Shakespeare and the Tax Code

There is a review of the new film “Anonymous” in the newspaper. I haven’t seen the film, but as a former Literature major I am not unaware of the various theories surrounding the true authorship of Shakespeare’s work. In most cases the storyline is, “Shakespeare is a commoner and thus incapable of writing such great works. They must have been written by someone of higher station, like the nobleman Edward De Vere.”

My earlier discourse commented on Jonathan Haidt’s notion of karma and conservatism, how conservatives believe that kindness, honesty, and hard work bring good fortune; and cruelty, deceit and laziness bring suffering. In other words, we deserve what we got, for better or for worse. I also mentioned that Heckman shows that one can predict with high accuracy by the time someone is four based merely on personality, whether that person will graduate from high school.

Our karma, it seems, is born with us. Even more so, only those of high birth are capable of the work which brings good karma. Karma comes with nobility. Only a nobleman has the kindness, honesty, and hard work necessary to write the works of Shakespeare, and only such persons as he are worth being favored by a tax code.