1. On Political Systems
At the heart of every political system lies an answer to the fundamental question: "What price security?" And the currency with which the citizens ultimately pay for security, physical & financial, is always liberty.
At the heart of every political system lies an answer to the fundamental question: "What price security?" And the currency with which the citizens ultimately pay for security, physical & financial, is always liberty.
2. All security, no liberty => Soviet Union
All liberty, no security => Frontier America
Of course, most people want both liberty and security. That's why all political systems, at a practical level, trade some liberty to gain a measure of security. The question is how much?
All liberty, no security => Frontier America
Of course, most people want both liberty and security. That's why all political systems, at a practical level, trade some liberty to gain a measure of security. The question is how much?
3. In western democracies, a decent metric for gauging the balance between liberty and security is the percentage of GDP that is collected by the government in taxes, as it is a rough measure of the percentage of all economic activity managed by the government.
4. Higher the percentage of GDP collected by the government in taxes, assuming a reasonably well functioning democracy, higher the level of security in terms of cradle-to-grave social welfare, and lower the level of individual liberty.
5. But here is the thing. If a nation is predominantly homogeneous, the loss of liberty is not felt acutely because there is a large degree of shared cultural understanding which makes non-conformity quite undesirable to begin with. Nordic countries are an excellent example.
6. However, in a highly diverse nation like the United States, non-conformity is the norm. Indeed it is the animating spirit of the nation. U.S. was conceived and birthed in non-conformity. Liberty at all costs is the rallying cry of America.
7. In the United States, government is conceived and perceived not as a savior but as a necessary evil. There is not only a healthy skepticism about government power, our very Constitution embodies a fundamental distrust of too much concentration of power in government.
8. In the United States, the percentage of GDP collected by the federal government over the last century has always hovered in a narrow band around 20%, regardless of marginal tax rates which have ranged from below 20% to over 90%.
9. Americans just aren't comfortable with letting the federal govt manage any more than about 20% of America's economy. Percentage of GDP collected in taxes in every other western country with universal healthcare is over 40%, some over 50%, even with far lower defense spending.
10. So there you have it -- in stark terms. America too can have universal healthcare and free college and a few other goodies. But the price is at the very least doubling of taxes on everyone making more than about $50,000. Yes, middle class is where the money is -- always.
11. That is the fundamental question behind so much of the shenanigans that politicians try to pull off without ever admitting the truth, sometimes out of ignorance but mostly out of deceit. Elizabeth Warren knows. Bernie Sanders knows. Because their economic advisers know.
12. But Sanders and Warren have the gall to think they can usurp half of America's economy from right under Americans' noses before people will realize what they have done. They seem to think people will be only too happy to have universal healthcare and free college to notice.
13. If and when America's demographics change to such an extent that Americans start valuing security more than liberty (at current pace, we might get there by mid century), Sanders and Warren's vision would be ripe to be realized. I don't think we are there yet.
The End
The End
