Taxation and public opinion

I note with skepticism that Andrew Sullivan claims:

Every single poll shows that the American public overwhelmingly supports higher taxes on the wealthy as part of a package to cut the deficit. The margins are staggering: the NYT poll shows a majority of 74 – 21; even Rasmussen shows a majority of 56 – 34. What the president proposed this morning is simply where the American people are at.

More at the link.

My response: So what if every poll shows that? Since when has it been a good idea to decide public policy by means of public opinion? Consider:

• In Salem, MA in 1692-93, public opinion was responsible for the conviction of 29 and the execution of 19 people for witchcraft. Six more died during interrogation or while incarcerated. We know (today) that there’s no such thing as witchcraft . . . but hey, if public opinion said there was, and that it was OK to kill people for dabbling in it, then there’s nothing to worry about, is there? Similarly, in revolutionary France, between 16,000 and 40,000 were judicially murdered during the Reign of Terror. Again, public opinion supported the executions, so no problem, right?
• During Prohibition, religious and social reform fanatics managed to sway public opinion to support the outlawing of alcoholic beverages. Remember what a great success that public policy was?
• Public opinion demanded, and supported, the so-called War On Drugs. Last year, the US spent something like $500 per second on this ‘war’ . . . yet drugs were more freely available, and cheaper, than they were when the War On Drugs began. What has public support for that policy brought us?
• Public opinion continues to block ‘gay marriage’ initiatives in many states, even though who marries whom, or who sleeps with whom, should be no-one’s business but the individuals concerned. If public opinion is fixated on ‘gay cooties’, does that legitimize the state interfering in the private lives of private citizens?

Public support for taxing the rich is nothing new. If the public can find a way to make other people pay for what they want, they’ll do it. That was known as far back as the Roman Empire. Remember Juvenal‘s comment about ‘bread and circuses‘? More recently, Alexander Tytler is reputed to have said:

A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

Puts a different perspective on public opinion and taxation, doesn’t it? If you demand too much from the goose that lays the golden eggs, either the goose will fly away, or it’ll stop laying golden eggs, because there’s no longer any reward in it for the goose. That’s been the case in every single country where it’s been tried. However, I suspect Mr. Sullivan, and those who agree with his position, don’t want to know that.

“Our minds are made up – don’t confuse us with the facts!”

*Sigh*

Peter