When discussing various problems that exist in our country, Democrats often bring up “more government” as a solution. One of the many issues that Democrats scream about is income inequality. They want to close the gap between the poor and the rich, and they believe that more government intrusion is the way to do so. However, this “solution” is anything but a solution and is instead a way to prolong and perpetuate income inequality in America. When it comes to income inequality, it’s not the government’s job to *do* something, but to get out of the way. As Ronald Reagan famously said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” Let’s discuss.
Democrats believe that the solution to reducing the income gap between the rich and the poor is to tax anyone who is well-off at astronomical rates. More tax dollars taken from the wealthy can be put into social programs to help the poor. However, these social programs have done absolutely nothing to reduce poverty over the years; in fact, they have only increased it. Since The War on Poverty began in the 1960s, poverty and homelessness have statistically worsened, and more people than ever are now dependent on the government to meet their needs.
Taking money from the rich to pour into social welfare programs for the poor simply creates more dependency on the government, and the vicious cycle continues for generations. The solution to reducing income inequality is to make it easier for the poor to find jobs to support themselves with, which takes us to the issue of job creation.
Job creation is an issue in which government intrusion could not be more harmful. When it comes to creating jobs, and therefore decreasing income inequality, the government needs to get out of the way. Businesses can only create jobs if they can afford to do so, either by increasing sales or decreasing the cost of business.
Unfortunately, overregulation by the government is killing business owners. Your everyday, small business owner cannot afford to keep up with the constant regulations that the government imposes on businesses.
The best thing that the government can do to create jobs is to remove the burdensome and unnecessary regulations that have been forced upon businesses. In other words, in order to SOLVE problems, the government must get out of the way and let privatization and the free markets work the way they were meant to.
Sources:
http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2014/09/the-war-on-poverty-after-50-years
http://www.forbes.com/sites/louiswoodhill/2014/03/19/the-war-on-poverty-wasnt-a-failure-it-was-a-catastrophe/
