Taxpayers Don't Want Female Genital Mutilation (Stupid Article of the Day)

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Every now and then I come across an article that really reflects the institutionalized stupidity and the very low standards that qualify as "thinking" in the American political culture. Here is one such article:

The Left Can't Have It Both Ways
by Rich Karlgaard
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0809/opinions-rich-karlgaard-digital-rules-left-have-both-ways.html

Since the 1960s the world's left-wing parties have chased two dreams that are in conflict in free societies. One is greater economic equality. The other is value-free multiculturalism...Postmodernism calls the shots today. It demands that all human expressions and lifestyles, foolish or not, must be treated equally. Thus Mayan science was as good as European science, and female genital mutilation is not for Westerners to judge. You dare not laugh at such nonsense, either.

*** First, something tells me that a "leftist" like Barack Obama does NOT think that "Mayan science was as good as European science." In case you haven't noticed, he's planning a campaign in 2012, not an apocalypse, which would seem to contradict the Myan world view. Second, something tells me that all those liberal academia college professors seem to support science, considering that they're the scientists. I literally have never heard any human being ever suggest that Myan science was as valid as modern science. There probably are some crackpots saying this somewhere, but it's fairly absurd to accuse any sizable group of people of believing this. Second, in leftist academia, I have heard that some people don't judge FGM, but I've only heard about this from leftist socialist professors who were condemning the do-not-judgers. Also, I imagine the do-not-judge-FGM view is not widely held either. Basically, the introduction to this article is an attempt to first perpetuate the cult-like mentality that there are two groups of people us (right/conservatives) and them (left/liberal), and second to confirm the audiences confirmation bias that us is so smart and them is so stupid. Ironically, articles trying to prove how smart us is tend to be pretty stupid. ***

In free societies greater economic equality happens only when successful people agree to give back to society more than their fair share of income and wealth..

The willingness of the rich to give more than their fair share is the key. When the rich feel forced to give, many will take evasive action and give less. They will spend more money on tax lawyers to reduce their tax burdens. If they control their work hours, they will work less. Harass society's producers enough and they will move to another city, state or country. Recall the mass immigration of rich and ambitious Englishmen to the U.S. in the 1960s, when Britain's income tax rates on the rich approached 100%.

*** So basically you're trying to be a tax evasion apologist? Or at least a tax dodger apologist? I'm no economic or political expert, but here's an insane idea: pay your fucking taxes. In an age when hundreds of thousands of troops are willing to sweat and die in a 2 god-forsaken deserts ten thousand miles away, taking home only $500K/year instead of $1M/year to pay for that war doesn't really strike me as an unbearable burden. But this whole sentiment fundamentally reflects the mentality of this generation: spend your whole life enjoying roads, public schools, police, military, medicare, etc. but when it comes time to actually pay for that shit, scream bloody hell and throw a tantrum. Hopefully, if you complain long enough, you will die and then your stupid kids will have to pay for the enormous debt you've racked up. For bonus points, you can complain about the debt itself - pretend like you're so mad about all the services you got and didn't pay for so that your idiot kids will think you're on their side. Since you didn't pay your education taxes, they'll probably be too dumb to figure it out. ***

The central question for egalitarians, then, should be: What motivates the rich to want to give more of their wealth to taxes? ...

The secret of successful fundraising, of course, is to sell donors on the purpose of giving...

...governments need to motivate them with a sense of purpose. Otherwise the rich will manipulate their taxable income. At this point you might ask: Where in the world have rich people willingly paid more taxes? The answer: in northern European countries and in America's upper midwestern states, such as Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin...

