100 Things Destroying America
W. Cleon Skousen. 100 Things Destroying America. 1982.
Why is there such a general sense of crisis hanging over America?
The average citizen finds his orderly world eroding or even crumbling beneath his feet. His savings have recently become a very slippery kind of security. Taxes, inflation, and high interest rates are ravenously gnawing away at his dwindling standard of living. His hopes of a pleasant and safe retirement are proving illusionary. He has a feeling that he is being propagandized. programmed and over-governed to the point where his personal freedom seems to be shrinking on all fronts.
Who has been tampering with the soul of America?
Suddenly There Is a Voice In the Wilderness
Dr. Milton Friedman, Nobel prize-winning economist from the University of Chicago, took over a television network early in 1980 to shock Americans with the declaration that nearly all of our economic and political problems plaguing the United States are the direct result of the Federal Government indulging in practices which are entirely socialistic in their objectives and completely opposite to the success formula of the American founding fathers.
In ten separate one-hour television broadcasts, Dr. Friedman hammered home the message that the American founders had a better way. Then he backed it up with a well-documented book entitled, Free to Choose.
Who Is to Blame?
Some people were offended when Dr. Friedman identified those who are guilty of propelling us along our present disaster course. He said: “If you want to find the devil who is responsible for our becoming more socialist, go home and look in the mirror. We are all of us responsible. If Washington has been making us more socialist, it’s because we, as citizens, have been asking Washington to do so.
Special Interest Groups
Most Americans work through their own special interest groups to put an avalanche of pressure on “the system” in order to gain special privileges or unconstitutional advantages.
Nearly everybody got a wet dishrag in the face from Dr. Friedman. He included the multinational corporations, the big banks. the Federal Reserve System (whom he blamed for prolonging the 1929 depression), organized farm lobbies, big labor, the National Education Association, big cities, little cities, and a multitude of other special interest groups all trying to get something which the Constitution and the free-enterprise system strictly forbids.
Actually, this always happens once a government starts drifting toward socialism.
Why Socialism is Popular with So Many Politicians
The classical definition of socialism will help explain why it is popular with so many politicians. Socialism is defined as:
“The government ownership or control of the means of production (farms, factories, mines and natural resources) and the means of distribution (transportation, communication, banks, commercial agencies, etc.).
To achieve this, socialism always imposes exorbitant taxes and plunges the nation into a huge national debt. In the U.S. taxes now provide hundreds of billions of dollars for distribution by the politicians. In addition, other hundreds of billions are borrowed. Today, the annual interest payments run up around sixty billion dollars — more than the cost of World War I!
Why is Congress doing this?
Dr. Milton Friedman came right out and said it: “The politicians are using a lot of this money to buy votes.”
What the Founding Fathers Said
Samuel Adams pointed out that the founders had done everything possible to make the principles which we call Socialism, unconstitutional. 1
Socialism in the United States means power gravitating to Washington, and to prevent this, the founders adopted the idea of separation of powers. The Federal Government was given only a few limited and specific powers and all other powers were retained on the local level by the States and the people. (Tenth Amendment)
James Madison spelled it out in the Federalist Papers, Number 45, when he said, “The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the Federal Government are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State Governments are numerous and indefinite … The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.”
How Did the Federal Government Acquire So Much Power?
All the special interest groups from the big international banks and multinational corporations down to the farmer and rank-and-file labor union member, found they could do things through the national government which were unlawful to do themselves. So a variety of schemes evolved.
The main thrust was to give the Federal Government power to take from the “haves” and give to the “have nots.” All special interest groups consider themselves “have nots.”
The Federal Government gradually acquired its power by two devices: 1. Deliberate distortion of the Constitution. 2. Naked seizure of power by usurpation.
100 Ways These Schemes Are Wrecking America
Just to illustrate what the socialist central government’s grasping for power has done to America, we are itemizing one hundred specific examples.
All of these examples represent either direct’ violations of the Constitution as originally intended by the founders or a violation of the principles laid down by the founding fathers as they structured the American civilization.
It should be kept in mind that these are only examples. The complete list would be far more voluminous.
The Ten Worst Problems
Here is a list of what most authorities consider to be the ten worst problems facing America:
1. An alarming rate of inflation which is wrecking the stability of the entire American economy.
2. A deteriorating money system which has no gold or silver base as required by the Constitution.
3. A fantastic national debt of nearly a with interest payments of more than sixty billion dollars per year.
4. A policy of deficit spending which is passing along this generation’s extravagance to be paid for by the next generation — something the founders said was immoral.
