Free food, free medical access, free education, free retirement plans - the lure of the free stuff is overwhelmingly compelling to the voters. So it is with awe and admiration I look at political systems where the debate has not degenerated into who can promise the most stuff free.
The path of "free" is also the shortest path to poverty of a country and its economy. What's more, societies with a lot of free promises are also the societies with the least freedom. That politicians still promise free stuff after the failed Soviet experiment (communism is the epitome of a society with free promises and the least freedom) speaks to how quickly collective amnesia takes over a society.
Now we can all agree that everyone should have enough to live a healthy and productive life. The only question is how do we make that possible at a societal scale. Some (many?) argue the way to be to just give the stuff away - make everything a right - food, housing, medical care, education and so on. This is all very hearty but what you get is East Germany, USSR, even India pre-liberalization - where everything is free and nothing is available.
The other approach is what USA showed the world - you want stuff, you work for it. At some level, this is cold-hearted and doesn't jive with the goody mushy feeling we yearn for. But this system produced the most prosperous society on earth in merely a couple of hundred years of its existence (and yes among other and some horrible things as well but not unlike other societies that have had their own issues). Compare that to societies that are hundreds and thousands of years old, and are still trying a way to figure out a way to bring mass scale prosperity to their societies or are looking at slow but sure decline in living standards in decades to come.
It is in this context that I fear the whole democratic party rhetoric currently underway. Their platform and message is simple and goes along the lines of "you should have a right to a good life and we will fulfill that by making things free for you." Never mind that they have no clue about where they'd get the money from (except that they will raise taxes more). I sure hope they are sane enough to appreciate that people (doctors, nurses, teachers, farmers) won't just show up for work without being paid, just in the name of the greater good of the society.
You would think given the Democratic rhetoric, it would be easy to pick the Republicans with their commitment to fiscal discipline, small government and focus on economic activity as an engine of wealth generation. Alas, they have done their best to portray themselves as the party of people leaving in cuckoo-land. In this day & age, what mainstream nitwit politician advocates against women's right to make decisions about their own health, and against gay rights. Whatever small government they want, they want that meddling in women's affairs. The so-called pro-lifers need to get a life. The travesty of the GOP presidential debate was not the tough questions Kelly asked Trump, it was that she didn't expose Walker and Huckabee for the regressive positions they take on abortion. "I'd like you to keep your legislative hands off my body" would have been a nice straight line from Kelly.
Please America, don't lose your working soul. Don't be under any illusion that you are somehow special - you are not. Your system and work ethic is what makes you special. Barter that for the promise of free stuff, and you get nothing but a society of moochers.
The path of "free" is also the shortest path to poverty of a country and its economy. What's more, societies with a lot of free promises are also the societies with the least freedom. That politicians still promise free stuff after the failed Soviet experiment (communism is the epitome of a society with free promises and the least freedom) speaks to how quickly collective amnesia takes over a society.
Now we can all agree that everyone should have enough to live a healthy and productive life. The only question is how do we make that possible at a societal scale. Some (many?) argue the way to be to just give the stuff away - make everything a right - food, housing, medical care, education and so on. This is all very hearty but what you get is East Germany, USSR, even India pre-liberalization - where everything is free and nothing is available.
The other approach is what USA showed the world - you want stuff, you work for it. At some level, this is cold-hearted and doesn't jive with the goody mushy feeling we yearn for. But this system produced the most prosperous society on earth in merely a couple of hundred years of its existence (and yes among other and some horrible things as well but not unlike other societies that have had their own issues). Compare that to societies that are hundreds and thousands of years old, and are still trying a way to figure out a way to bring mass scale prosperity to their societies or are looking at slow but sure decline in living standards in decades to come.
It is in this context that I fear the whole democratic party rhetoric currently underway. Their platform and message is simple and goes along the lines of "you should have a right to a good life and we will fulfill that by making things free for you." Never mind that they have no clue about where they'd get the money from (except that they will raise taxes more). I sure hope they are sane enough to appreciate that people (doctors, nurses, teachers, farmers) won't just show up for work without being paid, just in the name of the greater good of the society.
You would think given the Democratic rhetoric, it would be easy to pick the Republicans with their commitment to fiscal discipline, small government and focus on economic activity as an engine of wealth generation. Alas, they have done their best to portray themselves as the party of people leaving in cuckoo-land. In this day & age, what mainstream nitwit politician advocates against women's right to make decisions about their own health, and against gay rights. Whatever small government they want, they want that meddling in women's affairs. The so-called pro-lifers need to get a life. The travesty of the GOP presidential debate was not the tough questions Kelly asked Trump, it was that she didn't expose Walker and Huckabee for the regressive positions they take on abortion. "I'd like you to keep your legislative hands off my body" would have been a nice straight line from Kelly.
Please America, don't lose your working soul. Don't be under any illusion that you are somehow special - you are not. Your system and work ethic is what makes you special. Barter that for the promise of free stuff, and you get nothing but a society of moochers.
