Taxes must be collected by coercion. It is not appropriate to tax the
humble mechanic to pay for luxuries like elaborate artistic productions or
abstract intellectual research in which he neither can nor will take any
interest whatsoever, since a Republican government assumes the moral
equality of all citizens, and is thus committed to leaving each man to
pursue his own individual idea of happiness. Each citizen, therefore, must
be left with his means as intact as possible in order that he may do so. It
is consequently not appropriate for republican government to fund anything
beyond its own absolutely necessary functions with taxpayers' monies.
This is not to say that scholarly research and artistic creation should
not be esteemed or pursued in republics. But simply that these endeavors
ought to draw upon private and voluntary philanthropy, which is far
more likely to be available in a society less burdened by taxation.
In the recent past, our society has tolerated the ironic situation in which
the poor, humble and uneducated are taxed to support artistic and cultural
offerings patronised exclusively by the intellectual and financial elite.
The gas station owner in Tulsa endures a higher tax burden to fund the
Metropolitan Opera for affluent New Yorkers.
The new Congress will be acting correctly in eliminating Federal involvement
in the Humanities, and historical scholars should view these developments
objectively in their capacity as philosophers, rather than through the prism
of narrow and crass self interest, and applaud this return to the republican
ideals of the founding fathers. It is regrettable that so philistine a
disregard of republican principles is so common in the academic community.
David Zincavage
Newtown, CT
JDZ1@delphi.com