Dakota Beacon

Ivanka and Donald Trump’s latest proposals with regard to mothers and children are right out of Marx and Lenin.  From each according to his ability – to each according to his need.  Never works.

There is a reason why America, not Russia or China, has led the world in an advanced standard of living.  Our system has traditionally succeeded because it has been based on free enterprise and the free marketplace.  Businesses could start, become established and flourish if they provided a desired good or service, if they came up with a good innovation or something new for which there was a demand.  It created an economic juggernaut which has attracted the best and brightest from around the world to come here to succeed.  The laws of supply and demand regulated prices and wages.

The premise has been that the marketplace sets wages for work, establishes decent working conditions, allows for advancement and/or independence.  Today we have this traditional model threatened by burgeoning government demands – taxes, prescribed employee benefits, Social Security, health care.  Our economy has suffered.  While our government schools turn out an ever less qualified workforce, business is groaning under the weight of these government programs.  Some have moved out of the country, to places where they have found a more congenial business climate – places like Asia or Latin America. 

Here comes the Republican nominee for President, full of ideas to force companies to remain here at gunpoint, drag others back home by their hair, “make America great again” by re-creating the glory days of American industry in our rust belt.  Except he’s a Democrat.  That means that he doesn’t believe in any of the things that has made us an economic powerhouse over the years.  He likes the big government that has been an albatross around the neck of industry.  He’d like it even bigger.

So it is only to be expected that he and his right-hand daughter, Ivanka, should bring us an exciting new (not!) plan to provide government mandated, paid maternity leave for six weeks.  Now, if the business can, it will provide this mandated benefit and write it off on its taxes.  Then you and I will be paying for it.  Otherwise the business will either downsize rather than expand, or go out of business, or perhaps raise the cost of its goods and services to cover this.  Perhaps it will move to Mexico. 

This is by any standard a loser proposition.  If he’s thinking this will win over a few feeble-minded voters, he should – or Ivanka should – have realized that Hillary need only scoff at the meager 6 weeks and propose 12 or more weeks of leave, and while they’re at it, paternity leave as well.  Any attempt by a Republican, however generous with other people’s money, can never succeed in a match with a Democrat.  Any offer they make will be upped and called by the Democrat.  So that’s a stupid campaign tactic, if that is what it was.

The fact is, though, that Trump really believes in this stuff.  He knows that goodies make the world go ‘round, that votes can be bought with government benefits any day.  He wants people to feel dependent.  Because he is a Democrat. 

Those who support Democrats never stop to think of consequences.  Every act has a consequence.  The numerous consequences to this program would involve things like the business laying off women of child-bearing age under various pretexts, not hiring such employees, etc.  This is not a program that will help working women, in short.  It is guaranteed to do the following:  1. Cause employers not to hire more people.  2. Cause entrepreneurs to rethink plans of starting businesses that will need personnel.  3. Cause employers to discard out of hand resumes and applications of women of child-bearing age, or at least put them at the bottom of the pile.  4. Cause employers to have less to invest in growth of business, with resources diverted to dealing with long-term absences. 5. Cause some businesses to migrate out of the country to less hostile business climates and cause fewer viable businesses to locate in the US from overseas, and also cause lack of interest in foreign or domestic investment in American –based businesses.  How is any of this good?

As if this were not enough, the Donald/Ivanka tag team has also proposed government funded daycare.  This is great.  All these wonderful benefits on other people’s tabs, all this government raising your kids so you can keep two jobs to pay for the taxes for them to provide day care.  And the less you see of them, the better, as far as big government promoters are concerned.  See how well their education system has worked out?

And all this proposed just in time to divert attention from Hillary’s current health crisis.  Instead of the public focused on the very real problem of a president with reduced physical and perhaps mental faculty, we are instead focusing on the ridiculous Trump plans.  And on how out-of-tune they are with his conduct of his own business!  Now his detractors have open season on his dismal record of treatment of people who have worked for him.  Undoubtedly the spectre of 200 Polish immigrants working 14-hour days for $5/hour and no benefits, who had to take Donald to court for their wages, will be raised again.  The last man on earth to discuss working people’s employment benefits would be Trump.  And he’s even come out for a $15/hour minimum wage as well.  It would seem that he and his daughter are intent upon driving America out of business.

The only way to bring our economy back to life would be to get rid of regulations and cut taxes.  This would encourage businesses to start up, to remain in America and to hire more employees.  It won’t happen overnight even under the best of circumstances.  Unfortunately, there are no champions for this kind of freedom out there.  Instead we have the Trump family, shilling for bigger government.  There is a reason why America has been prosperous.  Other nations also have natural resources and hard-working, intelligent people.  Only we have had true freedom, unfettered by useless government fat.  We need to decide whether we want to opt for success and independence or dependency upon bigger and bigger government.  Can you take care of your own kids – or do you want your government to do that?  The answer is in forming a new party to replace the Republican Party, one which will return to the principles of freedom and limited government rather than metastasizing government programs and mandates.