Here is the third in a series of questions.
- Question for Liberal Democrats (UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: QUESTION 1).
- Question for Conservative Republicans (UNSOLVED MYSTERIES: QUESTION 2)
The purpose here is to ask Conservative Republicans and Liberal Democrats an approximation of the same question the way a “Moderates” would ask it. How should we phrase the question?
What exactly is a “Moderate”? Ostensibly, the dictionary matters. Supposedly, a “Moderate” is someone who avoids extremes (see moderate), but who, as a practical matter, does not consider themselves a “Moderate.”
We speak of Left-Wingers and Right-Wingers, but these terms are not helpful. We call Communists Left-Wing in the extreme and Nazis Right-Wing in the extreme, but the political ideologies do not differ significantly (see OF TWISTED WORDS => LEFT-WING AND RIGHT-WING).
What seems to matter more is how much government we want. That is, at one extreme we have anarchy and at the other extreme we have totalitarianism. Moreover, our political parties differ primarily based upon how much government they want to implement. Whereas the Republicans Party promotes limited government (Some Republican politicians, admittedly, only pay lip service to the concept.), Democrat politicians promote more government (Most Democrat politicians are Socialists.). That suggests a “Moderate” is someone who wants more government than Republican politicians want and less government than Democrat politicians want. That suggests that swing voters are, at least in a statistical sense, “Moderates.”
Note that swing voters are not necessarily moderate in the true sense of the word. Just because we happen to be at the statistical middle does not make us truly moderate. For example, the vast majority of the people in a totalitarian state will at least pay lip service to the idea that their form of government is wonderful, but support for totalitarianism is morally indefensible. In addition, totalitarianism is at one extreme of the political spectrum. Therefore, being like everyone else does not make us a moderate.
The other extreme, anarchy, is not moderate either. Consider why anarchy is a rare form of “government.” Anarchists refuse to organize a government. So, Anarchists don’t have the capacity to defend their form of government. This is why pacifists rarely establish governments. Without people who are willing to fight, pacifists cannot defend their borders.
That brings us to the question, and it also brings us to an observation. One question is not going to work. What will a swing voter do? He is going to ask Liberal Democrat politicians and Conservative Republican politicians different questions.
Question for Liberal Democrat politicians?
Question 3A
What is in it for me?
Question for Conservative Republican politicians.
Question 3B
What is it going to cost me?
Do these questions seem a bit too hard on “Moderates”? Is it true that all swing voters lack altruism — are devoid of concern for their families, friends, and neighbors? No. Nevertheless, President Joe Biden just made it blatantly obvious that he believes he can buy votes with the taxpayer’s money. Without any Constitutional authority — without Congressional approval — Biden just announced his intention to forgive hundreds of billions of dollars of student debt (see Biden’s Student Loan Debt Cancellation Is Illegal (victorygirlsblog.com)).
If swing voters are willing to vote to support this kind of bribery, then questions 3A and 3B are actually much too kind.
Citizen Tom 
Tom,
Technically or ideally your observations of Government are spot on.
However, in my opinion, regardless of a person’s political leanings, we all need to face the realities to the changes that have occurred over time in our Democrat Republic.
For example, our National Debt is totally out of control and when our natural resources are depleted by the population growth and demands of Rights of equality increase, the present bubble of debt we are now enjoying will burst into a revolt of rich vs poor in the USA/.
The USA presently has the largest separation of wealth inequality in the world and the reality of a Democrat Republic is that when more voters are on the poor side, they will vote for politicians like Biden.
That’s my opinion of the reality and one reason Tom, I believe the only way in the future to lessen the risk of a revolt between rich and poor in the future is death taxation because once a person dies, he no longer will complain about his wealth or join a revolt to prevent his wealth from being physically taken and distributed to the poor.
As for which side will fight harder to win in a revolt, we need to do something to prevent finding out, in my opinion.
And to begin to pay down the National Debt before the interest exceeds taxes which adds to both inflation and the risk of a future revolt and/or Communism or Socialism governing.
