Obama Unwittingly Helps McCain's Fundraising

There has been much made recently about the differential between Democratic and Republican fund-raising for the Presidential election. John McCain is lagging significantly behind the Democratic candidates due to the contentious race for the Democratic nomination. Surprisingly, I believe Barack Obama came to McCain’s rescue today. In a “major” speech about the economy, Obama, the presumptive nominee, stated that the solution to the country’s economic problems was more regulation. He proposed a tax cut to “working families”. Of course, that already exists in the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003. In proposing more regulation by the government, Obama has begun the process of filling McCain’s election coffers by stimulating donations from almost every business in the country. If there is anything a business doesn’t like, it is the federal government telling them how to do their jobs.

The two Democratic candidates are locked in a heated battle. On the nasty side, they continue to delve deeper into accusations and nit-picking and it is wearing the voters thin. On the other hand, they battle by trying to out-promise each other, thereby buying the votes with bribes. It is an interesting paradox that if a candidate walked up to you and offered you $100 cash to vote their way, they could go to jail. Yet it is perfectly legal for them to offer you thousands of dollars in government money for the same goal. What no one seems to realize is that the money they offer comes from tax revenues. Obama has already offered up something like one trillion dollars in new spending proposals. Someone will have to pay for his programs. It will be people who work, thereby removing the incentive to work.

We have all heard someone say, “Why work harder? The government is going to take it, anyway.” There is some tipping point where people lose the incentive to try. That is the very reason communism fails as a form of government. It flies in the face of human nature. The reason the United States became the most powerful economic nation in history in only roughly 200 years is because there is incentive to work and produce. If you work hard or come up with a better product, YOU live in a better home, drive a better car, take a nicer vacation, not everyone else. In communism, everyone works down to the lowest level at which you can maintain your job (kind of like the US Civil Service). When liberals take more money from working people for socialist-like economic redistribution programs, they remove the incentive for people to work harder. A graduated tax table does the same thing. Graduated tax brackets are the driving force behind loopholes and tax cheating to reduce income levels on paper.

So, as the Democratic candidates continue to promise bigger government (meaning more taxes and more regulation), they spur contributions to the McCain candidacy from business and people who earn income. McCain should send Obama a thank you card.