The Politician's New Tax Cut

-by Sam Lowry

Many years ago there was a Politician so exceedingly fond of the trappings of his office that he spent all his time and money on re-election. He cared nothing about meeting his constituents, proposing new legislation, or giving speeches, unless those actions helped him stay in office. Instead of saying, as one might about any other leader, “The Senator's in a committee meeting,” here they always said “The Politician's meeting with his donors.”

In the great city where he legislated, life was always gay. Every day many strangers came to town, and among them one day were two swindler brothers. They let it be known they were job creators, and they said they could write the most magnificent bills imaginable. Not only would greatness and wealth come to the nation if these bills were enacted, but also vast sums of money would be donated by them to helpful politicians. Plus, these bills had a wonderful way of being criticized only by politicians who were unfit for office, or by voters who were unusually stupid.

“Those would be just the bills for me,” thought the Politician. “All of the very serious people are praising them, and my support may result in donations for my re-election. Yes, I certainly must learn more.”

So the Politician went to the restaurant where the two swindlers sat eating the finest cuisine, and they handed him a proposed bill creating a roving right to shoot if threatened in public places, and creating a legal presumption that the shooter acted lawfully.

“Heaven help me,” he thought as his eyes flew wide open, “This license to kill is a terrible idea!” But he did not say so.

Both the swindlers begged him to be so kind as to read a report they had prepared which detailed how many innocent lives would be saved by the bill, and how many jobs would be created in gun manufacture and funeral businesses. And they showed him an op-ed supporting the bill which had appeared in a distinguished newspaper they owned.

“Heaven have mercy,” the Politician thought. “Can it be that I'm a fool? I'd have never guessed it, and not a soul must know. Am I unfit to represent my constituents? It would never do to let on that this law makes no sense.”

“Don't hesitate to tell us what you think of the bill,” said one of the swindlers.

“Oh, it's beautiful-- it's enchanting.” The Politician peered through his spectacles. “I'll be sure to support it.”

“We're pleased to hear that,” the swindlers said.

The Politician was gratified to later hear the wisdom of his support praised on all of the Sunday political talk shows, and he received a donation from the swindlers which was so large that it single-handedly guaranteed the Politician's re-election.

Time passed, and the swindlers got many bills enacted with the help of the Politician. All of these bills put money in their pocket, very much more money than they ever needed to hand out as donations, and they became ever more influential. Eventually, the Politician stopped holding constituent meetings in order to have more time to spend working with the swindlers.

One day the swindlers handed him a bill proposing to eliminate taxation on capital gains. High capital gains taxes have devastated industries such as banking, housing, and real estate, they told him. And they revealed that many economists in their employ believed that greater economic activity spurred by lower capital gains taxes would generate enough tax revenue to pay for the revenue loss caused by the tax cut.

“What's this?” thought the Politician. “Income from capital gains is somehow different from other income? And tax cuts on capital gains will pay for themselves? I thought that nonsense had been discredited decades ago. This is terrible! Am I a fool? Am I unfit to be a politician?”

“Oh! That bill makes a lot of sense!” he said. “It has my highest approval.” And he nodded approbation at the bill.

A re-election campaign was underway at that time, and one day the Politician's minister of social media announced: “It is time for your first virtual town hall.” This was a new type of event where the Politician had to answer questions on the record and at length, with the topics and questioners determined by his constituents. He had refused to do these in the past, but his opponents in the current election were doing them on a weekly basis, and it turned out it looked very bad if you were the only candidate unwilling to dialogue with the voters.

His first questioner at the town hall was a little child, barely out of economics graduate school. She had questions about the proposed new tax cut. The Politician found himself unable to explain why capital gain income was special, and his claim that the tax cut would pay for itself sounded very unconvincing even to himself. The segment seemed like the longest 20 minutes of his life. At the end of it the little child said “thanks for your time, but it's pretty obvious that this tax cut will only result in taking money from those in need, and giving it to those who are already wealthy. I fail to see why anyone who isn't both wealthy and self-centered would support this tax cut-- or your re-election, for that matter.”

“Did you ever hear such innocent prattle?” said the Politician to his minister of social media afterwards, shortly before he fired him. “Fortunately I stayed on message, and nobody pays attention to town hall meetings anyway.”

But as it turns out this particular event had been video recorded, and the video and transcripts were soon uploaded and their links emailed to interested constituents. One recipient liked the video of the segment enough to send its link to two friends, and so on, and so on, until it went viral and all the town was saying that the new tax cut would only result in taking money from those in need, and giving it to those who are already wealthy.

The Politician shivered, for he suspected they were right.

THE END

Thanks for reading my update of Hans Christian Andersen's parable. Any resemblance to real democracies, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Virtual town halls do exist, at least in an online white paper. They are an e-democracy initiative, and have these four components:

1. Representatives and their constituents commit to hold weekly discussions about voter concerns with an emphasis on dialogue

2. The topics and questioners are selected democratically through an online forum.

3. The discussion format is a moderated private video-conference

4. The discussion is afterwards archived with complete video clips and transcripts posted online

I invite you to stop by the proposal website for more details, and to send me your feedback.

I have started a petition to implement Town Halls along these lines in the Executive branch, at the ‘We The People’ Petition website. The text is below, and the petition is discussed in more detail here. If you wish, you can sign it here.

Begin a New Tradition of Dialoguing with the American People Through Frequent Town Hall Meetings

Congress is currently dysfunctional and its approval rating is at the 13% level.

President Obama has stated, in a single sentence, both the problem and its solution: “That’s why I like getting out of the Washington echo chamber whenever I can-- because too often, our politics aren’t focused on the same things you are.”

We call on the administration to show Congress the way forward by inviting the American people inside the Beltway.

You can accomplish this by beginning a new e-democracy tradition of frequent, low-key town hall meetings (see vtownhall.org). In these, ordinary voters will dialogue with administration leaders, with the voters and topics democratically chosen at an online forum open to all Americans.

The first ‘Fireside Chat’ was 81 years ago-- begin a new tradition!

If you know of any current representatives (or candidates for office) who you feel would be interested in the virtual town hall concept, please contact them to suggest that they consider running a demonstration one as described here, and include a link to the proposal website.