Government and Its Critics
Readings: Younkins, Champions, pp. 201-266; 277-288; 297-311
Younkins, Capitalism and Commerce, pp. 239-280
Atlas Shrugged, pp. 75-88 (Anti-dog-eat-dog Rule); 125-130 (Equalization of Opportunity Bill); 495-507 (Directive 10-289)
Thomas Jefferson, Letter to Mr. Joseph Milligan, April 6, 1816
Why Businessmen Need Philosophy, pp. 77-224
Movie: The Commanding Heights Part III – Rules of the Game (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQPNumKyR3g)
In the Atlas Shrugged readings, laws designed to regulate the economy are proposed with disastrous results. In the Thomas Jefferson letter, Jefferson argues that taxation should be applied only to one of three different types: “1. Capital. 2. Income. 3. Consumption. These may be considered as commensurate; Consumption being generally equal to Income, and Income the annual profit of Capital. A government may select either [sic] of these bases for the establishment of its system of taxation, and so frame it as to reach the faculties of every member of the society, and to draw from him his equal proportion of the public contributions . . . But when once a government has assumed its basis, to select and tax special articles from either of the other classes, is double taxation.”
Answer both questions in a 3-5 page essay: What is the rationale for unequal treatment of the rich and powerful in a free society? What might be the unintended consequences of such an attempt to either limit the accumulation of wealth in the first instance (what Rand in Atlas Shrugged warns against) or to take a greater proportion of wealth from those who have a greater means to pay (what Jefferson warns against)?
