The Servile Society - Part I

Consider the policies on taxation and Government preferred by Republicans. On the one hand they want taxes eliminated (or very nearly so) on interest, dividends and capital gains. Now, if this policy wish is enacted then those who own large amounts of property can meet all their expenditures from these sources, live a rich and comfortable life and avoid paying taxes all together, or very nearly so. In this world taxes would be collected almost entirely from the wages of those who labor in order to provide for their expenses.

On the other hand, the only role that Republicans see for Government is police and military. These essentially serve to defend and protect property. Yes, there would still be the odd serial killer I suppose, but most crime and war are directed at property not lives. Recall, however, that those who own most of the property are now paying nearly nothing in taxes but deriving nearly all the benefit from the taxes paid. Those who are paying the taxes, however, own little of the property, and therefore derive no direct benefit from the taxes they pay.

This is the world that the modern Republican party is trying to bring into being. A society consisting of two classes of people the property owning, privileged class, and the working or servile class. Indeed it would seem that the two things that most outrage Republicans is either the propertied class paying any part of the cost of defending their property or the working class deriving any benefit whatsoever from the taxes that they pay. This is a world I refer to as the "Servile Society" in honor of the less desirable of these two classes of people. As I hope is clear, this is not a world I want to see brought into being.