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During a recent Fox News Channel debate about the Obama administration's tax policies, Democrat Bob Beckel raised the issue of "fairness."
He pointed out that a child born to a poor woman in the Bronx enters the world with far worse prospects than a child born to an affluent couple in Connecticut.
No one can deny that. The relevant question, however, is: How does allowing politicians to take more money in taxes from successful people, to squander in ways that will improve their own reelection prospects, make anything more "fair" for others?
Even if additional tax revenue all went to poor single mothers -- which it will not -- the multiple problems of children raised by poor single mothers would not be cured by throwing money at them. Indeed, the skyrocketing of unwed motherhood began when government welfare programs began throwing money at teenage girls who got pregnant.
Children born and raised without fathers are a major problem to society and to themselves. There is nothing "fair" about increasing the number of such children.
A more fundamental problem with the "fairness" issue raised by Beckel and many others is the slippery vagueness of the word "fair."
To ask whether life is fair -- either here and now, or at any time or place around the world, over the past several thousand years -- is to ask a question whose answer is obvious. Life has seldom been within shouting distance of fair, in the sense of even approximately equal prospects of success.
Countries whose politicians have been able to squander ever larger amounts of a nation's resources have not only failed to make the world more fair, the concentration of more resources and power in these politicians' hands has led to results that were often counterproductive at best, and bloodily catastrophic at worst.
More fundamentally, the question whether life is fair is very different from the question whether a given society's rules are fair. Society's rules can be fair in the sense of using the same standards of rewards and punishments for everyone. But that barely scratches the surface of making prospects or outcomes the same.
People raised in different homes, neighborhoods and cultures are going to behave differently -- and those differences have consequences. The multiculturalist dogma may say that all cultures are equal, or equally deserving of respect, but treating cultures as sacrosanct freezes people into the circumstances into which they happened to be born, much like a caste system.
While talk about "fairness" may provide a fig leaf to cover politicians' naked attempts to grab more and more of the nation's resources to spend, there is no assurance that raising tax rates on "the rich" will result in any more tax revenue for the government. High tax rates have too often simply caused wealthy people to put their money into tax-free securities or to send it overseas.
Four years ago, TV interviewer Charles Gibson pointed out to candidate Barack Obama that raising capital gains tax rates had on a number of occasions led to less capital gains tax revenue being collected -- and, conversely, lowering the capital gains tax rates had on other occasions increased the amount of capital gains revenue collected by the government.
Obama readily admitted that. But he said that "fairness" justified a higher tax rate on "the rich." Yet how does a higher tax rate on paper, without a real increase in the amount of taxes actually collected, promote fairness?
However, raising tax rates on "the rich" pays off politically, even if the government loses revenues when the rich put their money into tax shelters.
High tax rates in the upper income brackets allow politicians to win votes with class warfare rhetoric, painting their opponents as defenders of the rich. Meanwhile, the same politicians can win donations from the rich by creating tax loopholes that can keep the rich from actually paying those higher tax rates -- or perhaps any taxes at all.
What is worse than class warfare is phony class warfare. Slippery talk about "fairness" is at the heart of this fraud by politicians seeking to squander more of the nation's resources.
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Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His website is www.tsowell.com.
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February 22, 2012 @ 8:20 am
“Life is not fair. Life is not unfair. Life just is.”
As usual, I enjoyed reading your article with the satisfaction of knowing that the Good Lord always leaves a few wise men no matter how foolish the world has become.
February 22, 2012 @ 9:07 am
In a free American society where men are allowed to compete and rise and fall by their own talents, Fairness is defined the opportunity to compete in a level playing field. In a Socialist manipulated idealist world of pre-determined outcomes, it is the playing field that is manipulated to give certain advantages to the privileged proud fools so they can live in unearned equality with those who have actually earned it. Instead of strengthening the weak to make them strong to compete, they cripple the strong to bring them down to the level of the weak, and America’s ability to compete worldwide is compromised. Look about you and witness what Socialism creates. Look about you and witness what Obama and his administration have created. It is Trickle down poverty by any and ALL means. Just look at what he proposes to do with our energy industry, our healthcare, and our military. NOBODY CAN BE THAT STUPID. This is all a part of a preplanned agenda to recreate America into the image of a failed European Greece, ,,,,,another civilization which turned their backs on their Democratic origins. Yes, Greece, the cradle of Western democracy has like America, become the cradle of Children-in-adult-bodies!
