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04/05/2005: "Society’s Inheritance"

The right wing is obsessed with wills. I’m talking about every meaning of will: the will to power, George the right wing columnist, and, for today, the legal document of inheritance. For individuals, wills dictate how estates are passed on. That inheritance is a big deal to Cons is pretty obvious. Look at the energy they’re putting into final elimination of what they call the “death tax” (and what this journal has called the “unearned windfall tax”) The one positive aspect of their obsession is that it opens to door to looking at other aspects of inheritance. Readers of this journal know of its obsession with the need for each generation of Americans to meet their obligations to posterity. And what is inheritance if not a concern that the fruits of one’s labors are passed down to the next generation? So if passing down individual inheritance is a worthy topic of obsession, shouldn’t this obsession also encompass the proper passing down of the larger wealth of society? The wealth of society is more than the sum of the wealth of its individuals. Much more. It encompasses the wealth of knowledge and culture, wealth whose promulgation to posterity is too important to civilization to be left to individual volition. Neither do companies have much of a role here. Capitalism’s focus is on shareholders, who have at best only a very indirect interest in posterity. This is appropriate. It is really Government’s role to oversee the transfer knowledge and cultural wealth to our heirs. It is really Government’s role to ensure that the legacy from prior generations is maintained. The Right wing is focused only on individual inheritance, about preserving the wealth of individuals as it is passed between generations. Their hatred of government impedes the preservation and transfer of our most valuable treasure of wealth as it moves between generations, and their current political power represents to posterity a threat of disinheritance!