Regressing

David Brooks isn’t exactly a Cato-style libertarian, and his promotion of a conservatism that’s willing to use government to promote its agenda isn’t exactly aligned with mine, but he’s a good, smart writer, and a thoughtful, honest commentator. Today, I think he makes an important point about how S-CHIP is funded:

Recent sociological research shows that most Americans regard smoking as a sign of low-class, unattractive behavior — and most smokers see it this way, too…

The S-chip bill takes money from these relatively poor, politically immobilized people and shifts it to those making up to $62,000 a year. Nobody is raising a tax on wine consumption or gasoline consumption to pay for this benefit. Instead, Congress is taxing the weakest possible group in order to shift benefits to others, some of whom are middle class.

The Left has made this fight exclusively about health care "for the children," but in doing so, they’ve completely disregarded the regressive nature of their tax scheme. Moreover, they’ve done so for a program that relies on the nation’s continued smoking habits for funding — in other words, the bill aligns the government with the interests of cigarette companies.