Not all cultures are created equal, or the American experience and American exceptionalism was just an illusion.Thank you Mr. Socialist, thank you Mr. Obama! Now it is time for YOU to pay at the polls as exceptional Americans again rise to the occasion to throw off their yokes, and throw you and your debilitaing fraud of an ideology to the curb.
February 22, 2012 @ 9:18 am
Definition of Obama’s Fairness Doctrine;
“The FAIRer your skin color, the more we will doctor your ability to exist.”
What a pathetic fraud of a Leader who pledged to bring us all together. A more discriminatory race favoring President has yet to appear on the American Scene. Call it the theft of American wealth in the disguise of a fraudulent doctrine called “Socialist Fairness” which we all know always just ends up being fair only to the privileged failures of the Democrat Party.
February 22, 2012 @ 10:10 am
Mr. Sowell, once again, you have written an outstanding piece with knowledge and insight far beyond our country’s leaders.
February 22, 2012 @ 10:55 am
Isn’t that the truth.
February 22, 2012 @ 3:02 pm
Just think of what our country would be like if all men thought the way Sowell does. Much better world than we have now, for sure.
February 22, 2012 @ 10:46 am
Obama and his Democratic Party “Massas” are scum-sucking LEECHES
February 22, 2012 @ 10:53 am
“An economy hampered by restrictive tax rates will never produce enough revenue to balance our budget, just as it will never produce enough jobs or enough profits” — John F. Kennedy
February 22, 2012 @ 11:00 am
Solution for poor “Bronx” Mama? Have more children! The Nanny State will pay you good, free money, if you have kids! Yea! The more the better. Be a baby factory! This will enable you to get that new fancy phone, car, jewelry… as you slum about and complain, all victim like.
Beckel is floating about in his self loathing, magical world in thinking about those in da Bronx. He has to! No really, he has to. The truth would be too appalling. The lies that he nurses, would eat him alive. And being a Liberal, it is not his direct burden to do something, but Society. And “Do Something”, is more of a farce, as we see that the easy road, is to continue rewarding, mental incompetence, human failure… .
Frauds like Obama, will naturally use his 97% voting base. Frauds like Obama, will talk majestic to the guilty, insane Liberals, and people who frighten easily as they shop till they drop, to stay the course. Well, the course? We hit an iceberg at full speed, and da Bronx holes in our ship will help speed us crashing to the bottom.
The Founders would likely say, “You deserve to sink.”
February 22, 2012 @ 12:37 pm
As St. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, If any man will not work, neither should he eat.
February 22, 2012 @ 1:38 pm
Beckel knows he is wrong, he has mentioned a couple of times on the show that the left’s policies went too far and created government dependency. Of course he also thinks the left should be allowed to fix their mistakes instead of adopting the policies of those who warned that the left’s were a mistake from the beginning, so he’s still obviously delusional.
February 22, 2012 @ 11:18 am
Life is all about making choices. These choices are based on the foundation to which you were taught, observerbed, or thrown into. Why is it one child from wealthy parents can fail, while an inner-city child of a one parent, poor household succeeds? What is different? The only common thread between either lifestyle is attitude and the choices influenced by that attitude.
One valuable lesson I was taught while sitting on a church pew was the notion of generational curses. As I observe the people in our society, it isn’t hard to see how patterns of behavior seem to run in families. Therefore, it isn’t a giant leap to see how a single mother begets more single mothers through her womb. The key is to break the generational curse. It must become a conscious effort to reject the attitude of entitlement and therefore sin and embrace exceptalism.
February 22, 2012 @ 3:08 pm
“The sins of the father are passed on the children to the 3rd and 4th generation.”
Our Biblical fathers understood the depredations of the disfunctional family values that can be passed on from generation to generation. That’s why they never embraced socialism and turned to God not the state for their blessings avoiding the sins of the immediate gratificationthat the state offers that only lead to long term moral and economic deprivation.
