Dear Friends,
It seems to me, the way Romney could improve the lives of the American people, both economically and socially, (by diminishing crime and improving education)… would be to implement the concepts from the International Capitalist Party. The ideas we have put forth, throughout our series of articles, is a historically proven road map, to a society that is entrepreneurial. When a society has good education and a fast growing economy it necessarily has less crime. The growing crime rate, drop in educational scores and flat GDP growth, are all signs the policies in place today are ineffectual at best, but more likely, pernicious and counter productive. The true cost of counter productive government policy is the cumulative drop in future GDP growth. This not only impacts our standard of living… but the effect is magnified over a generation.
The economy is both the easiest and the hardest to fix. The answer we have pointed out, time and again, is to clean every regulation on the books, in regards to their applicability, economic impact, and redundancy. To do this, we could set up a panel of learned people, give them six months to produce an initial report, and then implement as much of that report as possible. Subsequent reports can be every six months for two years, then every two years after that, to keep regulation from running amok again. The final report should have something on the state of regulation in the US. The releasing of the US, (or any economy), from the onerous regulation that has built up over generations, would propel the economy into fast GDP growth, driven by the release of the US entrepreneurial spirit.
Tax law is another avenue of improving the lives of Americans, by helping the profitability of US businesses and therefore, their competitiveness in the World economy. Tax law can be pernicious, because when high wage earners are targeted, they tend to be business owners, and so it is business profitability that is effected. The rhetoric always presupposes some “rich” people will be punished but it is never the actual rich who are victimized. The victims are those trying to get rich, and the laborers who are denied work, when government tax policy extinguishes their jobs.
The schools have become an arm of the US government’s jobs program. They have lost their original mandate and have replaced it with a new one. That is, to provide high paying jobs to overly educated people, while insuring that the students are indoctrinated away from the morals of their family, and inculcate them into a blind worship of State power. To change the education system, back to one where students are educated in, math, reading, history and creative thinking, and also, interpersonal discourse, rhetoric and logical thinking, would require the hated repair be applied, one that has worked every time, everywhere and in every circumstance… competition.
The Societies of most “advanced” countries in the World, have made the conscious decision, to pay for education with government largess. The non excludable good argument has been made, and in my opinion, is the best grounds to justify such a system. Since we as a people have made this decision it is best to work within it as much as possible. The best means, within our criteria, to competition… is a voucher system. Under a voucher system, parents would be empowered, to be consumers in the education market. This education market would be geared so that children would be educated, in such a way as to be in the best position, when graduating, to participate effectively in the market system. The value for each school would be the achievement of the students that came from them. This would set up a whole series of positive feedback loops within the complex system of our society.
Crime is a result of, rendering risk takers hopeless, and giving them bad role models. This leads to a glamorization of crime, and the view that law-breaking is the only means to get ahead. (Notice this implies, onerous regulations are a cause of crime, if legal means are impossible)? The breakup of the nuclear family is largely due to government relegating the role of father irrelevant. The rampant drug use among our youth is a sign that there is a lack of opportunities for them. At least opportunities that they see as feasible.
We need to change the paradigm, from one that creates the problems, into one that erases them. To do that we need a competitive educational system, an entrepreneurial people, clean and fair tax code, and government officials who model good behavior… not bad. These are concrete policy points Romney should make to the American public, how he would improve their lives, and thereby, the lives of every human being on the Planet.
Sincerely,
John Pepin
