We the People Are Speaking … but Will Our Government Listen?

Question: Are government policies hurting the people they are intended to help?  Get the facts before you answer.

 

According to a recent Rasmussen Report, the majority of Americans believe that the fastest way to close the income gap is to take the government out of the equation.  The national telephone survey found that 69% of U.S. residents believe the salary gap is an issue that deserves attention; but 59% think that it can best be solved without the government intervening in the economy.

 

Responses to this question varied depending on party affiliation.  53% of Democrats say that more government involvement will narrow the income gap; while 87% of Republicans believe the poor can best be served without government interference in the economy.  59% of unaffiliated voters say less government involvement is the better course.

 

But more than any demographic, it is those who are involved with the government who believe the government should take an active goal in reducing income inequality.  61% of the ‘political class’ think more government activism will best address the issue.  (That might have something to do with their ‘job security.’)  However, 70% of mainstream voters see less government involvement as a better way to close the income gap.

 

And when researchers asked respondents the broader question of whether or not they thought increased federal or state involvement would make society “more fair, less fair or remain about the same,” a plurality, 48%, said that society would be less fair.  If the economy treats any group unfairly, it is the middle class, say the study’s respondents. Most voters believe the U.S. economy is fair to women, blacks and Hispanics, but more than ever — 66% — view it as unfair to the middle class.

 

President Obama focused on the middle class and income inequality in his State of the Union address.  Though Obama keeps insisting that income inequality is the “defining challenge of our time,” most Americans beg to differ.

 

A recent Gallup nation-wide survey asked – “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?”  Dissatisfaction with the federal government — its incompetence, abuse, dysfunction, venality — topped the list … with 21% of respondents saying it was their key concern.  The overall state of the economy was second, at 18%. Unemployment and health care were tied for third, with each cited by 16% as the nation's most pressing problem.

 

When asked how many shared Obama's view that the gap between rich and poor is the issue that should concern us most? … there was just 4%.

 

Yet this president has been banging this drum since his 2008 candidacy.  (Remember: He told ‘Joe the Plumber’ that it was good for everybody when the government acts to “spread the wealth around.”)  He told the Center for American Progress last December that “increased inequality and decreasing mobility pose a fundamental threat to the American Dream,” and warned that America's basic bargain — ‘If you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead’ — is disintegrating.

 

Class-war rhetoric excites the Democratic base.  There have always been some voters for whom nothing is more repellent than a growing gap between the rich and the non-rich, or a stronger justification for more government regulation.  But most Americans don't react that way.  “When is the last time you heard a shoeshine person or a taxicab driver complain about inequality?” asks economist John C. Goodman.  “For most people, having a lot of rich people around is good for business.”

 

Obsessing over other people's riches isn't healthy.  In a relatively free society, wealth is typically earned.  Of course, there are exceptions.  Some people cheat their way to a fortune; some are just lucky; some pull political favors.  But on the whole, Americans with a lot of money have usually produced more, worked harder, or aimed higher than the rest of us.  Inequality is built into the human condition, and the world is generally better off when people of uncommon talent and industry are free to climb as high as their abilities will take them.

 

According to a 2010 Congressional Budget Office report, income inequality stands only slightly higher now than the average of the past 30-years.

 

To be sure, it has grown harder under this administration to climb up from the lowest quintile.  But that has little to do with the ‘millionaires and billionaires’ … whom the left so often vilifies.  It has much more to do with government policies that have undermined work incentives, increased dependency, and priced the low-skilled unemployed out of the labor market.

 

Mr. President: The “defining challenge of our time” isn't to end inequality or redistribute the income of the wealthy.  Far more important is to GET THE GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE WAY, and enable more of the poor to climb their way to success.

 

Rev. Dr. Kenneth L. Beale, Jr.

Chaplain (Colonel-Ret), U.S. Army

Pastor, Ft. Snelling Memorial Chapel