Things I've Said

Category: Politics

  • Capitalism is the Only Moral Path to Prosperity

    If you have a bakery, chances are you have a lot of doughnuts that you don’t want all that much.  If I have a job, chances are equally good that I have at least a few dollars I don’t want all that much.  I would be happy to trade you one of my dollars for two of your doughnuts.  Deal?

    Capitalism allows people to trade away things that they don’t want in return for something that they do want, or to trade off their excess for something that they lack.

    There are additional benefits to capitalism that are less obvious, but that distinguish it from other economic systems: Capitalism discourages laziness, while encouraging generosity, kindness, and progress in all things that make humans happy and comfortable.

    All those benefits are probably the opposite of what you’ve been told, and even counter-intuitive at first pass.  How can capitalism discourage vices and encourage virtues?

    Capitalism encourages you to trade with other people for mutual benefit, just like the doughnuts.  I gave up a dollar, and you gave up a doughnut.  We both end up happier at the end of that transaction.

    But in order to get that dollar, I had to do work.  I traded my time and labor in return for money.  My employer pays me $80/day to fix bicycles.  At the end of each day, I have $80 more than I started the day with.  My employer was able to spend his time selling new bicycles while I was doing repairs, so he was happy to pay me.  Meanwhile, we’ve made our customers happy by fixing their bikes.

    Do you suppose I would have spent my day fixing bicycles if I didn’t get paid for it?  Not likely.  Capitalism discouraged my laziness.  And it didn’t just discourage laziness and get me to go do something for my own pleasure.  Instead, it encouraged me to provide a product or service that makes other people happy.  And in the morning, I can buy two more doughnuts from the baker, the baker can get his bicycle fixed, and we’ll all be happy.

    Capitalism encourages us to do work that enriches the lives of others by providing food, housing, automobiles, entertainment, etc.  The more we enrich others, the more we enrich ourselves.  In an ideal capitalist setting, it would be impossible to get rich without making those around you a bit richer, too.  Even in the absence of an ideal setting, capitalism is the best system for turning our vices into virtues.

  • Will California Secede?

    Rumblings about secession have been coming from California since the election of Donald Trump.

    I don’t blame them.  Who wants that lunatic to head up their government?  Well, apparently half of the voting public of the United States does.

    All my life I’ve been pumped full of propaganda stating that the only reason any State would want to secede from the US is because the State is full of racists.  No one rings that bell when California wants to secede.  It seems that maybe there really are legitimate differences in the attitudes of different States, and those differences are not limited to racism.

    Californians want legal pot, they want legal abortions, and they want safety nets.  Good for them.

    Texans want low taxes, extremely restrictive access to abortion, and very few business regulations.  Good for them.

    What’s wrong with different states having different attitudes and different laws?  If you live in Texas, but identify with Californian attitudes, move to California.  If you live in California, but identify with Texas attitudes, move to Texas.

    The United States has the potential to live up to its name.  We can be 50 States (and several territories) all United for the common good.  But the common good is not fulfilled when the interests of one group trounces the interests of another group.

    The Bill of Rights outlines the individual liberties that all States must respect.  As long as the States do not infringe on those liberties, they’ve got a pretty free hand to run themselves more or less as they please.  But when the federal government insist that every state behave just like every other, we have all lost our liberty to tyranny.

    If the States would constrain the federal government to its Constitutionally authorized powers, all Americans could live with the Liberty and Justice for All that the Pledge of Allegiance claims we have.  If the States United will not constrain the federal government, those States who believe in individual liberty have only secession as a last alternative.

  • Trump – The First Four Years

    Things have settled down a little.  Just a little.

    I’m prepared to make my prediction: Over the next four years, history will proceed pretty much as it has over the past 100 years. That is to say, some things will change, but life 4 years from now will not look dramatically different from how it looked 4 years ago. The changes that we see will mostly be incremental steps in the same direction we’ve been headed for more than a century now.

    Specifics:

    Roe v Wade will not be overturned. The states will continue to push in whichever direction they are inclined (Texas trying to increase restrictions, California trying to decrease restrictions).

    Health Care – something will change, but the changes will be less radical than the implementation of Obamacare was. So, we either roll back some of the provisions of Obamacare, or we add more to it.

    We will not imprison any US citizens based on their race, religion, or gender identity. At least no more so than we already do.

    The Department of Education will continue to degrade education throughout the country.

    The EPA will continue to enforce environmental laws.

    Congress and the Administration will continue the encroachment on the natural and Constitutional liberties of Americans and others around the world.

    Congress will continue to unlawfully abdicate their own authority to the President.

    Democrats will declare that the world has in fact come to an end, just as they predicted it would.

    Republicans will declare that things are much better than they were under Obama.

    Americans will utterly fail to learn any valuable lessons about yielding their rights to the government.