Hayek famously dedicated his book, "The Road to Serfdom" to "Socialists of all parties," and Republicans have earned every bit of criticism they get. They have eagerly participated in the horrible progressive experiment of the last 100 years. They say they've changed, and I'm willing to give them one more chance. With the Democrats, we are guaranteed to continue our death spiral.
100 Years of Progressive Statism is Enough!
Let’s consider, say, the year 1880. Here was a society in whichpeople were free to keep everything they earned, because there wasno income tax. They were also free to decide what to do with theirown money—spend it, save it, invest it, donate it, or whatever.
People were generally free to engage in occupations and professionswithout a license or permit. There were few federal economicregulations and regulatory agencies.
No Social Security, Medicare,Medicaid, welfare, bailouts, or so-called stimulus plans. No IRS.No Departments of Education, Energy, Agriculture, Commerce, andLabor. No EPA and OSHA. No Federal Reserve. No drug laws.
Fewsystems of public schooling. No immigration controls. No federalminimum-wage laws or price controls. A monetary system based ongold and silver coins rather than paper money. No slavery. No CIA.No FBI. No torture or cruel or unusual punishments. No renditions.No overseas military empire. No military-industrial complex. (Reason - Up from Serfdom)
We have made great strides since the 1880's, but government has grown into a leviathan, trampling the First, Second, Fourth, Ninth and Tenth Amendment in the process, while stretching out the Commerce and General Welfare clauses into a penumbra so large they block the sun.
The federal government doesn't care more about your state than you and your fellow residents do.
The federal government does not care more about your kids, their education, their souls and their futures than you do.
No government can order your life better than you. No government cares more about your life, liberty, family and property than you, and no police force is in a better position to defend them from immediate attack than you are.
5 comments:
The government care not one whit about liberty...only control.
Too many Americans can't remember what liberty IS.
We have slowly gotten used to the idea that the government knows what we need better than we do.
Great post, Silverfiddle!
Fear and the threat that America will collapse is the only reason the American public doesn't support abolishing all of those agencies and bureaucracies. They think we'd all die of mercury poison and be impaled by those evil business owners. It's such a bunch of bunk! What made this country great is exactly what we're taught to fear by the statist progressives.
Unfortunately, many citizens have been duped into thinking that they cannot succeed or be treated fairly without government intervention or programs. The great difficulty for liberty-loving Americans is to get those who have been duped to see that they can make it without a government-provided crutch and that their lives will be better for it.
Indeed. A government that sets and enforces the rules according to the constitution is all we ask, and all we need from them for a well-ordered society.
I DO believe in a social safety net. But, alas, you're correct . There is way too much waste and duplication at the Federal level......And it is kind of interesting that the disintegration of the black family coincides so closely to the advent of the Great Society......P.S. I commented at your interesting drunk driving post, too
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