Once again I have to take serious issue with Gary Horton’s opinion column on July 23. He begins by quoting John Kenneth Galbraith. No doubt that Galbraith has been a significant factor in economic policies for the past 70-plus years. But celebrity does not equal credibility and Mr. Horton accepts his assertions as truth.
As Mr. Horton observes the terrible problems around us, we have some agreement on the symptoms but the causes, effects and solutions we each feel are appropriate vary greatly.
In reading Mr. Horton’s column, he asserts that a “handful of families own more than half of America.” This is a socialist lie that cannot be proven yet keeps getting repeated. Musk, Bezos and Gates rank as the wealthiest in America, but where are their “families”? In one generation, they created their own wealth by their own knowledge, skill and entrepreneurial risk. Undoubtedly, their wealth today will support their great-great-grandchildren, but they have created it themselves. The wealth of Rockefeller, Fairchild, and other entrepreneurs of a century ago is still supporting future generations of those families, but what crime is that? Mr. Horton is a successful businessman in Santa Clarita. What social crime does he commit? If he creates even more wealth for himself, he is a wise man to preserve it for his future family.
As an employer, Mr. Horton provides jobs for many other families to support themselves. Similarly, consider the number of people who are raising their families because of the jobs and opportunities from MicroSoft, Tesla and SpaceEx. All these jobs came from an individual who put their energies and resources at risk to achieve a greater success. They should be applauded, not demonized as “owning half of America.”
Mr. Horton is also correct in seeing that the employment spectrum is changing. Just as we did not aspire for jobs as a farmer or blacksmith or train conductor or on an assembly line, the next generation must look past today’s “worker bee” careers to see what the future demand will be. Industry puts many people to work when it needs production, but profitability always seeks to reduce costs and employees are costly. Today, we would never think of banning tractors so we could put more people to work cutting wheat in the fields.
The major misconception in Mr. Horton’s opinion is that he quotes Galbraith’s solution is for government to increase their participation in the economy, then Mr. Horton says that “society must create it.” Therein lies the fallacy of the socialist plan: government = society.
Mr. Horton then continues the deception by making a series of erroneous connections. He infers that in order to have human dignity, we must have more teachers, more mental health workers, more home health professionals and more public service jobs. Mr. Horton does not seem to connect the fact that California’s one-party government has greatly multiplied the number of the jobs he desires, but that does not, and will not, increase human dignity.
Mr. Horton is properly concerned about people being healthy and cared for. From our children to the elderly, every life is valuable. But it will never be the government that values life. California’s government has deemed that life of the unborn is irrelevant and that we can chose to end our lives when we don’t consider it worthwhile. He has no hope that people can value life — Mr. Horton states only the government is capable of that.
The silence that I would hope that Mr. Horton would hope to end can be heard in the Declaration of Independence. “All men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights.” Our forefathers fully understood that the government is not the source of rights. Any right given by a government can also be taken by government — and California’s government has absorbed too many of our rights. The source of man’s dignity and meaning comes from a Creator who made us — with purpose, meaning and dignity. We can relish that and recognize that in our fellow man. But our single-party government in California can only continue to take more of our wealth and waste it with fewer results because it only serves its own benefits and not the dignity of the people.
Mr. Horton’s opinion is that the government is the only force that is “large enough, accountable enough and democratic enough” to bring human dignity. I wonder how he can honestly and sincerely state that? Does he really think that our state government is accountable? To whom? What about L.A. County? Does he feel that the increasing millions spent on the homeless has increased their dignity? Does he think that the recent City Council actions represent democracy in action?
If Mr. Horton is pleased with how California is being governed, then I guess I can understand why he wants so much more of it. However, my opinion of Califonia’s one-party rule is that they have removed much of the value and dignity of the people.
Jim Scott
Santa Clarita