5. An overwhelming burden of stifling taxation which is now taking away nearly half of all American earning power.
6. The strangulation of the free-enterprise system with over-regulation, over-taxation, and blatantly unfair competition from 700 government-owned corporations and more than 11,000 government-owned businesses which are usually subsidized and pay no taxes.
7. A federal bureaucracy of 3 million employees plus many more millions in government service on the state and local level. These now comprise one out of every five members of the American work force.
8. A federal Social Security System which was sold to the American people as “insurance” but which has turned out to be a highly discriminatory welfare program, now on the verge of bankruptcy.
9. The abandonment of the Monroe Doctrine which is allowing the United States to be gradually encircled by an avowed enemy equipped with nuclear missiles.
10. Federally-funded programs and Federally enunciated policies which are having a devastating impact on the morality of the nation and the structure of the family.
Smashing Constitutional Barriers
The U.S. Supreme Court reversed the traditional restrictions on the Federal Government in 1936 with its dictum in the Butler case. (297 U.S. 1). Justice Roberts interpreted the “general welfare” clause as a general grant of power to Congress to tax and spend for anything the Congress felt was in the interest of the nation’s welfare. This opened the U.S. Treasury to the unlimited looting by politicians who saw this as a golden opportunity to increase taxes and buy votes with Federally-funded projects in their respective states. Throughout this article we will be citing examples of programs which have no authorization in the traditional Constitution and are therefore examples of outright usurpation or deliberate distortion of the Constitution by Supreme Court edicts.
Unconstitutional Legislation Leading to the Destruction of the American Dollar A long series of radical legislative enactments in direct violation of the Constitution led to the destruction of the American dollar:
11. The 1913 transfer of power over the money and credit system of the United States from Congress to a consortium of private bankers operating under the name of the Federal Reserve Bank.
12. The 1933 abandonment of the gold standard for American Citizens while allowing foreigners to continue redeeming American money in gold.
13. The 1933 unconstitutional mandate requiring all Americans to surrender their gold.
14. The 1933 cancellation of thousands of contracts containing “payment in gold” clauses.
15. The 1964 abandonment of the silver standard for both coins and Federal Reserve Notes.
16. The 1971 mandate that even foreigners holding American paper money could no longer redeem it in gold.
17. The repeal (without any amendment) of the Constitutional requirement that the States pay all their debts in “silver or gold.”
As a result of these aberrations in the American success formula, the U.S. dollar became a “floating” unit of value with its purchasing powers drifting ever downward. Skyrocketing inflation was the inevitable result.
Unconstitutional Expenditure of Federal Funds
The Federal Government was only authorized to tax Americans and spend their money for specific purposes.
The Founders knew that funding “good causes” can get completely out of hand if it isn’t supervised close to home by the people who care about what happens to their money. That is why Federal taxes for “good causes” were outlawed in the Constitution. Nevertheless, the government finally invaded the field of “good causes” during various wars, depressions and emergencies, and now expends billions outside of its constitutional authority.
Dr. Milton Friedman emphasized in the TV series, “Free to Choose,” how disappointing, inefficient, and scandalously expensive the Federal financing of “good causes” has been. Here are a few examples to add to our numerical list of 100 things which are bankrupting America and creating problems rather than solving them.
18. Billions in foreign aid.
19. Billions for Medicare which has skyrocketed medical costs.
20. Billions for Medicaid which is pushing the U.S. toward Socialized Medicine.
21. Billions for the Federal Department of Education. (Dr. Friedman points out that since the Federal Government became involved in the schools, American education has seriously deteriorated.)
22. Federal Welfare through HEW which has failed miserably in actual performance and is plagued by continuous scandal and waste.
23. The Office of Economic Opportunity which has proven uneconomical and discriminatory.
24. Federal Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which has proven unbelievably expensive and counter-productive.
25. Community Health Services and Facilities Act.
26. Bureau of Employment Security which the State was handling originally.
27. Financing the give-away of the Panama Canal.
28. Bailing out the City of New York after 40 years of extravagance and bad management.
29. Bailing out the Chrysler Corporation after strangling it into bankruptcy with taxation and over-regulation.
30. Billions to local law enforcement which has been counter-productive, wasteful, and has failed to curb crime.
31. Federal Insurance Administration.
32. Billions expended in loans and grants to the Small Business Administration.
33. All-Risk Crop Insurance which subsidizes losses from almost any cause while other fields of endeavor have to pay for their occupational losses.
