Wealth gap

The Constitution is designed to protect individual rights rather than group rights. The push for group rights emerged in the mid 60’s with affirmative action, shifting away from the colorblind civil rights goals of the 50’s to remedies addressing historical discrimination. Free market capitalism is based on personal economic liberty, self determination and individual effort. Socialism is based on equal outcomes, equity. Democratic socialism operates within the capitalism framework but uses government regulation, progressive taxation and public assistance to lessen inequalities. The country vacillates between free market capitalism and democratic socialism depending on which party is in power. It is necessary that the buildup of wealth precede the redistribution of that wealth.

Rich

The old adage of the rich get richer is grounded in financial common sense. A forty-year-old man has assets totaling one billion dollars. He follows the strategy of borrow till you die and allows his estate to grow at ten percent per year and in forty years he will have $45 billion. He needs one million per year to cover his life style so he borrows that getting a low 5% rate using his assets as collateral. Over the next 40 years he will pay out $41 million in interest but his estate passes to his heirs without paying any capital gains tax or if the money is in an estate trust no estate tax. In addition, there are ways for him to deduct a good part of the interest. The rich do this generation after generation and the wealth gap grows larger. Some suggest raising the income tax rates but these very rich do not pay income tax. The way to stop this is to say that any estate over $10 million will pay tax. This allows small estates to pass without destroying the business and still keeps the super-rich from escaping taxes. Thirty years ago, the billionaires owned $240 billion in assets and today they own $7,800 billion in assets. Much of this money is passed to heirs untaxed. This will also offer incentives for the rich to risk investing in new business ventures.

Issues

What do Americans want for the future of America and is this what is best for America. Using the common-sense approach and tying that to what is practical there are policies that can be agreed to. Bringing manufacturing jobs back home. Having reciprocal trade policies. Asking Europe to provide for their defense instead of relying on the US. Using the Abraham Accords to unite Israel with the Arab oil countries to rebuild Gaza. Asking NATO to pay their share of expenses including troops. Recognizing that wind and solar cannot replace fossil fuels but nuclear can. Having a secure border. Remaining energy independent. Spread the cost of the UN among all parties and not just rely on the US. End the war in Iran. Take steps to reduce the wealth gap. Encourage foreign investment. Promoting private unions. Use AI to increase productivity to keep interest rates low. Increase oversight on government programs to reduce waste and fraud. This means to concentrate on economic and foreign policy and not be distracted by peripheral cultural issues like gender surgery on minors and men in women’s bathrooms and how many sexes there are.

Campaign strategy

As the warmups for the 2028 presidential election get underway the democrats have plans to exploit the anti-Trump energy simmering throughout the party. The policies of the base can be played down by playing up the Trump strategy. This is necessary because many of these policies are unpopular. According to many writers they will concentrate on Trump until after the election when they will be free to come out with their plans. They will rejoin the Paris Accords promoting wind and solar to replace fossil fuels. They will stop deportations and resume an open border policy. They will cancel all tariffs and allow other countries to resume the unfair tariffs of the past. They will resume sending money to Europe to help Ukraine. They will allow the Abraham Accords to languish into the ash heap of history. They will push wind and solar and ignore nuclear power. They will cut back on support for fossil fuels and pass legislation to make fracking more expensive. They will back off the push to bring manufacturing jobs back home. Their primary economic plan will be to tax the rich and use the money for more public assistance programs like universal health and childcare. On the cultural side they will promote men in women’s sports, including locker rooms. They will promote gender surgery on minors and special rights for gays. The writers are basing their idea by following the recent campaign strategies of the recently elected governors of Virginia and New Jersey.

Compassion

The basic platform for the democratic party is based on the old anti colonialism concept of the oppressors over the oppressed. This is founded on the idea that different groups are treated differently. White oppresses dark skins, men oppress women, straights oppress gays, rich oppress the poor, management oppresses labor, Christians oppress non-Christians, thin people oppress fat people, and majorities oppress minorities. Liberals are people who want to protect the powerless from the powerful. It is what Jesus preached and is the moral thing to do. Success is achieved when equal results are the norm. They often view law officers as oppressors and concentrate on justice for the accused. Their basic economic plan is the redistribution of wealth and income and the goal is equity, equal results. This conflicts, in many cases, with the basic concept of free market capitalism but seems to fit nicely with socialism. Keeping people in groups, identity politics, is a way to separate the oppressor from the oppressed. Compassion and the golden rule are the motivating factors.

Israeli wars

Israel became a state in 1948 and immediately five Arab nations, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria declare war on Israel. The war ended in less than a year with Israel winning and expanding their borders. Next came 1956 when Egypt seized control of the Suez Canal and Israel went to war and in a few months took over the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip but were forced by the US to give back the areas. The next war came in 1967 and lasted six days and Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, the Gaza strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. This was followed up with the 1973 attack by Egypt and Syria, the 1982 Lebanon War, the 2006 Lebanon War and various other conflicts up to 2023. Through all of these years Israel was regularly hit with rockets, provided by Iran, by way of Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen with the constant cry of death to Israel. Then in Oct 2023 Hamas soldiers invaded Israel, killed 1,200 and took 250 prisoners. Israel negotiated 21 days to get a prisoner release to no avail and then sent in the army. This resulted in the deaths of 75,000, mostly civilian, because Hamas mingled the troops among the people. This strategy allowed Hamas to show pictures of the innocent people who were killed and allowed them to win the public relations war. The end result was that the Israelis were convicted in the poll of public opinion of genocide.

Iran history

It was in November 1979, one year before the 1980 elections, when Iran took over the US embassy and held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days. The inflation rate was 15%, the unemployment rate 7.5% and the prime interest rate was 11%. A 30-year mortgage was 13% so the housing market was at a standstill. The price of oil tripled and gas prices doubled but the US stayed out of war because of the fear of harming the hostages. The US used economic sanctions against Iran and the day President Reagan was sworn into office Iran released the hostages. They did this to affect the outcome of a American election. Over the years since then, Iran has killed Americans a number times. Beirut Bombings in 1983, the Khobar Towers in 1996, the Iraq War 2003 and Proxy Attacks in 2023. Each time the US complained to the United Nations and issued sanctions. The threat of Iran getting a nuclear bomb held the world at bay for 40 plus years, until 2025 when the US with the help of Israel decided to take military action against Iran but many in America wanted to stay with diplomacy. Looking back with the benefit of hindsight, many feel that the take over of the embassy should have resulted in the US declaring war on Iran but it was always easier to push any military action down the road. After 9-11 polls showed the American people wanted to take military action against Afghanistan and the same was true after Pearle Harbor. Apparently, the US is only ready to retaliate when directly attacked.