The dirty little secret that the Liberals will not tell you is that as the sins are passed on to the children,,,,,,,,So are the blessings. It only takes one individual of personal integrity and strength to stand between their children and the darkness to pass on the blessings and break the curse.
This is why the Democrats attack the family, and drive out the strength of the family member who traditionally been the man, so it is THEY the secular government who rules in the darkness of their secular ideology of dependency and failure which they seek to pass on to us for generation of economic debt and moral deprevation..
February 22, 2012 @ 11:25 am
The only part of society that should be “fair” is the school system. If all schools gave the same opportunity to all children, all would be right with the country. If any teacher is not inspired to teach, throw the teacher out! (Hear that, teacher unions?) And schools need to get across one important social commandment: Marriage is important. Loving your spouse is important. Staying together and raising your children together is important. Having children outside of your family is a disaster.
February 22, 2012 @ 3:02 pm
You are right that the part of society that should be ‘fair’ is the school system, which it was years ago but we as Americans failed the test by allowing the Alinsky Progressives to take that away from us and the children.
The public schools are not ‘fair’ any longer and instead of teaching Reading, Writing, Arithmetic (the basics) as well as the TRUE American History and other courses of schooling our children are now being taught all the ‘sex education courses’ or how to become a homosexual, transvestite, etc. or the communist doctrine that is running through the system as well as the religious doctrine of Islam.
Fairness has been outdated by the people that want to destroy America and most of that entails indoctrinating the young from elementary on through college which is happening today.
February 22, 2012 @ 1:29 pm
You can see how far this social consciousness is getting into the primaries as the liberals in the media and otherwise are now attacking Santorum because they see that they can make him be seen as somewhat of a radical religious person who would pervert our government based on his personal values and religious attitudes. I have very well educated moderate liberal friends (one who is a Jewish doctor) who really do not support Obama because of his fiscal policies but are afraid of Santorum because he has publicly exposed his views on religion, birth control, his opinion on the affects of the promiscuity and open sex environment on our culture, and the effects of allowing abortion to become a popular form of birth control instead of a medical procedure to avert a child due to rape, incest, or a medical dilemna. All of which are basically true, but, in our current politically correct environment, you are not supposed to talk openly about it.
So, it appears that our culture has moved away from the focus on the family and family values, toward high divorce rates, high levels of unwed mother births (53% national average..71% amongst Black American women), open sex including the perpetuation of sex as a form of entertainment. The mainstream role models for our young women are celebrities like Britney Spears, Kim Kardasian, and Paris Hilton who openly flaunt their sex life including sex tapes that can be seen by anyone on the internet.
The underground economy is huge with most of it being based on the production and sales of a variety of drugs including designer drugs built from the chemistry of prescription drugs of all kinds. This multi-billion dollar economy is all cash driven and is tax exempt and those that work for the drug cartels and their distributors make millions of dollars and own expensive homes and drive expensive cars, etc. This easy access to drugs (both legal and illegal) leads to role models like Amy Winehouse and Whitney Houston who unfortunately lost control and ended up losing their lives.
I blame those Americans that have fostered and perpetuated this liberal mentality for what is happening to this country, which is the undermining the basic foundation of the most successful experiment in government in the history of the world.
The “Closer” of this transformation of our country is Barack Obama who was elected by the liberals in this country who are responsible for expanding this unsustainable socialist agenda that has created a dependent society built around a house of cards that is on the verge of collapse.
There are no real adults in the liberal community. These people are extreme altruistic dreamers who remind me of teenagers who just do not “get it” as to the essence of life and our reason for being. True independence and freedom to achieve high goals based on preparation and hard work just doesn’t fit well in their agenda. It is the “collective” that is important and they appear to be willing to take our system down and convert into a socialist community style environment where everything is levelized to a much lower and less enthusiastic level. It eliminates incentives to be great.
Vote for Obama this November and forget someone like Santorum, who actually represents the best of this country and its traditional attitudes and values, if you want to finalize the undermining of our great country. It appears that the majority of Americans want to be a dependent of the state and be a “taker” instead of a “maker”, so finish the job and help Obama convert America into another European style socialist country so that we can be just like them and have what they have, since they are so much better off then we are.
February 23, 2012 @ 12:20 pm
Thank you, Mister Sowell.