Prologue
“Do
I really look like a guy with a plan? You know what I am? I'm a dog
chasing cars. I wouldn't know what to do with one if I caught it! You
know, I just...do things.”
- The Joker in The Dark Knight movie
The Republican idea is that government is evil, government has no value, government cannot create wealth, government is not the solution, government is the problem, and less government magically means more freedom, which is why Republicans running for office are like dogs chasing cars; they don't know what to do when they have to actually govern.
It's all the childish Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand anti-government stories most of us put behind us when we graduate from high school.
A better story is to tell the truth, which is that government is the true foundation for wealth and freedom, because without government there can be little or no wealth and virtually no freedom, except for the evil cattle barons in the old Western movies (or today's Republican oligarchs).
Living alone in a shack in the woods to avoid government and government regulations is some sort of freedom, but it is a limited freedom.
In the real world, we can have more wealth, greater profits, higher incomes, and more freedom with government than without.
Because in the real world, more money means more freedom; more safety, security, and stability mean more freedom; better health care means more freedom; being able to drink water from a faucet and being able to breath the air outside without getting sick is freedom; being able to trust what is in the cans and packages in a grocery store is freedom; regulations that make it illegal for financial firms to cheat customers or gamble with customers' money give us freedom; not having a Federal Reserve Chairman hold up an Ayn Rand novel and declare that markets can regulate excessive speculation on Wall Street better than the Fed would add to our freedom (given that Greenspan's false claim led to the Great Recession when the unregulated derivatives game collapsed); not having to worry about money to feed a child is freedom; being able to hunt and fish because of government regulations that protect lakes, forests, and wildlife is freedom.
Which means the way to destroy American freedom, American business, the American economy, and America itself is to attack and weaken the American government from within.
Read the free book
- The Joker in The Dark Knight movie
The Republican idea is that government is evil, government has no value, government cannot create wealth, government is not the solution, government is the problem, and less government magically means more freedom, which is why Republicans running for office are like dogs chasing cars; they don't know what to do when they have to actually govern.
It's all the childish Murray Rothbard, Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand anti-government stories most of us put behind us when we graduate from high school.
A better story is to tell the truth, which is that government is the true foundation for wealth and freedom, because without government there can be little or no wealth and virtually no freedom, except for the evil cattle barons in the old Western movies (or today's Republican oligarchs).
Living alone in a shack in the woods to avoid government and government regulations is some sort of freedom, but it is a limited freedom.
In the real world, we can have more wealth, greater profits, higher incomes, and more freedom with government than without.
Because in the real world, more money means more freedom; more safety, security, and stability mean more freedom; better health care means more freedom; being able to drink water from a faucet and being able to breath the air outside without getting sick is freedom; being able to trust what is in the cans and packages in a grocery store is freedom; regulations that make it illegal for financial firms to cheat customers or gamble with customers' money give us freedom; not having a Federal Reserve Chairman hold up an Ayn Rand novel and declare that markets can regulate excessive speculation on Wall Street better than the Fed would add to our freedom (given that Greenspan's false claim led to the Great Recession when the unregulated derivatives game collapsed); not having to worry about money to feed a child is freedom; being able to hunt and fish because of government regulations that protect lakes, forests, and wildlife is freedom.
Which means the way to destroy American freedom, American business, the American economy, and America itself is to attack and weaken the American government from within.
Read the free book