This country could use a new Ronald Reagan. Majestic, uplifting rhetoric sells.
I like President Donald Trump’s ball-busting style. I like that he’s transparent and doesn’t rely on focus groups to craft rosy-sounding kumbaya messages. What you see is what you get.
A lot of women don’t like him because they don’t understand man talk. They prefer that we govern like that old Coca-Cola commercial: “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing.” But men understand Trump. He’s one of us; we get him. His tough talk, crassness, and vulgarity are how we talk to one another.
To us non-skinny-jeans/Justin Trudeau men, every time Trump is rude to a member of the Fake News Media or calls Elizabeth Warren “Fauxcahontas,” it’s like Cooper Flagg taking off from the top of the key and dunking over Nikola Jokić.
Now, with all that said, and as entertaining as it is, I miss the Gipper.
Ronnie spoke in broad philosophical tones. Trump doesn’t possess Ronnie’s good-natured skill in explaining the benefits of free markets and limited government. Virtually every policy argument in Washington—hell, everywhere—is ultimately a choice between limited government and big government. A rhetorically skillful communicator can convert nearly every political and economic issue into a simple argument between a “leave us alone” philosophy and the perils of a Big Government nanny state.
Using more government to “fix” a problem caused by government is akin to adding extra stories to a building built on a sand foundation. The Left’s narrative is that every perceived problem must be fixed by more government, and sadly, they have trained the public to think this way. Conservatives and libertarians will never win by accepting their narrative. We must at all times reject their presupposition and boldly proclaim our limited-government, free-market belief systems. Our position should always be framed in philosophical terms: small government leads to greater wealth, happiness, independence, and self-reliance, and big government is synonymous with tyranny.
GO BIG OR GO HOME!
The way to plant the seed that small government is always better than big government is to go BIG. With virtually every policy, there’s almost always a much better small-government solution, rooted in practical experience and history, that does a better job of serving societal needs. Here are a few big-game targets:
Social Security.
The biggest financial scam in history. Do away with the social engineering. Let people be on their own. Why is saving money for old age the responsibility of the government? A skilled leader could easily explain how much better virtually everyone would be if citizens could keep their money and invest it on their own.
Public Education.
Do away with public schools. Totally defund them. Eliminate regulations on homeschooling and truancy. Sell the infrastructure to the private sector. Lower, if not eliminate, local property taxes.
Back before there were paved roads, trains, electricity, the internet, running water, public schools, and libraries, the United States produced some of history’s greatest minds. Many never once walked into a “classroom.” Today, virtually every child has more learning resources at his fingertips than the Sage of Monticello had on his mountaintop retreat. If parents want their child to learn, they will find a way for the child to learn. A visionary and free-market devotee can easily see what statists can’t see. Education will flourish if we just cut off the funding.
Health Care.
Deregulate the industry. If someone wants to make a living as a witch doctor, let them. Do away with licensing and required years of schooling. Eliminate employer tax deductibility for health insurance, the foundation of third-party pay. A system where consumers pay for medical care directly works. Market forces will create and develop a myriad of options for health care delivery; consumers will have choices, innovation will explode, and costs will plummet.
Eliminate the Payroll Tax.
This duplicitous scheme orchestrated by Franklin D. Roosevelt was designed to dupe taxpayers by taking money from their labor in tiny increments. Making employers pay half the payroll tax merely means employees receive less in their paychecks. Require all taxes to be paid directly by employees on April 15 of the following year. You would witness a much-needed tax revolt that would make the Boston Tea Party look like a ladies’ Tuesday afternoon mahjong game.
Government Spending.
The elimination of the payroll tax alone would likely spark such a hue and cry that spending would be drastically curtailed. But the easiest way to reduce government spending is simple: give Congress 10% less money each year for five straight years. Necessity is the mother of invention.
Abolish the IRS.
Rather than tinkering around the edges, why not simply shut it down? Replace it with a straight consumption tax. This would free millions of Americans from the unproductive burden of tax compliance. There would be no capital gains taxes to stifle innovation and no distortion of investment decisions driven by tax avoidance. Capital would flow more efficiently toward productive enterprise.
No Money for NGOs or Nonprofits.
Government has no business funding private charities. Period.
Left-Wing Indoctrination at Universities.
Cut off the money. Most universities are relics of the 11th century. Let them compete for students the same way dry cleaners compete for customers. Eliminate accreditation agencies. Tuition would drop like a rock.
All of these positions sound radical, but why? They’ve all been tried. They’ve all worked. At one time, there was no government funding for schools, health care, or universities. There was no IRS, no payroll tax, and housing was affordable. The difference is that as government grows, costs and inefficiencies rise along with it.
One doesn’t have to take an Ayahuasca trip to visualize the future if we dismantled government and let the people construct private means of self-reliance, free of government inefficiencies, waste, and stifling regulation. Markets react to needs. Less government waste means more capital investment. Less idiotic regulation means capital flows quicker and cheaper to meet needs and solve problems.
Tools of the clever rhetorician’s trade: truth, shock and awe, Aristotelian logic, vision, conviction, dismantling paradigms, good humor, carrying a big stick, and being unafraid.
“The most effectual means of preventing the perversion of power into tyranny are to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people at large.” Thomas Jefferson, 1789.
