University of Virginia Library

"Rich Tax Program"

Thus, the first order of liberal
Republican political business might
be, as John Roche writes, a "good
soak the rich tax program" a
substantial guaranteed minimum
income and unwavering support to
all civil rights programs including
integration and tough measures (as
discussed here before) to prevent
the more fortunate from hoarding
their land and protecting their
wealth in the suburbs.

I remember a debate with my
old teacher, James MacGregor
Burns, when he admitted concern
that (his) Democratic party is too
often concerned only with
"quantitative" programs, while the
Republicans devote themselves to
loftier "qualitative" goals. I replied
that both goals are inseparable; that
the latter are built upon the former.
Bread, to borrow another phrase, is
the key to freedom.

A liberal Republican party
would be especially mindful of the
enormous energies of the private
sector; it would seek whenever
possible to harness those energies
and to make them an engine of
Liberal government. The Ripon
Society, the liberal Republican
research group based in Cambridge,
has proposed tax incentives and
subsidies to businesses - black,
white, large and small - to train
and employ ghetto poor.