R i g h t a r d i a: Rightardia editorial: The function of government

According to Wikipedia:

Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for profit. Income in a Capitalist system takes at least two forms, profit on the one hand and wages on the other.

Socialism is an economic system in which the means of production are publicly or commonly owned and controlled co-operatively, or a political philosophy advocating such a system.

Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society or nation.

Collectivism has been widely used to refer to a number of different political, economic and educational philosophies, ranging from communalism and democracy to totalitarian nationalism.

Corporatism refers to a form of collectivism that views the whole as being greater than the sum of its individual parts, and gives priority to group rights over individual rights.

The point is that no economic system is exclusively capitalistic or socialistic. All economic models used by nations are mixed and have both capitalist and socialistic elements. A collectivist approach like national health care and social security is more efficient than a fragmented capitalist approach with numerous middle men.

The real argument is the nature of government. The GOP argue that only people with business experience and "pro-business views" should be in government. Pro-business is a coded term for anti-labor or anti-union. However the records of pro-business presidents is not so hot.

Democratic presidents have a much better record of controlling the national debt and the deficit. In many respects the government is a mirror image of private enterprise. After the government collects taxes, its mission is roll the tax revenues back into the economy and to produce the most bang for the buck. The government is not motivated by profit.

Certainly there have been spirited arguments on how to spend the national treasure. The Democrats want to spend the revenues on infrastructure and social programs. The Republicans want to increase defense spending which is at historic highs. The US now produces half of the arms in the world.

The Republicans also advocate a perverse form of Keynesian called supply side economics. Indeed, lowering taxes and increased government spending will stimulate an economy in an emergency situations like the Great Bush recession that started in 2007.

But the GOP gives the lion's share of the tax cuts to the affluent who they call the "most productive members of society." After 20 years of supply side economics of Ronald Reagan and the two Bush presidents, Americans have gained little from that grand experiment.

As Bob Herbert write in a recent editorial, Republicans need rehab. There ideas are not backed up with empirical data and worse, most of their ideas haven't worked.

Republicans have been smoking their ideological "wacky tobacky" for far too long.

The so-called party of ideas has become the party of bad ideas. Even many Republicans know this and half of the GOP wants a new party. Unfortunately many conservatives want to wander even farther to the right.

What do we need in government? Rightrdia would prefer to see politicians form a broad cross section of America to include teachers, fire fighters, police, college professors and working men and women.

If the founders thought there was a primacy of businesses or corporations, they would have written this into the constitution.

"(T)he Preamble demonstrates that the federal government of the United States was not created as an agreement between or coalition of the states. Instead, it was the product of "the People" with the power to govern the People directly, unlike the government under the Articles of Confederation, which only governed the People indirectly through rules imposed on the states. (Wikipedia)."

Should a corporate oligarchy or plutocracy direct the United States? This is not what the Founders had in mind.

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