have the benefits of bonds without ever having to pay the bonds backs.
Well maybe the Day of Reckoning needs to finally arrive. Let’s face it those of us who are oppossed to big government on matter of principle and Constitutional mandates are never going to convince a majority or even a plurality. The siren song of free doctors, free medicine, free college, free foot rubs and chickens in pots is just too strong. So maybe George Will was right after all. If the people want big government let’s give it to them, but let’s make them pay for it. Pay for it here and now, not pass the cost onto their great-grandchildren. It may be the only way voters ever see all this free stuff actually costs money. So let’s stop fighting tax increases and demand them. Let’s demand that every new gov’t program comes with an across the board tax increase. Let’s call for increases on every Federal tax there is. If they want Obama’s programs let’s make these people pay for them.
Did I just say George Will was right about taxes? I need to go lie down.
