King for a Day

I have lost all faith and trust in the ability of the Federal Government (all three branches; Executive, Legislative & Judicial) to properly govern the affairs of our country. This is due in large part to a mostly apathetic, uneducated, immoral, amoral and dependent citizenry. In a sense we have the government that we deserve. President George Washington warned that a democratic form of government would only likely succeed with a moral citizenry. I think that even our financial system is corrupt. Adam Smith only discussed the concept of money in The Wealth of Nations in conjunction with ethics and morality. He referred to money as an ethical standard. I don’t believe that really is the case now. We are not teaching our children to understand our form of government or economics. People are shackled by unconscionable personal debt, have no concept of work, saving and thrift, believe that they should have anything that they want and believe that the Government will take care of them if and when they can’t. What a recipe for disaster! So, can we regain our footing? I’m not really sure. But there are a few things that I would do were I king for a day:

· Mandatory 2-year public service at graduation from high school or upon turning 18. It could be military or some other paid public service. Don’t tell me that we can’t order people around like that. We did it during the military draft. And we do it every day when we force people to pay mandatory taxes. My money IS my time. Most Americans work for the government through May each year to pay taxes before they can keep a penny for themselves. That’s 4-5 months of involuntary government servitude every year.
· Maybe property ownership to vote.
· Proof of basic civics knowledge to be allowed to vote.
· A 22% Federal Sales Tax, the ‘FairTax’ (NOT a V.A.T.) to replace the Income (Personal and Corporate) Tax, along with abolishing all Capital Gains Taxes and all Estate/Death/Inheritance/Gift Taxes.
· Outlawing all personal consumer credit other than one primary home mortgages for the sole purpose of the home purchase. No 2nd, 3rd home equity loans to finance cars or vacations to Hawaii. No car loans. No further credit card purchases or credit. Cards could still be used for purchases/travel, but only to the amount of cash in the personal bank account backing the card. Current credit payment contracts/rates would be locked and then after 7 years all unpaid balances would be forgiven with no tax implications.