Bill O'Reilly, Taxes and Medicare...What is the best plan? What is the best political theory?

Bill O'Reilly, Taxes and Medicare...What is the best plan?

It is hard to find a better advocate of Right Wing conservative ideals
than Bill O'Reilly (of Fox News O'Rielly Factor). Although I find many
of his views abhorrent…I sometimes enjoy his program. I really want to
believe he genuinely is seeking solutions to the problems of our
world. When he argues for a position, he usually seems to have a
rational argument behind it…as opposed to simply standing behind a
position due to blind faith. I also want to believe he would alter his
view if he discovered it was flawed, which is a hallmark of a person
on a path towards wisdom. 

Do I think Bill O'Reilly is wise? Mmm…no. I think he is a little
sleazy in the way he uses his show to trounce views he disagrees with.
He does invite opposing opinions on the show, but he happily talks
over them and bully's them when it is convenient. Nonetheless, I
suppose such tactics are fair game in a public debate. I just
personally find them distasteful. 

In any case, let's return the subject that is more important than the
character of any single person: The problems of our society. I mention
Bill O'Rielly because he was recently generous enough to encapsulate
the Right Wing Conservative vision of America in his recent Talking
Points Memo. In this memo he credited the recent signs of economic
recovery to George Bush's tax cuts for the rich, but then he goes on
to say, "The federal government is spending far too much money on
entitlements and wasteful programs that don't work." And next O'Reilly
very nicely defines the two basic opposing schools of thoughts (from
his perspective) regarding taxes and social benefit programs. 

He begins with the Left "Liberal Vision". He says, 

"You cannot run a nanny state as the far left wants and have
reasonable taxation. That's impossible. The left wants an economy run
by the government, with money going to every social and medical
program imaginable..." 

Mr. O'Reilly then describes the Right wing view, which he obviously
favors: 

"The conservative take is a supply side system, whereby consumers
spend and jobs are created by the private sector, which profits from
the spending, obviously. No one in this country should pay more than
half their income to the government. That is not how capitalism works.
If we want to change over to socialism, let's discuss it." 

Well, there we have it, the Left wing liberal vision and the right
wing conservative vision. Which one is the right idea?  And if you
want your answer to really matter, speak in a forum where wisdom rises
to the top.  

Join us at The Wisdom Project, the worlds only open source think tank.

http://www.thesearchforwisdom.com

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