Mama: I don't want Obama to be President because I don't want to live under Socialism.
Me: You say Socialism, but what does that word mean?
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Mama: Socialist are Communists. They will take all my money and leave me poor. I want to keep my money.
Me: We tend to use words and we sort of know what those words mean, but pressed to define them we can find ourselves floundering for a meaningful and clear definition of those words. The word Socialism actually refers to a broad set of economic theories. These Socialist theories advocate for a state or collective ownership and administration of the means of production. In other words, under socialism, manufacturing, would be owned by, and run by the government, and all the employees would be government employees. Also, socialist theory advocates for the distribution of goods by the government, and for the creation of an egalitarian society.
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Mama: So what is an egalitarian society?
Me: Egalitarianism is a word derived from the French word égal, which means equal. Therefore, within the socialist theory an egalitarian society would be a society in which all people would be treated as equals and everyone would have the same rights, including political, economic, social, and civil rights.
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Mama: Sounds Commie to me.
Me: Well, it does have something in common with Communism. Actually Communism is like socialism on methamphetamine.
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Mama: Well all this sounds as bad as I thought it was. I don't want all the businesses owned by the government. I don't want the only employer to be the government. And I don't think equality should go to everything. Lazy people should not have the same stuff that people who work hard have.
Me: Ok.
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Mama: So, that's why I am against Obama. He is a Socialist.
Me: Is he? Does Obama want all businesses to be owned by and run by the government?
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Mama: I don't know.
Me: Well, he is not saying that the government should own the airline industry, and the car making industry, or any other businesses. But do you know what leader of a political party just did Nationalize the Banking industry? It was George W Bush, the current head of the Republican Party. When you Nationalize the Banks it means that the government has taken over the Banking industry. That is pretty close to fitting into a socialist theory.
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Mama: But Obama wants people who make more money have to pay more taxes.
Me: Yeah, that is true. But this is not an idea new to Obama. In fact, this idea has been in place since 1926 when the government added progressive income tax to the US Constitution. Since 1926 almost everyone, and both Democrats and Republicans have agreed that a progressive income tax was fair.
Mama: What is progressive income tax?
Me: Progressive income tax says that the government will take less money from poor people and take more money from rich people in order to pay for the running of our government and government services. The idea is that you can take more money from rich folk and they can still live pretty well.
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Mama: Well, ONE, I don't think there should be any government services. And TWO, I don't think it is fair to punish people for being successful by taking more money away from those who do well, and giving a pas to people who are lazy or dumb.
Me: Lets consider your FIRST objection. You say you don't think there should be any government services.
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Mama: That's right.
Me: But you are retired, aren't you?
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Mama: Yeah.
Me: And you get social security from the government don't you?
Medicare and Social Security have created the healthiest and most financially secure generation of senior citizens in American history. ~Jim Walsh
Mama: Yeah, but I paid money in for that Social Security.
Me: Yes, you did. But you did not pay in as much money as you will get back in retirement. Most people on social security will get more back then they paid in, unless they die young. So everyone on Social Security is getting money from the government, and that is a service from the government. Are you ready to refuse your Social Security Checks?
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Mama: Well, no.
Me: And you get Medicare, as well don't you?
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Mama: Yeah.
Me: These are socialist-like programs, and services provided to retired people by their government. You cannot get these services unless someone is paying in to the government to fund the programs.
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Mama: Well, those programs are OK, but that should be it.
Me: So you don't want the government to provide police protection, or pay for a fire department? Would you prefer to have private companies and if you wanted fire protection you would pay a fire protection bill each month like you pay for your car, or rent on your apartment? .
Mama: Maybe. Maybe I do. We could just subscribe for fire protection like we do for the newspaper.
Me: Here is the problem. If you pay for fire protection and the person next door doesn't their house could catch fire, and since they didn't enroll in a fire fighter company their house burns to the ground, and as the fire gets out of hand it catches the houses around it on fire. It might mean that six houses on a block could be on fire and they would be funded to only fight two of those fires. This might mean that your house catches on fire because they let your neighbor's house go without trying to stop it early.
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Mama: OK I guess a fire department makes sense.
Me: How about the police, an army, public schools, traffic lights, regulatory agencies to keep you from being ripped off by unlicensed contractors, or unscrupulous insurance companies? Would those services be good?
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Mama: Yeah.
Me: Let's look at your second objection: You think taxation should be uniformed.
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Mama: Yeah. It isn't fair to take more money from rich people and let poor people pay little or nothing.
Me: How would you prefer to pay for these services you just admitted were worth having?
