Out of Egypt:

The Conscience of a Moderate

Since I've been posting a lot on politics lately, both on my blog and Facebook, I thought it might be worthwhile to write up something to outline where I stand overall. It's been frustrating to me for the past few years to see how extreme our political debate in the US has become. So, in that light, here is my counter-manifesto: The Conscience of a Moderate.

I didn't leave the Republican Party; the Republican Party left me.

I still believe in equality of opportunity, not equality of outcome. However, I am skeptical that our current system, if completely unregulated and the safety net removed, could produce equal opportunity. The US is now one of the least socially mobile of Western nations.

The following principles define for me the proper role of the government in society:

1. Reducing income inequality through taxation of the rich is not a legitimate function of the government. As long as they earned their money legally, to take it away out of a mere perception that they have "more than enough" is grossly unjust, and contrary to the spirit of charity.
2. The government, however, is charged by God to be a minister of the common good. Insofar as the government can benefit its citizens without creating dependency and without perpetuating secularism, it should do so. More specifically, the government should work to ensure that there are good schools, safe streets, a healthy natural environment, and a strong national infrastructure for all. The government should also work to promote science and the useful arts, but not anoint winners and losers in business, since the free market is more efficient in determining these.
3. Furthermore, the government should work to promote justice and prevent discrimination. This can include financial, business, and civil rights regulation, though regulations must be evaluated carefully to ensure that they are necessary and that the cost of the regulation is less than the cost (moral or fiscal, or both) of not regulating.
4. Finally, the government should provide for the national defense, to ensure that the nation is respected abroad, should regulate foreign trade, and protect the country's borders. That said, the government should avoid needless foreign entanglements and pursue peace insofar as it is possible, should ensure that foreign aid truly promotes our nation's aims and that it does not create dependency or corruption, should not impose burdens on free trade while ensuring that other countries are not taking advantage of the trade system, and should have an hospitable immigration policy.
5. The government should have an adequate revenue stream to support #'s 2, 3, 4. It may use taxation to collect this revenue, without becoming inherently unjust or coercive. Rather, taxation, at its best, is an expression of the same social contract by which we elect our representatives, since taxation should be for ends that serve the needs of society as a whole. In light of this, all people in the nation, except the destitute, should participate in taxation. However, it is not inherently wrong for those who have more wealth to pay taxes at a higher percentage rate, as long as this is done to meet the government's revenue needs, rather than out of a desire to redistribute wealth.
6. Over the long term, the government should not be in debt. However, in some times of national economic crisis, it may be necessary to accumulate debt until the economy can recover, since austerity spending would prolong the crisis. In such circumstances, however, the government should have a plan for how it will balance its budget again once the economy improves.