I’ve converted. I believe the Fair Tax—a tax on consumption—is a good idea. Founding Father Alexander Hamilton wrote in his Federalist Papers #21 “It is a signal advantage of taxes on articles of consumption, that they contain in their own nature a security against excess.”

There it is: A natural security against excess. Moderation is all the rage these days, and the fair tax would serve to moderate individual consumption and to moderate our government.

Those who argue against the fair tax do so on the basis that it is not fair to the poorer among us. There was no concession to poverty in Hamilton’s America. There was no expectation that anyone would be poor, but rather that everyone would work and prosper as they worked. Its a funny thing. Prosperity and work seem to go hand in hand.

Dr. Kevin Crosby, a prominent black pastor in the South said recently that the modern welfare state has created a culture of dependence that disabled black self-determinism.

Though it fit his context, I’d say the only thing Crosby got wrong is his use of the term “black.” The modern welfare state has created dependence across all of society, not just among blacks.

The fair tax, is fair. You don’t pay a tax on what you don’t spend. It would encourage saving instead of spending. Saving could produce investing, which then produces economic development and jobs which in turn lift America back to its former glory as the economic engine of the world.

It’s an idea whose time has come.