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Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Political Discussion: Part 1

This started as a political discussion between two Democrat and Republican friends of mine on Facebook that turned into a rant.  It's long, but here it is in its entirety...

I commend you both for having this discussion, however, here's my rebuttal for both arguments. If my comments seem all over the place, it's only because I'm attempting to reference both your arguments, starting from top to bottom.

History bears witness that both major parties, Democrats and Republicans, have shown to be too incompetent and greedy to actually resolve many of the issues we are facing, and it seems the situation is slowly getting worse, with a continual rise of our national debt, extreme fluctuations in our economy and market, jobs loss overseas, government dependency/inefficiency/intervention, crime, wars, gradual tax increases, more restrictions/regulations, and the list goes on and on. Both parties have had their chances. For brief moments of the past few decades, both parties have had majority control over at least two out of three federal legislative branches, and yet, we continue on this overall steady decline. Taxes have risen under control of both parties, these tax dollars are wasted, and our elected officials accomplish very little or nothing positive.

To start, although I believe in fewer regulations, we should still protect ourselves and the environment. Sensible regulation that promote both economical growth, yet healthy living conditions for our kids and grand kids. For example, reducing or even removing regulations that regulate cost/prices, geographical location, etc. that we often see in the healthcare system will also lower taxes (fewer laws mean fewer government officials needed to regulate these laws), promote a free market, reduce costs for everyone (due to competition), promotes efficiency, etc. However, specific markets (such as the healthcare system), spend millions to lobby against such legislature, creating monopolies and market dominance, higher costs due to lack of competition, inefficiencies, etc. Even Bill Clinton once agreed with Republicans that private health insurance companies shouldn't be confined within state lines, and should compete nationally. Watch http://www.foxnews.com/.../bill-clinton-enters-no-spin-zone/
...and if you like, skip to about 4:30 into the interview. And while on this topic, fewer officials to regulate fewer laws will help resolve issues with the “over-policing” of citizens, unlawful seize of private property, higher taxes, etc. But small businesses fail, and mega-corporations thrive not in spite of, but because of government regulations (http://youtu.be/7bLcja6Qe0I)

The majority of our tax dollars spent for public education is wasted in administrative costs. It's estimated that somewhere between that 50% to 75% of our tax dollars allotted to public education never makes it to the classroom (depending upon your sources). Our teachers who make $30k/year have to spend money out of their own pockets for their classrooms, while the average school superintendent makes $146k/year (http://www1.salary.com/School-Superintendent-Salary.html
). I don't mind spending money into public education, as long as it's spent wisely.

The free market system (capitalism) has proven time and time again that true socialism (such as communism) is a failure. Even China has adapted a minor form of capitalism, changing some of their economic policies to include private business/ownership in their country to survive and grow. I highly recommend watching this 2 hour 41 minute video by PBS titled “Heaven on Earth: The Rise and Fall of Socialism” at http://youtu.be/c_uCqAHW0bw
A truly free market works in everyone's best interest only if the government interferes/intervenes in the free market as little as possible.

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