34. Appalachia Development Program.
35. National Endowment for the Humanities (arts, social science, linguistics, literature, etc.)
36. Business disaster loans.
37. The Peace Corps which wasted millions pretending to help other nations with American volunteers.
38. Land Open-Space Improvement Program.
39. Language Development Program.
40. Library Financing Services Program.
41. Student loans which tens of thousands failed to repay on the assumption the government “owed it” to them.
42. Manpower Administration designed to fulfill the unconstitutional and unrealistic promise of Washington to guarantee every American a job.
43. Manpower Development and Training Act to patch up some of the damage created by the disruptive and discriminatory minimum wage law.
44. Mental Health Research and Training.
45. Federal National Mortgage Association.
46. Neighborhood Social Centers.
47. Nursing Home Federal Assistance Program.
48. Federally Financed Children’s Day-Care Centers.
49. Rehabilitation of Apartments.
50. Sewage Disposal Facility Grants.
51. National Teachers Corps.
52. Urban Renewal which deprives hundreds of thousands of central city residents of their homes.
53. Waste Disposal Grants.
This list could go on for several pages. These expenditures for “good causes” and running into tens of billions of dollars, are so numerous that they are compiled in a 2 inch volume entitled, Encyclopedia of U.S. Government Benefits, published by William H. Wise and Co., Union City, New Jersey.
Unconstitutional Expansion of Presidential Powers
There has been no greater breakdown of Constitutional checks and balances than that which has occurred between the Congress and the Executive Branch. Not only have the Presidential powers been expanded by outright usurpation, but Congress has cooperated by delegating unconstitutional authority to the President to make laws, interpret laws., and impose penalties for infractions. In the Federalist Papers the Founders defined this combination of power as the formula for “tyranny.”
Here are some of the areas of greatest concern:
54. Under the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive authority and responsibility to make laws, but today the President issues far more laws through “executive orders” than are passed by Congress.
55. The President holds “summit conferences” with other heads of State and enters into private arrangements which often remain secret. The mysterious Yalta Agreement in 1945 is still being implemented by the State Department without any public knowledge of what commitments were actually made. These are called “Executive Agreements.” This whole procedure violates the treaty clause of the Constitution where it provides that agreements with foreign powers shall be presented to the Senate for its advice and consent. No agreements with foreign powers are to become law unless two-thirds of the Senate has approved them.
56. The Congress has also set up as part of the administrative machinery of government certain administrative agencies which hand down decrees and edicts which are enforced by the courts. This is called “administrative law” and never passes through the screening process of Congress as required by the Constitution.
57. The Executive Branch continually threatens to withhold grants to the States unless they conform to Federal mandates, policies, or programs which often have nothing to do with the grant itself.
58. The threatened withholding of Federal funds has also been used to secure votes from reluctant Congressmen and Senators, thereby corrupting the American system of representative government.
Unconstitutional Expansion of Judicial Power
There are at least three areas in which the Federal judiciary has projected itself and begun operating completely outside the boundaries of the Constitution:
59. The first is in the field of “judicial legislation.” The Supreme Court has frequently pretended to interpret an existing law and twisted its meaning to create an entirely new law. This is often done with the full knowledge that the Court is creating something which Congress never intended or never considered.
During the administration of the Warren Court, this practice became so flagrant and frequent that the chief justices of the State supreme courts issued a formal charge of unconstitutional usurpation against the Federal judiciary.
60. The Federal courts have also invaded the administrative function of government by assuming supervisory administration of compulsory school bussing.
61. Some Federal judges have completely dominated many of the hiring policies and personnel administration of State institutions in direct violation of the Tenth Amendment. Typical of this latest unlawful arrogance was the order of a Los Angeles Federal judge to force the Los Angeles Police Department to hire women on a quota basis as though the ERA had already been ratified and become enforceable law.
Unconstitutional Withholding of Land From the States
The founders made it very clear in the Constitution and the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 that all new states would enter the Union on an equal basis with the original 13 States. It was clearly stated that all land comprising federal territory was to be surrendered when it became a new state and the Federal government could only occupy territory within a state for “the erection of forts, magazines, arsenals, dock-yards, and other needful buildings (Article I, section 8). And even this had to be with the consent of the state legislature.