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Mama: I think taxes should be just a flat rate.
Me: OK, but if we had say, a 10% flat tax that would mean that everyone paid 10% of their income, and a poor guy making $1,000 per year would pay $100, and a richer guy making 3000 per year would pay $3,000,.meaning the rich would still be paying more than the poor.
I am in favor of cutting taxes under any circumstances and for any excuse, for any reason, whenever it's possible. ~Milton Friedman
Mama: Well, I just don't like taxes.
Me: No one really likes taxes. I don't like taxes. I don't like paying my bill at a restaurant. I don't like cancer, or tornadoes, or tooth decay. There are millions of things we don't like, but we have to deal with lots of stuff we don't like. You may not want to pay taxes, but do you want to live in an area populated with other humans? As soon as human's gather into neighborhoods, or cities, or nations we have problems that have to be addressed. We can't live together without having roads, police protection, sewage disposal, garbage disposal, clean water, and on and on, and all of these things cost money. If we just allow anyone who wants to build a road and put up toll booths then fine, you are paying for the roads you use. But we tend to want and expect that these roads be safe. We want regulations to ensure that we are kept safe. We don't want the bridges to fall down with us on them. The regulators of bridge construction have to be hired. The regulations have to be written. The people who do all this stuff have to be paid. If every single need we have from living together in a civilization is handled by private business people then it gets impossible to regulate, and the quality of services is very inconsistent. Having a government to regulate services and to provide services becomes the logical way to have a civilization.
If you are actually going to be against all taxes then that is fine. But you also have to be willing to live without social security, or Medicare, or public schools, or ambulance services, or a fire department, or cops, or an army, or agencies to protect children from abuse, and on and on. If you are against all taxes then you are saying you want to live in a country without any government.
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Mama: Maybe that is what I want.
Me: Well, let's look at a country that has no taxes and no government. The only one I know of is Somali. The last government, in Somali was that of Siad Barre, and that government was toppled in 1991. Since the government disappeared the country of Somalia has divided into a thousands of different fiefdoms, bands of people controlled by warlords, and from time to time the warlords get into violent clashes with other warlords.
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Without government this is what life is like in Somalia:
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1. There is No public spending
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If you go from one city to the other, in Somalia, you will pass checkpoints, each run by a different warlord militia. At each of these "border crossings" all passenger vehicles and goods must pay an "entry fee", ranging from $3 - $300, depending on the value of the goods being carried - and what the militiamen think they can get away with. There is no standard fee. A standard fee would be fair and logical, but there is no government to insist that this be done, so it is not done. There is no pretense on the part of anyone that any of this money will be going for public services, such as health, education or roads. Most of this money will go into the pockets of some militiamen and will be spent on khat, an addictive stimulant, whose green leaves the warlord henchmen will chew on for hours on end.
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It is possible to travel through these checkpoints (or roadblocks) but only if you can afford it travel with several armed guards. Without a government, every person must provide his own police protection. If you can't afford protection you just have no protection.
Without a government there are no cops, or military, and so, in Mogadishu, the schools, colleges, universities and most government buildings have become squatter camps for the thousands of homeless people who fled from fighting elsewhere.
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2. There number of Kidnappings increased
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The warlords have started to kidnap aid workers, demanding huge ransom fees, which has caused many of the aid agencies to pull out of the country. Without foreign aid workers this leave most of the people there without any assistance whatsoever.
It only cost $3 to see a doctor but without work, without protection to do business, with danger all around, no one and so people are dying of easily treated diseases with relatively inexpensive medications to bring them a cure. At least they have no socialism.
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3. Without a government there are no market forces
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Somalia is the perfect example of a pure free market. From a capitalist, free market, laissez-faire point of view, a pure free market a good thing? Right? Many economists might say yes it is a good thing, however, in Mogadishu this totally free market with zero interference from a government has created a very harsh reality for the Somalian people.
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4. Without a government, interestingly enough, the currency of choice in Somalia happens to be US dollars.
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Somali shillings are still used but the notes only come in one denomination - 1,000, and the 1,000 shilling denomination happens to be worth exactly seven US cents.
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5. Documents mean zero without a government.
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In Somalia, for just $80 US dollars, you can, within 24 hours be a Somalian citizen, born in Mogadishu. With passports and guns freely available, those wanting to launch terror attacks have just about everything they need. Total freedom with no government is sounding very attractive indeed.
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Anti-tax conservatives seem to enjoy criticizing our governments, and pine for a minuscule government that costs nothing and stays totally out of their life, but life in Somalia shows the living with no government is far worse.
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