Public choice economics...

There's an interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor today that reviews the massive wealth redistribution that is occuring in the United States. According to the article, nearly 60% of the federal budget is now redistributed wealth. This is explained by "public choice theory" or "pluralism." Essentially, various constituent groups lobby for wealth to be taken and distributed to them and the government is pulled in the direction of the strongest groups. These groups have a strong incentive to lobby for their interests (millions of dollars) while the average taxpayer's incentive to lobby on their own behalf is much smaller. Put another way, coerced taxation is spread over millions of taxpayers while the collected monies are directed to a much smaller group of people. One example of this is the senior lobby. As the population ages, the senior lobby will continue to grow at the expense of everyone else. Or if you believe, as I do, that entitlement programs perpetuate and not end poverty, you will see that the wealth redistibution curve will grow exponentially as welfare programs are enacted.

What does this all mean? It means that regardless of the party that is in office, the country is heading toward socialism. Simple economics shows that the incentives are stronger for those that benefit from wealth redistribution than for those that do not. We simply have to hope that the taxpayers rise up and become a vocal voice against wealth redistribution, regardless of how much of they have to lose or gain...