May 30, 2003

"Be Not Afraid": Trusting in God

By: Kevin McLaughlin

Dedicated to our Governor and the Legislators wrestling with legislation intended to grow Iowa's economy.

In the last editorial, "The Rising Road,"  we put the universe into three categories for purposes of identifying the basic laws, and to simplify the structure making for lighter reading than your typical Western Civics, or economics textbook.  In this missive, tax reform will be set to a favorite hymn and, in spite of the groans that are almost audible, I ask that you read on and see what you think because this will be short.  And it's intended for people of all faiths.

The hymn is entitled, "Be Not Afraid" and it's been a favorite for a long time.

The lyrics describing God's care for us go as follows:

Be not afraid,  I go before you always

Come follow Me,  And I will give you rest.

Keeping the "Rising Road" analogy in mind with the laws of physics for the roadbed, and the laws of economics and morality for guardrails to keep mankind on the road to a better life and standard of living, let's look at the lyrics again.

First, "Be not afraid" meaning that God does care about us.

Second, "I go before you always," meaning that God is always present, and that the laws of physics, economics and morality are always going to be present to help us make sense of the universe that's been created for us, and to help us make consistent progress within it.

Third, "Come follow Me," tells us that we are not only using the laws that have been created so as to make our universe predictable and reliable, but that we are actually following a path.  In other words, mankind always had the ability to fly, even during the reign of Babylonian kings.  But mankind had not progressed along the path to the point where we could understand and produce the technology that a 747 aircraft requires to function.  But there's a lot more for us in the future, and our progress may only be limited by our collective imaginations.

Lastly, "And I will give you rest," means that to take any other course than the ones that embrace each of these sets of laws will only create hardship and fatigue for us.  Recycling an example from the Rising Road editorial related to the laws of economics, governments should not print money without something to make it valuable.  Otherwise, the laws of economics prevail and make the currency worthless, as was the case in the Weimar Republic after WW I.

How does this relate to our present circumstance as a state and as a nation?  From a historical perspective, the U.S. has defeated its enemies and is now the only superpower in the world.  American citizens have paid an enormous price to win these victories since WW I in the forms of lives lost, freedoms foregone and rising taxation to pay all the bills. 

For the U.S., it's time that our government becomes more competitive.  Before WW I, there were only 12 democracies from which to choose globally, if you wanted to be free.  Today there are 89 full democracies and another 20, or so, partial democracies.  So, America has lots of competition. 

The point is that mankind has been on the move since we were gathering food, instead of producing it, 20,000 years ago, and we as Iowans and as Americans, can either be the point of departure, or the destination.  For Iowa, all the states around us are very vulnerable.  Former Minnesota Congressman Tim Penny said just this morning that his state is facing an enormous deficit and has no plan to address it.  This is Iowa's opportunity if we discount our rates.

The Governor wants a Values Fund and the Republicans are skeptical for very good reasons.  Republicans want lower tax rates and less business regulation, but the Democrats are concerned about the deficits.  We can, in fact, have both, if our tax rates are low enough.  People and businesses in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Ohio and New York are all going to be looking for alternatives.  Let's give them one that puts more money in the pockets of Iowa taxpayers, immediately, and builds long-term wealth for ourselves through higher property values, as people and businesses pour in here like Iowa was a Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve.  

It can happen if we believe, and if Iowa and the U.S. follow the examples that have been set in other places like Hong Kong, Korea, Ireland and even Russia.  Discounting is good for individuals and for governments, and that's the opportunity that we have before us as a state and as a nation.  Discounting puts more money in your pocket and it creates new tax streams for governments as more jobs and businesses are created in expanding economies.  Believe it.  Mankind couldn't have come this far in the past 20,000 years if our universe wasn't rigged for us to succeed.  But we have to trust and we have to make the right decisions for ourselves.

THE FIRST TO DISCOUNT ALWAYS GETS THE BIGGEST RETURN.  SUPPORT YOUR STATE AND YOUR COUNTRY'S EFFORTS TO BECOME MORE COMPETITIVE BY DISCOUNTING OUR TAXES.  DON'T BE A DEMOCRAT OR A REPUBLICAN ON THIS CRITICAL ISSUE.  SIMPLY BE AN IOWAN AND AN AMERICAN TODAY! 

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