The Federal Government presently occupies about 40% of all state lands, most of it unconstitutionally. This is particularly true in the western states and Alaska where these states were strong-armed into surrendering vast regions to the Federal Government before they could be admitted. As a result, the Federal Government has taken over lands for the following purposes not authorized by the Constitution:
62. National Forests (State-managed forests are nearly always better supervised and have less forest fires than National Forests.)
63. National Parks (State-managed parks are nearly always better equipped and maintained than National Parks.)
64. Wilderness areas from which the States have been excluded for development, mining, and the procuring of natural resources.
65. Land coming under the Bureau of Land Management where cattle and sheep operators are being excluded in violation of their grazing rights.
Forces Wrecking World Stability and Fostering Predatory War
Ever since the close of World War I, the principal source of unrest, terrorism, violence and war throughout the world has been the collectivist and subversive order of international Communism together with its closely related (though sometimes competitive) allies, Nazism and Fascism.
Up until 1933 this threat was clearly recognized by the White House and State Department. They firmly refused to grant diplomatic recognition to the revolutionary Soviet regime.
However, an opposite policy was adopted in 1933 on the apparent assumption that somehow world peace would be fostered by incorporating the International Communist Movement into the community of peace-loving nations.
This irrational and disastrous concept has dominated American foreign policy from that day to this. Every available governmental pressure has been exercised both inside and outside the United States to make this policy viable in spite of nearly fifty years of tragic failure involving the slaughter of more human beings than in any previous period of history.
The Washington commitment to this philosophy is clearly evident in the decisions and policies of both the State Department and the Supreme Court. The role of the White House has been to set up the machinery and appoint “understanding” and carefully briefed office-holders who would carry out these fantastically expensive and politically catastrophic operations.
Washington Policies Which Contributed to the Tensions of 1980
Here are a few examples of many Washington policies which have clearly violated the interest of the United States, threatened world peace, and unmercifully exploited the American tax payer:
66. The State Department and White House deliberately built the Soviet Union into a great military super-power during World War II and tolerated continuous insults, false arrests and abusive mistreatment of Americans as well as the violation of scores of treaty agreements ever since. Economic and political pressures available to the U.S. to protect American interests have never been extensively or persistently employed.
67. They granted the Soviet Union long term loans to buy billions of dollars worth of American technology and supplies. Much of this was done in clear violation of the 1952 Battle Act which placed a ban on the sale of strategic materials to Russia. The Soviets used some of these resources to defeat the United States in the Russian supported war in Vietnam.
68. The White House and State Department negotiated a SALT agreement with the Soviet Union which obviously placed the United States in a secondary military defense position against an avowed enemy.
69. They cut off all military aid to the armed forces of the Republic of China under Chaing Kai Shek precisely at a time when it made the capture of China and 600,000,000 former U.S. allies an inevitable Communist victory. This disarming of 32 loyal Chinese divisions by order of the U.S. State Department changed the entire course of world history.
70. As far back as 1949, the State Department was trying to get Red China admitted to the United Nations, diplomatically recognized by the United States, and granted full trading privileges to build up her status as a world power. Public resistance was gradually worn down and twenty-five years later, all of these objectives had become an accomplished fact.
71. In 1958-59 both the State Department and the White House promoted Fidel Castro as the great new leader of democracy and constitutionalism for Cuba. They gave him a red-carpet welcome in Washington after he had ousted General Fulgencio Batista, a mild dictator compared to Castro and a strong supporter of U.S. policies. Intelligence agencies had warned the State Department that Castro was a Soviet agent.
72. It is now known that the State Department cooperated in the ouster of the elected president of Nicaragua to permit a Cuban-trained revolutionary force to seize control of that country in 1979.
73. The White House and State Department imposed hostile policies and sanctions against Rhodesia and sent over the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. to contact the radical marxist revolutionaries seeking the overthrow of the progressive and racially-balanced policies of Ian Smith. Even after Ian Smith turned over the government to Black moderates, the hostility continued until the most radical revolutionary element of Marxist opposition has been “elected” into power.
74. These same policies were followed after World War II in allowing one country after another in Eastern Europe to be betrayed into the hands of pro-Communist governments. The betrayal of Poland was so brazen that Ambassador Lane resigned. Communist leader, Marshall Tito, was supported in Yugoslavia by the State Department and he shortly executed the loyal friend of the U.S., General Drazha Mikailovich.
