The recent Occupy Wall Street protests have some people scratching their heads wondering what they are about. I get what they are about, make no mistake, but the problem is that they aren't about any one thing. Everyone there has a voice in what it is about. Just as a mental exercise, I figured I would put down what my thoughts are.
First: electoral reform.
Well, when you talk of this, most people think of the electoral college, the silly way we elect a President, but being real about it, we only use this for those two offices (President and Vice President), and while I grant that these are the most important offices in the country, they aren't the be all and end all of government, and don't even make up the biggest part of the government.
No, the bigger problem is that we have a system of voting that only works well when there are only two candidates. Add a third one, and the losers will be the ones who think most alike, regardless of whether or not the people think that way, too. They'll split the ticket.
But because people realize this, the majority won't vote for any candidate they don't think will win. This, in turn, makes sure that only the two major parties can ever win.
Compounding this problem, the only people in the position to fix this are those who have a vested interest in it not being fixed.
My solution? Instant runoff voting. When you vote, you pick your first, second and third choices. Each vote goes to the person listed first on the ballot. If nobody has a majority, the person in last place is taken out of the running, and the votes are redistributed according to second choice. Lather, rinse, repeat. In the end, someone wins, but it removes the futility of voting for a Cynthia McKinney or a Ralph Nader.
Second: Fair tax structure.
I'm not a big fon of Herman Cain. I'm not sure his 9-9-9 program is excactly right, but I think he is on to something here. If you combined it with the continued ability to take deductions and writeoffs, it could be okay. I'm just thinking that the two major things to change here are to get rid of the concept of tax brackets, and to break down the wall that counts capital gains differently than salary. Income is income.
Some may point out that if the value of your family home rises, that this will cause you a tax burden. Remember what I said about writeoffs? I'd think a writeoff for a primary residence is probably fine to solve this problem.
While we're talking about the home, let's also talk about property tax. I believe these are one of the most regressive taxes around, because they tax an asset, rather than a revenue or expenditure. Revenues and expenditures involve money moving; assets are in stasis. Just because an asset has a value, that does not mean that a portion of that value can be extracted for the payment of taxes. The sanctity of a family's home should be protected better than that.
Third and finally: universal health care.
Every civilized nation in the world has it. That we don't have it puts us in the company of the third world.
But let me make a better argument, or at least point out the inconsistency of the detractors. Those who oppose this often cite small business as the hope for the future.
Bull.
If you believed it, you would make it possible for entrepreneurs such as me to be able to quit our day jobs and go forth full-bore into our small businesses. What's stopping me? Astronomical costs of private health care insurance, that's what!
Now, I don't suffer the illusion that this will be free. No, I rather understand that by getting everyone into the risk pool, you lower costs for all. That doesn't just mean full coverage for the terminally ill (obviously a cost), but also collecting from the young, vibrant and healthy who otherwise might forego health insurance.
Getting back to the protests, I think these are the mirror image of the tea party movement. Both movements have one idea in common, and that is that things in this country are seriously messed up, and that something's got to give. This is a start. Maybe we'll get a better country out of it.