Those Poor Wealthy People

Walter E. Williams latest column has everything I could ask for. He makes a beautifully impractical and wrong-headed proposal (which I'll get to in a moment). And he uses his favorite tic, that of putting words in his readers mouth. You might say, "Wait a moment, Bryant, what do you mean by that?" Well kind of just like that.

But back to his impractical and wrong-headed proposal. Basically he proposes the wealthy should get more votes.

So here's my idea. Every American regardless of any other consideration should have one vote in any federal election. Then, every American should get one additional vote for every $10,000 he pays in federal income tax. With such a system, there'd be a modicum of linkage between one's financial stake in our country and his decision-making capacity.

The impractical part of this scheme is that in order to pass it you have to make explicit that the poor just don't count. I mean we all know that that's true anyway. I gave some $300 in political contributions during this election cycle, which is probably somewhat above the median for all U.S. Citizens, and I have exactly no possibility of getting personal consideration of what I'd like in Government. We all know that it's the guys who can make donations with lots of zeroes in them (before the decimal point) that can get their representatives ear (Republican or Democrat).

William's system just makes that explicit. And of course it is a spit in the face of people who work hard, raise kids, pay their taxes, but don't make enough to have to pay $10,000 in taxes. It denies the egalitarian spirit of the Declaration of Independence. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

Williams proposal, in effect, says that we are not created equal, but that the wealthy deserve a little more. Well, the truth is they get more than a little more already. Do we need to make it explicit?

I will say that if Mr. Williams proposal was part of a larger plan of complete publice financing of Senate and House races, I might be able to compromise. But I'm pretty sure Mr. Williams buys the "money equals speech" argument and so would want the Wealthy to retain that part of their power over the United States Government as well.