Politics

It is important that everyone in a society have freedom to reach their potential. On this everyone agrees. That is why Aristotle considered Politics the most important subject to study. It includes behavior toward others both in small groups and societies. That is why I like to delve into the subject on occasion. I always hope to present things in a form that is easy to understand and lacking dogma.

When we mention the term “taxation without representation”, we think of the American Revolution and Great Britain. At that time there was a realization from both the native born Americans and those who immigrated that allowing a foreign entity the power to levy taxes was always a very bad idea. In the purist sense, only the people who are paying the taxes should have power to levy them.  This is where we get the House of Representatives. They were originally representatives of the people who owned land and businesses. This is where all taxation is supposed to originate. It is the same today except we allow non- taxpayers to vote for representatives also. To allow the senate or president the power to tax is a violation of our independence. They are supposed to approve the tax bills if they see no corruption in them. We have gone a long way from this for sure.

Another function of the House is to make laws. John Locke and others were emphatic that laws be made by the people themselves and that enforcement always be a separate entity. Tyrants were prone to make laws that kept them in power and to suppress those who considered them unjust. An extreme example would be the Holocaust. The people didn’t vote to destroy Jews, it was an executive order and then enforced by the executive branch. That is why all the fuss today about executive orders and such. The senate was formed to slow legislation down and was to have the brightest people a state could offer. They could draw from wisdom and experience and make sure that laws that were passed in the house weren’t just based in hysteria and emotion but would actually do the country good. They also made sure their respective state wasn’t being singled out and oppressed by the laws.  

What has complicated our system of governing is the notion of forced benevolence. Our founders experienced and studied the habits of kings and rulers. A method Despots used to enslave the masses (other than suppression) was benevolence. Many times in history a king would plunder an economy and destroy their crops. He would then offer to feed them if they become compliant and support him. Free people who became compliant and dependent were looked upon with disgust by our founders because many had experienced being plundered for a king’s pleasure. The king would then give the plunder to his cronies. We haven’t experienced a collapse of enough magnitude to have the same feelings and I hope we never do.