DIGG THIS

Sen. John McCain’s fulminations against President-elect Barack Obama’s socialism or infatuation with redistributing wealth were as risible as would be former President Bill Clinton lecturing Pinocchio on the evils of mendacity.

For the last century, both the Republican and Democratic parties have embraced the morality if not the economic wisdom of the progressive income tax and government spending to redistribute wealth. The parties differ in inches as how much redistribution would be morally or economically optimal.

But the Republican and Democratic orthodoxy  held as fervently as the geocentric theory of the universe before Copernicus  are wrongheaded. Morality and economic prosperity militate in favor of turning the prevailing progressive income tax scheme on its head. They also argue against government redistributions of wealth through spending, including the $700 billion Troubled Assets Relief Act of 2008, which was championed by President Bush, Mr. McCain, and the president-elect alike. It lavishly rewards the prodigal, financially irresponsible, and politically connected at the expense of the thrifty and prudent.

All governments are inclined to employ the taxing and spending powers to advantage persons who wield political power  either singly or collectively. During pre-Revolutionary France, the First and Second Estates were exempt from taxation. In the United States, political power has been progressively captured by the masses as barriers to voting tumbled and checks against majoritarian tyranny receded.

Read the rest of the article

November 14, 2008

Bruce Fein is a constitutional lawyer with Bruce Fein & Associates Inc. and author of Constitutional Peril: The Life and Death Struggle for our Constitution and Democracy.

The Best of Bruce Fein