75. In 1975, the White House and State Department accepted the Helsinki Accord which permanently surrendered the “captive nations” in Eastern Europe to the Soviet Bloc.
76. In 1978, the White House and State Department used a completely unconstitutional device to turn over the Panama Canal to an unelected Communist dictator in Panama together with a promise to pay Panama. hundreds of millions of American tax dollars if Panama would take this valuable property off our hands.
77. The White House and State Department compelled 5 million American youth to fight a no-win war in Korea which resulted in 157,530 killed and wounded. This war was never formally authorized by Congress as required in the Constitution.
78. They engineered a similarly disastrous war in Vietnam which was also an “undeclared war” and fought on a no-win basis for ten years with approximately 225,000 killed or wounded. Korea and Vietnam were the only two wars in the history of the United States which were not allowed to be fought through to a prompt and victorious conclusion.
Impact of Many Supreme Court Cases
on the Security of the United States
Shortly after the White House and State Department policies began favoring the international Communist Movement, decision of the Supreme Court began moving in the same direction. This was a complete reversal of the Court’s previous posture and when Justice Jackson of the Supreme Court saw what his colleagues were doing, he used a dissenting opinion in the case of American Communications Association v. Douds (339 U.S. 382) to enumerate the characteristics of the Communist Party-USA which precludes it from being treated as a legitimate American political organization. He wrote:
A. “The goal of the Communist Party is to seize powers of government by and for a minority rather than to acquire power through the vote of a free electorate.
B. “The Communist Party alone among American parties past or present is dominated and controlled by a foreign government.
C. “Violent and undemocratic means are the calculated and indispensable methods to attain the Communist Party’s goal.
D. “The Communist Party has sought to gain this leverage and hold the American population by acquiring control of the labor movement.
E. “Every member of the Communist Party is an agent to execute the Communist program.”
But the majority of Justice Jackson’s colleagues gave little heed to his warning. They went right ahead dismantling the whole fabric of American security laws. Today the United States is exposed on nearly all fronts to Communist infiltration and propaganda. Here is what has been happening:
79. The Supreme Court reversed two lower courts and ruled that Communists or anyone else must be allowed to advocate the overthrow of the United States by force and violence right up to the time they start taking revolutionary action. Only then can they be stopped. 2
80. The Supreme Court ruled that teachers who are known Communists cannot be discharged unless it can be shown that they have tried to carry out some unlawful act. 3
81. When the Congress passed the Federal laws dealing with internal security, it was made very clear that this would not interfere in any way with the security laws already adopted by most of the States. However, in 1954, the Supreme Court arbitrarily ruled that State laws against subversion could not be enforced, because the Federal Government had preempted the field. 4
82. This was the beginning of Supreme Court decisions which not only made subversion the exclusive responsibility of the Federal Government but allowed a very restricted policy to be imposed on the FBI and other intelligence agencies. It was not long before agents of the Russian KGB could be seen all over Washington; some covert, others virtually operating in the open as Soviet lobbyists.
83. These policies also led to the totally incongruous situation where FBI agents were instructed by one Attorney General to investigate the Weathermen (avowed Marxist terrorists) as a threat to the internal security of the United States, while a subsequent Attorney General prosecuted the Agents for not limiting the investigation to methods used in routine criminal cases. (The law allows sophisticated technical devices to be used in cases of national security which are not employed in routine criminal cases.) The prosecution of these Agents is presently pending and has been extremely destructive to the morale of investigative agencies sincerely trying to do their job.
84. The Supreme Court ruled that a government employee cannot be discharged on the grounds that he is contributing to an organization advocating the violent overthrow of the government unless that person is in a “sensitive position.” 5
85. The Supreme Court ruled that Congress cannot inquire into or publicize Communism and subversion lest its activities constitute an “intrusion into the lives and affairs of private citizens.” 6
86. This expressed hostility of the Court toward congressional investigations of subversion was combined with strong pressure from the White House and State Department until Congress finally dissolved both the Internal Security Committee of the House and the Internal Security SubCommittee of the Senate.