*** Wait, wasn't this article about Myan science and female genital mutilation? If this whole article is about tax evasion, why the fuck didn't you title it "Avoiding Tax Evasion"? That aside, let's break this down. People are willing to pay higher taxes in "northern European countries." Uhhh...which ones exactly? Like Iceland? They're not doing to well, that's probably not a model country. And in "America's upper midwestern states, such as Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin." What exactly is your metric for determining this? According to Wikipedia, Iowa's state tax income as a percentage of personal income is 5.91%, that seems low compared to California's 7.39% (though that is not a perfect comparison). How do you even judge *willingly* paying more taxes? How do you measure that verses *begrudgingly* paying more taxes? This entire concept of willingly paying taxes is obviously somewhat contradictory to the mandatory nature of taxes, yet you in no way explain or distinguish the two. It's almost as if you've set up a scenario where, becuase you offer no criteria whatsoever, you could randomly pick any place that suited your political agenda to be your happy-tax example. ***

...Why? Common purpose based on shared values. When tax money goes into public schools that actually work, taxpayers appear happy to pay the taxes. When tax money ends up in terrific parks and bicycle trails, again, taxpayers are happy--or at least willing--to pay for them.

*** Wouldn't level of tax enforcement, residency requirements, and punishments also be a primary factor? Aside from that, I think we can all take it for granted that, yes, good Americans are happier to pay taxes when their taxes benefit society. But now we've jumped from "don't believe Myan science" to "dodge your taxes" to "build better schools." The funny thing about building schools is that you have to pay for them upfront - which is hard if people don't pay their taxes. And that if you've lived your whole life voting for people that have screwed up public schools - you still have to pay for them anyway. ***

On the other hand, when do rich taxpayers revolt? Answer: when there are no common values. This is why the EU is blowing up...

*** Uh, isn't northern Europe part of the EU? ***

...Germans are willing to pay taxes for services that support German cultural values, which include hard work and advancement. But Germans are angry over having to pay taxes to support Greeks, who have different ideas about hard work and retirement ages. Put another way, the Germans are unwilling to underwrite values not their own.

*** It wasn't like God magically came down from heaven and commanded Germany to bailout Greece. Germany invested in a shitload of Greek debt and when their investment went bad, Germany had to pay up (or at least bailout Greece to cut their loses). So Mr. Karlgaard, it appears you have discovered a completely new facet of human behavior - people get pissed when their investments go bad. I see a Nobel prize heading your way. But unfortunately, this parable doesn't have shit to do with taxes. ***

In the U.S. the state of Minnesota provides a laboratory to see where economic equality and multiculturalism are in conflict. During the 20th century Minnesota was one of our most economic egalitarian states. The Democratic Party and Farmer-Labor Party were one and the same and produced such prairie progressives as Hubert Humphrey. Minnesotans were proud of their activist government. Local tax money--willingly paid--gave Minnesotans the nation's best public school system.

*** Always be skeptical of vague historic narratives like this. What is your basis for this characterization. Was Minnesota more so like than all the other states? Something tells me Minnesota was not this childishly simplistic and that this story better serves the narrator's purposes than history's. ***

More recently Minnesota has become known for being a multicultural haven. Refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia have enriched the Minneapolis-St. Paul culture. Almost every Minnesota town with a population over 5,000 has a Mexican restaurant owned by Mexican immigrants.

*** Mexican restaurants? Holy shit! Minnesota must be like the Mexico of the north! No other state in the union has Somalians or Mexicans in it. i Buenos dias, doncha know! ***

But politically, once liberal Minnesota is trending conservative. Long a Democratic lock in presidential elections, the state is now in play. The governor, Tim Pawlenty, is a conservative Republican. Tea party leader Michele Bachmann hails from Minnesota. Were the 2008 election held again this November, Norm Coleman would trounce Al Franken.

It's no coincidence that tax revolts in the U.S. are breaking out not in red states but in the bluest multicultural states: Massachusetts and New Jersey, so far, with New York and California to come. The great left-wing dreams of greater economic equality and value-free multiculturalism turn out to be irreconcilable. The two can't coexist when people are free to make their own judgments about values.

*** Ah yes. The string of simplistic narrative has weaved itself into a rug of political agenda. But wait, I thought Minnesota was the state WILLING to pay taxes? What happened to that thought? Wasn't the whole point to explain why Minnesotans were willing to pay taxes? But no, now the point is Californians are having a tax revolt? Didn't California already have that in 1978? With Prop 13? Or, no, wasn't the point of this article about how Myan science is incompatible with social equality? Or, no, I suppose the moral of the story was: Don't pay your taxes - Pawlenty/Bachmann 2012. ***

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