Political Rhetoric & Economic Fallacies

It’s election time, and once again we’re in the season of political rhetoric. One of the oldest campaign themes in American history is the idea that “Democrats are for the working man,” or “Democrats are for the poor, and Republicans are for the rich.” This is nothing more than mindless propaganda that’s built upon a fairy tale supported by three underlying fallacies.

Fallacy number one. Politicians in our government are granted the Constitutional authority to be “for” or “against” certain groups in our national economy.

If you search our Constitution, you will find no reference whatsoever to the unequal principle of government power used to favor one economic class over another. None. The phrase reads, “promote [not provide] the general [not specific] welfare” of Americans. In fact, in Canada right now there’s a legal effort underway to overturn their Universal Healthcare system based on the grounds that their government services are fundamentally unequal in their application. This is what happens when governments claim they’re going to promote “fairness” by sticking their nose in the marketplace. Those with political favor always end-up with the most “fairness!” Sound familiar?

Fallacy number two. The government needs to be “for” certain people in our country’s economy (i.e. “victims” who fail) because the free market is fundamentally unfair and unjust.

This is an ignorant and foolish indictment of freedom. One should always remember that without the freedom to fail, there is no freedom to succeed! Although it may seem comforting to grant government the power to intervene in the marketplace to avert failure, the results never turn out favorable in the long run. Government activism in the economy always creates perverse incentives that ultimately disrupt normal supply and demand functions that, otherwise, work to enhance the maximization of wealth creation!

A perfect example of this misguided vision is the current subprime housing crisis. It was engineered, albeit unintentionally, by government interference. It wasn’t the free market that created this housing bubble. It wasn’t rational, private sector, risk-management that brought us to this catastrophe that has adversely affected every market in the world. It was the socialist dream of “affordable housing” for all, via Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac & the Community Reinvestment Act! Alas, the market rewards rational decisions, the government rewards political cronyism.

Fallacy number three. The “poor” or “rich” represent absolute classifications of people who remain “poor” or “rich” their entire lives.

For anyone who cares to find out- Federal statistics clearly show that there has always been a fluid movement of people, both directions, throughout all five categories, (Quintiles), of our economy. People generally begin their adult lives in the lower Quintiles then move up to higher Quintiles as they age. Economic advancement is a natural progression for most people, and is based upon the individual merits of God-given talent and effort. Therefore, the manipulative appeal of tempting politicians who preach special favors to the “middle class” is a complete canard. Think about it. Any policy that would exclusively benefit the middle Quintile would necessarily have to account for a means to keep middle Quintile people trapped in their circumstances indefinitely. This is the frustrating reality of a divisive ideology that demonizes one group in favor of another.

“Group” politics can’t permit individual, self-determined achievement like that of Justice Clarence Thomas or Gov. Sarah Palin. If it did, then there would be no political opportunity to exploit voters in exchange for “group” favors that serve to consolidate more and more power for the governing elite.

Instead of adhering to fraudulent political rhetoric that belies economic realities, wouldn’t it be better to decide our political future using other, more thoughtful, assessments?

America is the envy of the world, not because of our government guarantees, but because of our freedom. Freedom inherently exists in the absence of guarantees, and so, we should be wary of any politician who attempts to promise them. Our economic environment simply can’t provide both freedom and guarantees.

Politics will always have stump speeches full of empty-headed rhetoric designed to appeal to the lowest common denominator of the masses. The responsibility of each citizen, however, is to look past all of the smoke and mirrors and vote on principle over populism. (send comments to WFC83197@aol.com, or mail to POB 114, Jacksboro, TN 37757.)