Comments on: Tocqueville and the Blue Social Model

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:33:10 +0000

This is a pretty good list. I so wish the Republican Party would take on the pro-family tax reform. At the very least, it would alter the current debate over taxation, which makes my eyes glaze over. I found that article on reforming land use regulations very interesting. I would also repeal Obamacare and work to move away from the employer-based model of health insurance. Make it easier to buy health insurance across state lines so people can avoid the ridiculous mandates on stuff like Viagra that drive up the cost of insurance. But also generously subsidize insurance pools for people with pre-existing conditions or move to a re-insurance plan that enables those with chronic conditions to have medical care without facing bankruptcy. I wish Republicans would talk more about the challenges those people face. I think we can have the government provide a decent safety net for the poor and those with pre-existing conditions while also getting out of the way for everyone else so the cost of health insurance does not continue to skyrocket. We also need to rein in the special interests on the supplier side who have an interest in keeping the number of doctors low so their salaries are higher.

By: IAS

IAS — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 14:39:39 +0000

You present a false dilemma, that we either have socialism that grows government and steals private property for redistribution or libertarianism which would eliminate social programs that serve a needed purpose for the most vulnerable in society. Conservatives, who fall outside these categories, would agree with almost all your examples of reform except one big one – raising taxes on the rich. It’s disconcerting to see you fall into class-warfare trap that taxing the rich is a good thing (quite the contrary):

“When tax rates are reduced, the economy’s growth rate improves and living standards increase. Good tax policy has a number of interesting side effects. For instance, history tells us that tax revenues grow and “rich” taxpayers pay more tax when marginal tax rates are slashed. This means lower income citizens bear a lower share of the tax burden – a consequence that should lead class-warfare politicians to support lower tax rates.

Conversely, periods of higher tax rates are associated with sub par economic performance and stagnant tax revenues. In other words, when politicians attempt to “soak the rich,” the rest of us take a bath.”

http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2003/08/the-historical-lessons-of-lower-tax-rates

By: Catholic Health Care Sister

Catholic Health Care Sister — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 13:23:14 +0000

Thank you, Anna, for a thought provoking reflection. I wish politicians would pay attention to the Mead’s insights about the “blue social model.” The paradigm is shifting and as a nation we ignore that to our peril.

By: Michael PS

Michael PS — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 08:03:59 +0000

Recall the this speech was delivered i the aftermath of the June Days. The Second Republic had established National Workshops [les Ateliers Nationaux] to give work to the unemployed. Following their closure, the workers of Paris rose in revolt. The Liberals secured a victory over the Radical Republicans, but at the cost of 1,500 dead in the streets and thousands of summary executions of prisoners. The Assembly, one recalls, welcomed the surrender of the last barricade with cries of “Long Live the Republic!” What they got, inevitably, was Napoleon III.

Talleyrand once observed, “Governing has never been anything other than postponing by a thousand subterfuges the moment when the mob will hang you from the lamp-post, and every act of government is nothing but a way of not losing control of the people.” That, pace De Tocqueville, is the true lesson of the French Revolution. Et nunc reges intellegite…