Defending, Taxes, Regulations, and Public Goods

I support reasonable gun safety regulations. For similar reasons, I don't support dangerous technology proliferating. I hope there are ways that people can share scientific discoveries, because as humanity's knowledge increases, people's lives are better off. I hope that technology is used to increase people's quality of life, and not just as a tool to increase power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands or as a tool of war. Maybe that's naive. I'm sure there are no simple, easy answers.

It's funny that some people will say things like, "That economist or political theorist, he is bad and wrong! But the economist or political theorist I like, he is a good and figured everything out!" Now, I think that probably no single person figured everything out, and probably drawing ideas from multiple sources is okay. I really doubt that (name your economist or political theorist) had the solution to every problem. There are underlying values that you might agree with them on, such as equity, equality of opportunity, and so on, and maybe rather thinking that “my guy” (Marx, or Friedman, or Chomsky, or whoever), figured everything out and we should just do whatever they say, maybe focusing specific solutions, focus on the underlying value or goal. I like progressive economists, but it’s not because I think they’re infallible, it’s because I agree with their underlying values and policy goals of decreasing wealth inequality and equality of opportunity, and funding public education. For instance, does this solution increase or decrease wealth inequality? Does it increase access to education and healthcare?

Some people are determined that tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization, work no matter what. Environmental regulations can preserve access to clean water, clean air. Public goods and spaces (city and national parks, public education) increase access to people who might not be able to go to those places otherwise. Public goods are things that no one has the incentive to pay for individually, but that we all benefit from having. Taxes can account for negative externalities and decrease wealth inequality. After years, really decades, of tax cuts, deregulation, and privatization, I don’t feel more wealthy, safe, or free. I would feel more wealthy, if there were policies that helped the poor, middle class, and families. I would feel more safe if there were reasonable gun regulations. I would feel more free, if more people had opportunity, and their opportunities and lives weren’t limited by the zip code they were born in.

President Biden, Vice President Harris, and their colleagues in the House and Senate, are making headway on these problems. If we can see so far now, it's because we're standing on the shoulders of giants, and the leaders who came before us. There’s still more work, there’s always more work, but we’re making progress.