Rand Paul’s Terrifying Vision for America

(Credit: AP/Jim Cole)

Rand Paul has formally announced that he is joining the GOP clown car of those seeking the GOP nomination for the presidency.  Paul's announcement follows that of GOP extremist, Ted Cruz, and as with Cruz, Paul's vision of America is pretty frightening, especially if one isn't one of the demographics favored by today's GOP: white, straight, selfish, greedy, and conservative Christian. Part of Paul's vision is a radical free market world that would be the delight of vulture capitalists but which ought to send chills down the spines of the rest of us.  A piece in Salon looks at Paul's Ayn Rand like vision for America.  Here are excerpts:

Sen. Rand Paul, who announced his candidacy on Tuesday, has offered up a detailed vision for how to change America: his “Economic Freedom Zones” plan, an exhaustive 50-page blueprint for giving the country a radical free-market face lift. The plan, which was originally introduced as legislation in 2013, was championed by Paul’s wife Kelley during his campaign announcement today, while the senator himself alluded to the bill as a centerpiece of his economic vision.

Paul’s big idea is to take the country’s most economically distressed places and use them as a laboratory for experiments in removing government and allowing hyper-capitalism to govern. Detroit is the candidate that leaps to mind, especially since Paul chose the old Motor City as the backdrop for his public introduction of the bill.

But while Detroit is the standout candidate for the “bankrupt or economically distressed areas” Paul’s bill aims to radically change, the criteria are written loosely enough to make vast amounts of the country eligible for so-called “economic freedom.” In the end, selection can be at the discretion of the Treasury Secretary, a presidential appointment. Cities, counties and municipalities don’t have to be in bankruptcy like Detroit but simply be “at risk of insolvency.”

This is not a carefully targeted experiment. Vast sections of the country could be targeted and made into these zones. . . . So what happens in these zones?

Well, for one, taxes for the rich are slashed to an insane rate of 5 percent. That goes for corporations, too: 5 percent. It’s 5 percent for everybody, basically, far lower than the already ambitious 17% flat tax he proposes for everyone else. Capital gains taxes are essentially nonexistent in the zones, and even payroll taxes are reduced substantially to 4.2% for both employer and employee. You might ask, “But isn’t that how Social Security is funded, through payroll taxes?” Yes, but the revenue lost by slashing social security inputs in the zones is made up by the rest of us, according to the bill. Because freedom.

Of course, if taxes just aren’t your thing at all, zone inhabitants of means can have their charitable contributions counted as tax credits, not deductions.

The Clean Air and Clean Water Acts are effectively made toothless and null in “Freedom Zones,” with crucial regulatory linchpins expertly eliminated in the bill. The Wild and Scenic Rivers Act looks to be toast as well. Also, any National Heritage Area, which includes our many Native American sites, lose any protection in a zone designated for “freedom”; they are now simply real estate.Paul’s bill embarks on an ambitious school privatization plan in the zones, because freedom for children is exposing them to the cold and indifferent winds of the capitalist market in their schooling.

Paul goes all in, priming the privatization pump by mandating that local school money–tax dollars–be funneled to for-profit schools if students choose to exit the public system. And predictably, up to $5,000 of tuition paid to a for-profit school is a tax credit, not a deduction, in the zone.

This is Paul’s vision. Senator Paul was serious about the bill. He enlisted Majority Leader Mitch McConnell as his cosponsor on the bill and noisily buddied up with President Obama–a risky move for a Republican hopeful–to lend credence to his zones idea. Paul’s pre-campaign has already been a cringeworthy series of clumsy rhetorical reversals on his more extreme views. But no amount of focus-grouped campaign rhetoric can erase a 50-page, detailed outline of his economic vision.

Be afraid - very afraid.