A Modest Proposal for Mr. Trump
Victor J. Massad
Dear The Donald:
Can I call you that, sir? You and I have had a relationship for many years, though you do not know it. You, sir, have occupied a place in my head where I keep the darkest part of myself – the part I have tried to avoid thinking about for most of my adult life -- because to acknowledge its existence might reveal that the philosophy that has guided me to this point is deeply flawed.
I have a policy suggestion that might help you win the presidency. You can imagine how conflicted I am. Do I reveal it? And what if I am right, and by some miracle you get wind of it, and you use it and end up winning? And what if my intuition about you is also right?
Please bear with me here, because I am bearing my very soul. You see, for over 35 years now, I have been pursuing the “American Dream” in the certainty that the best thing I can do for my country, my community, my church and my family is to be a success myself. And, at the risk of sounding boastful, I have succeeded, although not in comparison to you. But at least I will have no financial burdens for the rest of my life, and for that I am grateful. I believe I owe my limited success to the fact that, early in life, I was exposed to the thinking of Ayn Rand, Milton Friedman and other libertarian thinkers who taught me to respect and trust self-interest as a force for good, and to question collectivism as a force for evil.
But you, sir, by the way you live your life, stand in contrast to this philosophy. Your lifestyle and point of view expose the soft underbelly of libertarian philosophy, and give credence to the critics who insist that a society founded on the principles of individual freedom and self-interest will yield a few powerful individuals who abuse their power by corrupting the system, lavishing upon themselves all manner of ego-gratifying material trinkets (including trophy wives), and eventually cause a polarized, Dickensian society made up of haves and have nots. Over the years, Mr. Trump, you have become the personification of excess, and I have come to hold you in low regard, not because you have succeeded, but because you have promoted yourself as an example of what is possible in a free society, when in fact your success is mostly the result of privilege and crony capitalism. My intuition about you has always been very negative. To use an Atlas Shrugged analogy, I have seen you as the James Taggart of our day.
If you are a James Taggard -- a misguided useful idiot who is used by the central planners for their nefarious purposes -- then who and what is Hillary Clinton? She is far, far worse. For a revealing psychological profile of The Clintons, one must consult the other great Ayn Rand novel The Fountainhead. The Clintons are a modern day variation of Ellsworth Toohey, a character who so despises the achievements of others, he develops the skill to lure them into submission with the phony proposition of selflessness and altruism. Imagine Ellsworth Toohey as a unit made up of two people, incorporated into a tax-free entity, and able to implement graft at a global level. Let us call it Clinton, Inc. That, sir, is what you are up against, and until now you have done everything the Clintons expect of you.
So here I am, apparently not alone if the polls showing your meager support by conservatives are any indication. I cannot be a #NeverTrump for the simple reason that I am a #NeverHillary, and I think for good reason. I know November draws closer, and I will be forced to choose (and, yes, not voting or voting for a third party is a choice). During this campaign, you have sought my vote by promoting protectionism, exploiting xenophobia and misogyny, and even insulting me with the suggestion that my fear of Hillary’s SCOTUS nominations gives me no choice. And yet, here we are. Me with a choice to make, and you the only thing standing between meager hope and a nation ruled by the most opportunistic, corrupt individuals of our time. Until now, I have chosen to do nothing until the last day, when I will take my measure of your chances in my state, and then decide. But now I have this idea that might help you, and while I hesitate to give it to you, I feel I must.
In a nutshell, this election is going to come down to several different voting segments voting their self-interest (there is that word again). You have the disenfranchised, white male vote pretty much sewn up. The problem is, these voters might have been sufficient to gain the GOP nomination, but they are nowhere near enough to win you the presidency. Hillary has the feminists, gays, African-Americans, Hispanics, public employees and true-believing collectivists. Recently, you seem to think your only hope is to make inroads with African-Americans. It will not work. That vote has been bought and paid for with both campaign and public dollars, and it will not be swayed by the promise of a better future.
Sir, there is but one segment that is still “gettable” in this campaign, and it is ripe for the picking. That is the 80 million people who make up the Millennial generation. The people who make up this voting block are angry, they are for the most part apolitical and ill-informed, and they are very interested in showing they have the power to effectuate change, which they did in the election of 2008. If you can appeal to this vote and capture a plurality, you will win handily.
There is good news and bad news for you when it comes to Millennials. The good news is they hate and distrust Hillary Clinton. To them she personifies the corporate, two-faced corruption of our out-of-touch government, and rightly so. The bad news is they distrust you more, and I am afraid there is nothing you can do to turn that around between now and election day. However, you can make a policy proposal that will so enamor the Millennials to your campaign, they will support you in spite of their reservations about your personal character.
The single biggest issue to Millennials is the crushing burden of student loans. Some 43 million Millennials currently carry student loans totaling $1.2 trillion. This debt is more than a ticking time bomb threatening the economy. It is a psychological burden Millennials carry daily, and it guides many of their day-to-day decisions in ways that impact society negatively: they are putting off marriage, delaying having children, living with their parents instead of buying their own homes, and generally putting off becoming useful, productive young citizens.
Both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have addressed this issue by proposing that higher education be “free” but that ignores the critical fact that the train has already left the station for Millennials. Most of them are already in debt, some for more than six figures. They were lured into this debt by a corrupt, misguided federal political establishment that claimed to “help” them but instead drove up the price of a college education to the point that no one could get one without going into debt. A visionary politician who can address this problem will be rewarded handsomely by these voters come election day.
My Big Idea: Propose that every employer in the USA be allowed a one-time dollar-for-dollar income tax credit for paying off an employee’s student loan. If an employee has a student loan, and his employer qualifies but fails to take advantage of the credit, he or she can appeal to the IRS directly for reimbursement. That is the idea in a nutshell. A lot of improvements can be made by refining it, but then you don’t seem to like to refine your proposals, so you can simply say “Your employer pays off your loan, and if he doesn’t, you get it back directly from the IRS.” And just leave it at that.
Here are some of the advantages to this proposal:
1. It stimulates the economy in a positive way. Younger consumers are far more likely to spend windfall cash than to save for a rainy day, so the new spending power will make a meaningful contribution to kick starting the economy.
2. It solves the “student loan” bubble by eliminating the debt burden from millions of Americans.
3. It encourages young people to enter the “above ground” workforce, where their wages can be captured by future taxation, as opposed to the “gig economy” in which their wages are often hidden from view.
4. It disempowers the federal government by starving it of resources, forcing much needed austerity and spending cuts.
As I said earlier, the basic proposal can be greatly improved by refinement. For example, the tax credit can be taken over a five year period as opposed to all at once. That would encourage employees to stay in their jobs, and employers would find that very attractive. You could limit the tax credit only to companies that are based in the USA, discouraging flight and giving domestic firms an advantage over foreign-based firms. Also, you could make the proposal part of a broader measure to reform the student loan program altogether. But in truth, the details matter very little, since neither you nor Hillary are being held accountable by the media for the fiscal implications of your budget proposals.
So there you have it, sir. May I close by saying that I sincerely hope you are not the man I think you are, especially if you win.