Politics in Connecticut is one of the few continually successful – i.e. money generating – businesses in the state. No one ever went poor in Connecticut betting on the ability of politicians to stuff their coffers with money drawn from hard pressed citizens.
That wise old codger Ben Franklin once pointed to the only “two
certainties in life” – “death and taxes.” His apothegm is truer in our day than
his because politicians in the post-American Revolution era did not have the
advantage of an income tax, state or federal.
The very first thing to notice about Connecticut politics is
that the state has been dominated for several decades by the Democrat Party, an
adept money generator.
What accounts for the slow and painful disappearance of the
state Republican Party when not so long ago both parties shared power and
influence and state budgets were modest and reasonable? What are the baleful
effects of a one party state? Or, to put the question in another form that true
“friends of the democracy” may better appreciate, can democracy long survive in
a one party state? Indeed, can a republic long survive in a one party state?
These questions may be settled by a quick glance at history.
Democracies, the founders of the Republic were quick to notice, were
historically far more fragile than republics, but republics also were
perishable.
The durable Roman Republic, as we all know from consulting reputable
historians, gave way to dictatorship under Julius Caesar which, come to think
of it, is why Caesar was assassinated by those longing for a return to the
Roman Republic of old.
Populism, historians tells us, is not incompatible with
Caesarism in any of its forms, socialism, fascism or communism. Julius Caesar
was able under a generous dictatorship to make himself extremely popular with
the Roman masses. The same is true of Nero and Caligula. They were popular
until forced by circumstances to exact unwanted taxes on the populous to pay
for wars that enlarged the Roman Empire by declaring war on the purses of those
with whom they were popular. One cannot be a populist without being popular,
and Roman raids on the public purse, frequent and unwanted -- as they are in our
day -- soon depressed the populism. So we are told by Gaius Suetonius
Tranquillus, the author of De vita Caesarum, popularly known as The lives of the Twelve Caesars.
Like fame – “Whom the gods would destroy they first make
famous” – populism in history is as fleeting as the bioluminescence of a female
firefly’s underbelly.
Lovers of “the democracy” would be wise to take note. Not
only persons but parties may gravitate between populism and different degrees
of Caesarism. Like honor, republican government is more easily kept than
restored.
During the upcoming election, we will not hear much in our
media about ungovernable – pun intended – spending. Inflation, as we all know,
is a hideous, hidden tax. One of the reasons we surrender more dollars for groceries
these days is that the real value of our currency has been compromised by
inflation, caused by excessive spending and regulation.
The value of the dollar depreciates when government,
reluctant to raise taxes to cover spending, borrows or prints money to cover
its debts. This creates massive dislocations in what we used to call “the free
market.” Government regulations on businesses are also “hidden consumer taxes”
because businesses are not tax payers. They are tax collectors
that retrieve from their clients, purchasers of goods and services, lost
revenue due to over-regulation and high business taxes.
Every dollar Big Business is taxed is recovered by Big
Business in the form of higher prices and ferried to government coffers.
Smaller businesses that do not have the resources of mega-businesses swallow
the taxes and regulations -- and often choke to death on them. It is odd that
no one yet has called this largely unnoticed conspiracy between large business
enterprises and progressive government “the Big Business-governmental complex.”
This complex crushes smaller businesses not involved in the
conspiracy to increase government spending, one of the principal causes of
inflation. And, at the same time, Big Business gets rid of price reducing
competition.
Big Business in our time has reached a concordat with Big
Government. You keep spending money and inflating the currency, Big Business
says to Big Government, and we will continue raising prices so that we may pass
along to you the tax dollars you have not levied to pay for your extravagant
spending. In this way, you cannot be accused of raising taxes, and we will be
able to price out of what used to be called “the free market” our more
enterprising, more creative competitors. It’s a win, win for both of us. And to
show our appreciation for your efforts on our behalf, here is a modest campaign
donation.
The Republican Party is no longer the party of Big Business.
It has been supplanted by a tax greedy, spendthrift, leftist Democrat Party.
In a review of the 30 biggest political donors on the
Fortune 500, how much. net tells us, “Financial institutions
dominate the marketplace for political donations, making up six of the top ten
companies. Goldman Sachs is in first place by a long shot, shoveling $11.5M to
members of both parties. The bank’s money is split almost evenly across the
aisle—possibly showing an effort to hedge against whichever party controls the
levers of power. Charles Schwab provides an interesting contrast with Goldman
in that the discount broker spends almost 70% of its political donations on
Democrats. Microsoft and Apple also crack the top ten, but both companies
clearly favor Democrats a lot more than Republicans, pumping 80% and 88%,
respectively, of their political money into candidates on the left.”
Is anyone surprised?
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