Here are a couple of thoughts about our government that you might not hear in a partisan debate.
Those who claim that the wealth they have accumulated is theirs to pass on without returning anything back to the American system show a shocking lack of appreciation for all that the system and public monies did to help them create wealth.
The role the government plays in a largely overlooked partnership that exists between government and private enterprise is a huge cause of business success. There are the highways, airports, and air traffic systems we all need and use—infrastructure we can see.
My readings also suggest that about half of the increase in our gross national product over the last fifty years or so is a product of new technology stimulated by government investment in basic research. Each year federal and state governments invest many tens of millions of dollars in sponsoring the kinds of research no venture capitalist would dare to underwrite—and the results of that research are made available to us all.
New products and ways of getting things done that benefit humankind and create the basis for the accumulations of private fortunes often trace their origins back to discoveries made over a period of time at one university or another. Many of these advances were achieved because the government has made continuous investments in basic research over generations, releasing its ownership of products based on discoveries created from research for which it paid.
The human genome, integrated circuits, and the Internet are three examples among the thousands of critical discoveries.
Every industry in America—from manufacturing to pharmaceuticals, agriculture, and the life sciences—has benefited from investments government has made in basic research.
Of course, these benefits extend to the building contractor hired to expand a dot-com's workspace and to the Wall Street broker retained to invest a software designer's assets.
The government also plays a huge role in helping prepare an educated work force.
So I believe that the government has the right to recover from the heirs to the fortunes of its most successful citizens some portion of those fortunes so it can keep this important investment stream going.
And I frankly question any value that flows from insisting that the children of our wealthiest citizens receive 100 percent of those estates.
There's a tendency to blame government and politicians for everything that goes wrong, and to resent paying taxes. Yet there's little tendency to thank government for the things it does well.
One lesson made clear to me again while lobbying for the retention of the federal estate tax is that the best way to learn what's good about our American system is to participate in it. We have to get off the sidelines.
I was greatly encouraged by the character and quality of the people I met in Washington, D.C.—senators and representatives and their staffs. And I include in this those who did not agree with me.
I feel strongly about this issue. I also recognize that as with the case of two old friends who met by chance one day in an elevator and spoke casually about their work, decent, well-meaning people will often disagree on specific elements of public policy.
What matters is that we exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship by staying informed and adding our voices to key societal debates. That is how we maintain the ideals that are at the heart of our way of life—and nourish those powerful forces of regeneration that renew our society.