Redistribution of wealth

So Barack said something today that caught my attention. He said something to the effect of, "This is not a time for ideology; this is a time for common sense."

As nice as that sounds, it's severely misguided. If you make important decisions based on your current perception of "common sense", then your priorities are dangerously subject to your feelings, mood, and limited access to reality. In short, your decisions won't be grounded in anything solid.

By subjecting your decision-making to an established ideology, however, you reduce the chances of repeating past mistakes or of, in essence, reinventing the wheel. Basically, Barack's statement was startlingly naive.

At any rate, on to the topic of redistribution of wealth. I'm for redistribution of wealth. I think it's critical to the survival of any society. There will always be poor among us, and it's encumbant upon those of us with resources to somehow care for those without.

The question is, who should decide how to distribute that wealth?

Do we take the coward's way out, and just write a check to the government then mark that item off of our to-do lists? Isn't that just a bit distanced from reality? Doesn't that simply give us license to not care what happens with that money, whether it actually goes to anything good?

On the other hand, should we instead claim ownership of our responsibility to care for the less fortunate? If the money is left in our pockets, we then must assume the responsibility to decide how it should be used.

"Now wait," you say: "If the government doesn't require the collection of this money, then we have no guarantee it would ever be used for the welfare of the poor."

Well, first of all, if you think the government uses that money efficiently and therefore effectively addresses the needs of the needy, then you need to pull your head out of the sand.

Secondly, realize that the government's definition of what is ethical rarely coincides with your own (unless you subscribe to a "common sense" ideology guided by the winds of change). If you distribute your own wealth--to churches, charities, individuals, or to whomever else you choose--you then achieve consistency between your money and your beliefs. You also actively participate in the betterment of society, which gives you a sense of ownership of the problems as well as the solutions.

But what if some folks decide to keep their money and use all of it for themselves? Well, let's see: if they use the money to buy more STUFF, they've contributed to the stimulation of our economy (didn't cost the government anything and probably put sales taxes in the pockets of local governments, who are more in touch with their community's local needs anyway). If citizens instead save and invest the money, then that money is working to sustain the economy.

We can find plenty of examples, though, of folks from all walks of life (including those whose income isn't currently taxed because it's too small) who gladly donate to the charities of their choice. And most of those would certainly choose to give that money directly to those charities rather than filtering it through a bureacratic middle man. Just ask the owner of the Miami Dolphins, who recently announced he would rather sell his team now if Obama is elected President, and donate the excess proceeds to charity, rather than risk being excessively taxed on those funds.

The fact of the matter is that there are many Americans who, despite the fact we would see more cash in the short run with an Obama presidency (IF Obama can be trusted at all to cut taxes on those making less than $250K--or is it $150K now?), we still will vote for McCain because we know: the price is too high.

We will not sell out to the government. Our votes are not for sale.

Regardless of how much money the government offers, we refuse to put the well-being of our society and our economy and our poor in the hands of the bureacracy. History shows that government simply can not be trusted.

Leave the money in the hands of the people. Then live within your means so that you can personally help those less fortunate. The credit bubble is bursting like a huge, puss-filled blister. Thank goodness. It may hurt now, but this process is necessary for healing to occur.

In the meantime, don't sell your soul to the devil. Don't make your decision on Nov 4 based on the current winds of change.