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| Source:American Enterprise Institute- Arthur Brooks speaking to AEI in Washington. |
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From the American Enterprise Institute
I agree and perhaps because I'm one of them, that Americans tend to believe in earned success. That if you have a good job and you are really good at it and as a result you make a lot of money, that you are entitled to the wealth and benefits that come from being a businessperson, investor, doctor, lawyer, entertainer, whatever it might be that gives you. along with your success the ability to live very comfortably in America.
Where I believe Arthur Brooks and I disagree is on the concept of society and even a free society, the idea of a nation state, that we're all members of this gigantic, national club, known as the United States of America and therefor all have responsibilities, including financial, to make sure this club runs as smoothly as possible and is safe for Americans to be able to live in freedom. As well as having the ability to get around the country and for businesses to move their products to market, and to protect the innocent from predators.
For America to work as well as possible, yes, we need the freedom to be economically successful in America, but also have to pay our fair share of what it takes to make America work and keep it as safe and free as possible for as many people to be able to live freely in America. And that's what taxes are for, even for people who make a lot of money in this country and live very freely.
