Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Policies I am in favor of.

This is stuff that seems acheivable and desirable. It is intended to be a general framework, not a complete list and is vague in some places for that reason. I am going to expand on this points in future posts. One every wednesday until done.

1. Class mobility should be increased. I believe the elimination of classes is not possible as a function of public policy. Therefore increased mobility is the best method of preventing destructive class struggles. 2, 3 to support this goal.
2. Rent seeking should be curtailed as much as possible. It redistributes wealth to those who are already well off, and rent seekers protecting their turf often interfere with the adoption of sane public policy.
3. Inherited wealth should be taxed at high enough rate that it dissipates in two or three generations. Both for individuals and foundations.
4. Families should be subsidized and protected.
5. I oppose all forms eugenics, support free birth control, and want to restrict abortion more than it is now.
6. Advocate subsidiaritywhere practical with a larger entity to step in, in case of local failure – for both government and private entities.
7. Markets need to be corrected by government intervention. Some behaviors prohibited and externalities corrected.
8. Against the “This can never be allowed to happen again” mentality as its goal is unrealistic and unduly hampers normal functioning. As an example I oppose Sarbanes-Oxley.
9. Research should be amply funded, through various mechanisms. I have some ideas on how this could be done differently than it is now.
10. Practicality and people should always be above ideology.

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