According to the New York Times:
WHEN we think of the qualities we seek in visionary leaders, we think of intelligence, creativity, wisdom and charisma, but also the drive to succeed, a hunger for innovation, a willingness to challenge established ideas and practices.
By implication, not everyone has these qualities. Key leaders and highly productive managers and employees - i.e. the people who pay most of the taxes - are fairly rare. So where do these qualities come from?
Republicans believe that you're just "born that way". (See the Bell Curve, for example.) They oppose excessive government spending on education and social programs, because they believe such efforts are wasted, and that existing programs have largely failed (e.g. the collapse of "no child left behind").
Democrats realize this, yet their political constituents demand these programs (in return for votes). And why not? If Republican claims are true, it only bolsters the rationale for redistributionist social programs. What's the alternative? Throw people without the "right" innate traits out on the streets?
Yet America can no longer afford all the social programs. There are too few highly productive workers to be taxed to supply the revenue. Unemployment is high in the U.S. because goods can be produced in China and elsewhere more cheaply.
So what's the answer? Genetics.
Here's how it works. Identify the genes held by those with the "New York Times" traits for success. Then transfer those genes using artificial chromosomes into the rest of us. (You don't need to know which gene does what. Simply transfer all the genes - around 6,000 of them - that are active in the brain of elite individuals.... and throw in some Michael Phelps sports genes while you're at it.).
As the next generation of workers receive these artificial chromosomes, America will experience a renaissance in productivity. New ideas, faster, cheaper, more efficient. Businesses will boom, paying more taxes. Enough to solve the debt crisis, to be sure.
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