The Virtues of Capitalism and Being a Republican

If you're a true Guist and have read Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, then this will all seem like old news to you. If you haven't, you should, but I'll try to describe why Capitalism and low taxes/small government is the best choice for Washington.

Taxes take from the rich and give to the poor. Now, all of you are probably wondering why this is such a bad thing. The truth is, we all want to help the poor. But we must learn that helping the poor may not be the best choice for America. The poor people are poor for a reason. A huge number of them are unproductive people with no jobs. Others take low-paying jobs as migrant farmers or McDonald's workers. These people do not contribute to society. Sure, they'll take your order for a Big Mac and fries, but they are not the entrepreneurs, they are not the inventors, they are not the engineers that will create tomorrow. They are people who leech off the rich and earn tax refunds and tax breaks from the government. The rich, on the other hand, are the people who are actively looking to create a new America. They are the entrepreneurs and the creators. But the tax system that we have today only punishes these "Prime Movers." Our tax system fails to tax the poor but excessively taxes the rich. With this kind of system, where is the incentive for our creators to keep creating? Why should the CEO of Apple keep creating new products if he knows that he is only going to be taxed more and more on his income? Why should Bill Gates create new software if he knows that America's government is just going to take all the money that he earns? There is no reason for these people to continue to be the leaders of society. There is no reason for these people to create products that appeal to the masses. It is true that we have not yet reached the stage where the government is taking away all your profits. But we are coming dangerously close. We have a huge federal deficit, and, instead of cutting spending, Obama is proposing tax increases. America needs a small government that has low income taxes. Sure, this will mean that the worker from McDonald's won't be able to take food from a food bank, but why should he? Why should our precious tax dollars continue to be used to fund programs that are feeding people who don't give back? With low taxes, there will be no reason not to invent. There will be no reason not to create. With low taxes, it will be as if Uncle Sam is saying, "Go on! Make! Create! Be Productive!" instead of "Go on! Make and be productive so that I can take all your profits and leave you just like everyone else." It's like the story of the boss who says, "Work harder, and then maybe I'll be the richest man in the world." What's the point of working if some IRS agent is just going to collect all of it? Low taxes and small government. It's the only way to get America working again.

Capitalism. It was the foundation on which America was born. And it is a foundation that we are drilling through and destroying now. During the recent financial downturn, what happened? Again, the government interfered. It used our tax money to prop up AIG, Bank of America, and countless other companies while the American people struggled to make ends meet. We didn't pay taxes so that the lousy second-handers would just get a free paycheck. We paid taxes for the good of us all, for the stimulation of the economy and the support of small businesses. We paid taxes so that America could be the power that it once was. But that hasn't been what the lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been using our money for. They've been handing out money by the boatloads to the bankers and the carmakers. And these people don't deserve the money. There is a difference between rewarding those who create and rewarding those who destroy. The leaders of GM, Chrysler, and Ford took steps to ensure that their companies would go down during a recession. They consolidated funding to pickups and large SUVs. They refused to fund smaller, greener cars. And it bit them in their tiny tushes. They made mistakes that would tank the US economy. And what did the government do? It rewarded them for those mistakes. It gave them money to continue their flawed enterprises. That money could have been diverted to small businesses. Capitalism allows the consumer to decide which companies are the best. We decided that GM and Chrysler were flawed and unreliable, but what did the government say? They said, "Here! Here are billions of taxpayer dollars that you can borrow for almost no interest so that you can keep your sinking ship afloat. Here is the lifeblood of the American economy. Do whatever you want with it." And they did. They still kept paying bonuses to executives. They still created large cars that wouldn't sell. They still made the same damn mistakes that doomed them the first time. And they were rewarded for it. Capitalism was the basis of the American superpower. We have strayed from it, but it's not too late. If the lawmakers in Washington take action, they can get America back to normal. 

Capitalism and small government. That's all that it will take to get small businesses running again. The incentive to do so and the ability to succeed. That's all that those businesses need. It's up to Uncle Sam, however, to decide if he wants to allow that to happen.