The Deficit Cart and The Growth Horse |
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| Media Link - Washington Times | ||||
| Tuesday, 08 September 1992 00:00 | ||||
I disagree with the implications of Paul Craig Roberts' Aug. 26, 1992, column, "Baker regency roller." Mr. Roberts writes: "Neither will Mr. Bush's tax cut talk excite conservatives. It's the ancient Republican promise that sometime in the future, after we have earned the reward with the pain and suffering of budget balancing, we will cut taxes. Republicans have been putting the deficit cart before the growth horse for a half century. Only Ronald Reagan put the horse before the cart." The idea that we have to somehow choose between tax cuts and budget balancing represents a false alternative. In fact, we need both tax and spending cuts on an unprecedented scale if our economy is to survive in the long run. Yet nobody in the conservative movement -- not even the Jack Kemp conservatives -- appears willing to acknowledge this. If we are to escape our current budget gridlock, we must first adopt the right philosophy. We need to reject the idea that man's worth is determined by the sacrifice of his life, his property and his happiness to supposedly nobler ends. Instead, we must pursue a philosophy of rational and enlightened self-interest. This means that an individual's self-worth is determined by the achievement of his potential -- and not the amount of money he surrenders to the cannibalistic welfare-regulatory state. This also means that we adopt the idea of limited self-government proposed by the Founders. The welfare- regulatory state must be carefully yet decisively dismantled, even if it takes a generation to do so. The philosophy of enlightened self-interest, with an emphasis on both increased freedom and responsibility for one's actions, is the only way to protect life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- the original traditional values. Until those of us in the minority of the academic-media establishment explicitly reject the philosophy of self-sacrifice, freedom does not stand a chance. If we defend the virtue of self-interest, however, our enemies on the left will collapse more swiftly than the Berlin Wall. In the cultural war at home, good ideas are all the ammunition we need.
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