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Memories of the 28th Century

Benevolent Despotism

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General:
The Benevolent Despotism Party exists to govern the country in ways that would allow people to live their lives as they wish without getting in the way of others. When our program will be followed, there will be no need for political parties, elections, or other opportunities for con-artists to rob and mislead the people. Until such time as the people eliminate the present government, we will use the present system to improve the lives of the people and the economy of the country, and we will follow the Constitution without the adjustments that some politicians have made without bothering to use the amendment process. That includes restricting the federal government to matters that were assigned to it in the Constitution, and “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States, respectively, or to the people.” (the 10th amendment).
One general principle is that all people will be treated equally before the law, and that means that there will be no provisions in laws that apply to only a few persons.

Federal income and debt: Tax plan:
Taxes:
The federal income tax has the potential to provide a great deal of income fairly and regularly, if a few changes are made. In keeping with the principle of equal treatment before the law, all persons, both natural and artificial, will pay taxes at the same rate, and there will be no deductions, except for the actual cost of gaining income, and there will be no exemptions, except a single basic exemption of an equal number of dollars for each income. Income tax will be based on income, not on families. Since there will be no exemptions, except the basic one, no organization will be exempted from taxation, and that includes religious institutions; the right to practice religion freely does not entail the right to practice religion for free.
These general principles, after being put into practice will encourage businesses to alter the ways they conduct business, and there will be discussions regarding the actual costs of gaining income.

Debt and Inflation:
For a variety of reasons, the U.S.A. has operated on debt for many years. The debt has piled up through the decade, and one of the ways of handling the debt has been through inflation. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve System try to keep a steady inflation rate of 2.5% per annum. By having that rate of inflation, the repayment of Treasury bonds costs (in inflation adjusted dollars) half as much as the initial income for those bonds. Unfortunately, that inflation adds up, so the dollar is worth about one percent of what it was worth 200 years ago. And it has lost about 90% of its value in the last 70 years. Some people think that it makes no difference, if everything goes up in price at the same rate, but that's not how it works. Italy used the “Scala Mobile” (moving scale) for decades, but the distortion caused by the inflation became unworkable, so they dropped some zeros from the Lire and stopped following inflation. The U.S.A. will have to do the same at some point, and it would be easier to handle that when we want than when it would be forced on it. There could be a relatively easy process, if we stop spending money that we don't have, and create a budget surplus with which to pay down debt. We can also raise the income tax rate for a few years to start the process.
Decreasing debt and inflation will also make the dollar stronger against other currencies, and that will help export income, and in some cases it will encourage companies to bring manufacturing and jobs back to the U.S.A. Since the dollar will be more valuable, pays would start falling in dollar terms, but the purchasing parity value would make the pays remain stable or rise.

Immigration:
People have been moving to this part of the world since the 16th century, and it probably will continue, but it would be nice if people obeyed the law when immigrating, and it would be nicer, if criminals did not immigrate. That people want to come to the U.S.A. is a compliment. Just as when people want to leave a country, it tells everyone that that is not a good place to live, but there is a mismatch between jobs and resources and immigrants, so it might be a good idea to make some of the places from which people are emigrating less unpleasant, so they will stay there. Encouraging American businesses to create jobs in some other countries might help, but there often are political and economic problems in those countries.
Until we get those source countries to be places where people would want to live rather than leave, the regulations for entry to the U.S.A. must be rigorously enforced, and people who enter illegally must find that they can do nothing in this country if they are not legal residents.

Abortion, IVF, and other matters related to sex, reproroduction, sexual preference, and sex changes are not matters over which the federal government was given power and authority in the Constitution, so they are powers of the states or the people.
Education is another matter over which the federal government has no power.
Foreign relations:
Middle East:
The U.S.A. has been on the wrong side in that region at least since WW II. Ethnic cleansing and attempts at genocide are violations of international law and should be stopped. Terrorism is also a violation of international law and should be stopped regardless of who does it.

Iranian nuclear activities: Iran was a great power in the past, and the people capable of doing many things. Since nuclear knowledge is widely known and dispersed, there is no reason to try to prevent another country from establishing a nuclear industry. The U.S.A. interfered excessively in Iranian government in the past, and that was bad for everyone. Such interference should not be repeated.

Russian and Putin's War: Russia would like to be as powerful as it was when the Soviet Union existed, but hat was the result of centuries of development and expansion. Trying to conquer Ukraine is beyond what Russia can afford, and we should continue to discourage that activity.

China is big enough already, and it should be discouraged from taking over Tibet and East Turkestan, in addition to trying to control the South China Sea. The way to become a great power is through economics, not through territorial expansion or terrorizing one's neighbors.

Climate: There is no doubt that there has been some climate change in the past century, but there is no proof that it was as a result of human activity, and some of the mechanisms that are alleged to have caused climate change appear to be fake science. There have been periods in the past when there were no polar icecaps, and that may happen again, or warming may cease, as happened at the end of the Holocene Climatic Optimum, the Roman Warm Period, and the Medieval Warm Period.
There is very little that humans can do to change the climate, and attempts to alter the natural course are likely to have unexpected results.

If you want good government that will be based on classical principles and rational decision, then vote for the Benevolent Despotism Party.

Updated 10-09-2024 at 03:18 PM by PeterL

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Comments

  1. tailor STATELY's Avatar
    Sanity in government ? That's insane !! I'm aboard.

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
  2. PeterL's Avatar
    Quote Originally Posted by tailor STATELY
    Sanity in government ? That's insane !! I'm aboard.

    Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
    tailor
    That's the ticket.