If interested in the in-depth pros and cons of inheritance vs estate taxation, read the link below.
https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/inheritance-taxation-in-oecd-countries-e2879a7d-en.htm
Regards and goodwill blogging.
A balanced report put together by a government-paid mouthpiece. The OECD ( https://www.investopedia.com/terms/o/oecd.asp) helped put together the European Union, which has been a bureaucratic nightmare.
What is the problem with the OECD? The OECD expounds upon the glories of social engineering, propagandizing us with fancy reports. Then the politicians supposedly implement what the OECD has proposed, but the devil is in the details.
Observe again that the OECD is funded by governments. What do think is the chance that OECD is going to bite the hand that feeds them?
There is a very practical reason social engineering DOES NOT WORK. When people manipulate other people, people manipulate other people for their own benefit, not the benefit of the people they are manipulating. Slavery is a good example. Many slave owners claimed and still claim that slavery benefits those they enslave.
What happens with death taxes? Politicians tax the stuffing out of ordinary people. The governing elites don’t pay.
The primary reason we have such a complicated tax system is that that complexity “enhances” revenue, gives politicians more control of us, and enables political cronies to buy and hide the loopholes they need to avoid taxes.
Can I prove what I just said? Not easily, but I shouldn’t have to prove how devious people can be. Look at Biden’s student loan cancelation. Consider the fact that Biden and the Democrats insist upon giving the PLO, a bunch of terrorists, tens of billions of dollars. Look at your own favorite topic, educational reform. Public education is social engineering on steroids. If you don’t like public education, then don’t support any form of social engineering.
We need government to protect our rights. Social engineers don’t care about our rights.
Tom,
Problem with social engineering is today if government tries to take away benefits, people consider government as taking away their Rights to their social benefits
I used the Oecd link only for the details in their pros and cons on the issue of .inheritance or estate taxes.
I wonder if the super rich was faced with having to make a choice if they would choose estate and inheritance taxes instead of a mob of Communists raiding their homes to take l their wealth as what happened in Russia etc.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
.
Consider how furiously the South fought during the Civil War.
Tom,
The number odds of the ten percent of rich which own 50 percent of the USA wealth is not going to be good against the 90 percent who go after their wealth, in my opinion.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Depends. You may wish to consider how the nobles maintained control during the Middle Ages.
For quite some time I’ve thought myself myself a political conservative because believing in limited government, natural rights and freedom, was and is, astonishingly not considered moderate. Probably before I was born I would have been considered moderate with those views but now, even conservatives I know want a more powerful government and don’t seem concerned about public debt.
To make it easier to control us, the people who run public education and the mass media manipulate our language. So, they call what they want us to believe “moderate” when it is nothing of the sort. Unfortunately, it is difficult to reject what we were taught as children.
I think I am a moderate, Tom, although it is hard to measure since extremism has gone moved the middle around so much. Also, to confuse things more, a great many of conservatives annoy me because they are not “right” far enough and they still seem to believe government is the cure for what ails us.
So I really believe that the best thing we can do for “the poor” is to keep the government out of their affairs. I look at what has been done to black folks with welfare policies, ghetto housing, and the destruction of the family, and it isn’t good. I look at the condition of Native Americans, some of the poorest people in the country, and also the most “cared for” by our government. Add in the entire left coast, where we care so, so much for the poor, we’ve now got them all sleeping on the streets addicted to opioids and heroin. We do however, hand out free crack pipes and covid masks and occasionally give them just enough money to buy more drugs.
As to the student loan forgiveness, I feel especially bad for those who just worked their behinds off to get it all paid off….last week. That is how government works, it punished those who do good and rewards those who don’t. It’s a very confusing message if you’re just trying to make your way in the world.
Agreed.
Government has nothing material to give us. We must give the government something or it has nothing. So, once government starts giving us other people’s stuff instead of protecting our rights, politicians must justify stealing from those who work and rewarding those who don’t.
Given time and power Socialists and Communists turns morality upside down. To buy power and votes and support, politicians and bureaucrats will tell us what we crave to hear even if that means saying that what is good is bad and what is bad is good.
Student loan cancelation is a straightforward example. Socialists or Communists punish the people who work and reward those who don’t.