87. The Supreme Court ruled that massive shipments of Communist propaganda pouring into the United States could not be intercepted by the Postmaster as required by an act of Congress, but must be delivered at the U.S. government’s expense, even though the publication had never been requested by the addressee. 7
88. The Supreme Court overturned an Act of Congress and ruled that known Communists must be allowed to function as officers or heads of labor unions. The Act was originally passed after the Communist labor leaders used their unions for political strikes designed to disrupt the national defense. 8
89. The Supreme Court overturned the law which was designed to restrict the travel of known Communists who wanted to receive instruction and funds from abroad. The Court ruled that they had to be granted passports. 9
90. The Supreme Court ruled that in a fitness hearing a lawyer seeking admission to the bar in order to practice law could not be asked by the State Board of Examiners concerning his membership in the Communist Party. 10
91. The Supreme Court shocked the whole nation when it ruled that the Communist Party did not have to register as a subversive organization even though it had been proven that the Party’s activities definitely fell within the purview of the Internal Security Act. The Court had previously ruled the Internal Security Act to be constitutionally valid. 11
Members of Congress from both parties became so disturbed by the flagrant and persistent left-wing bias of the Supreme Court, that a leading Democrat, Senator James O. Eastland of Missouri, raised a mighty voice of protest on the floor of the Senate May 2, 1962.
He expressed deep concern that since Chief Justice Earl Warren had ascended the high bench in 1953, he had heard 65 cases in which Communist or subversive activities had been brought before the Court, and that he had voted in favor of the Communist position 63 out of the 65 cases. He then furnished a tabulation of 104 cases between 1943 and 1961 with the following score for each of the current justices.
Name of Justice Cases Anti Pro Percent
Heard Red Red Red
Earl Warren 65 3 62 95%
Hugo L. Black 102 0 102 100%
Felix Frankfurter 103 34 69 67%
William O. Douglas 100 3 97 97%
Thomas C. Clark 82 61 21 27%
John M. Harlan 65 35 30 46%
William J. Brennan 51 2 49 96%
Charles E. Whittaker 42 30 12 29%
Potter Stewart 20 14 6 30%
No one was accusing any of these men with being Communists, but the majority of them had taken positions extremely favorable to the Communists most of the time.
Senator Eastland pointed out that none of the men sitting on the Supreme Court bench were professional judges prior to their appointments and only a few of them had been practicing lawyers for any extensive period of time. The rest were primarily politicians, and therefore strongly influenced by policies emanating from the White House and the State Department. Often their decisions had not followed the law nor the dictates of Congress, but the majority had twisted their decisions to fit the theories and policies emanating from the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Unconstitutional Regulatory Agencies
Since the dictum of the Butler case in 1936 there has been a flood of regulatory agencies all justified on the basis that they are for the “general welfare.” None of these are under the twenty powers granted to the federal government.
The founders knew there would have to be agencies to regulate a variety of problems but they warned that these should be kept close to the people so abuses could be better controlled. Whenever these are passed on to the federal government abuses come from agencies which are too big, too powerful and too expensive to fight. That is why the people usually just endure them. Here are examples of agencies completely outside the powers delegated to the government by the Constitution.
92. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
93. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
94. The Federal Trade Commission.
95. The Interstate Commerce Commission which fixes rates and routes.
96. The Food and Drug Administration.
97. The fixing of program content by the Federal Communications Commission.
98. The Consumer Protection Agency.
99. The Federal Energy Commission.
100. The minimum wage law which largely destroyed the industrial base for traditional apprentice programs and excluded millions of American youth from securing employment while learning a trade.
Which Way America?
An examination of America as of 1980 reveals that Dr. Milton Friedman was entirely correct when he stated on his “Free to Choose” television series that the United States is rapidly moving into the final phases of a welfare state.
This means that principles which the founding fathers tried to make unconstitutional have been cleverly and surreptitiously introduced into the system under a distorted but legally enforceable framework. But Dr. Friedman emphasizes that these expensive socialist experiments have been a pragmatic failure. Further than that, they have made a shambles of the Constitutional principles originally comprising the great American success formula.
There is no bright hope for the future of the United States unless this generation of Americans has a fighting determination to take the high road back to the founders’ formula.
What Is the Remedy?
The remedy requires that Americans rediscover the genius of the founders’ original success formula and then elect the kind of men and women who will restore the formula. This can happen the moment the majority of the men and women in Congress realize that the original Constitutional and a free-market economy are the only way to go.
Part of the remedy could be adopted immediately, part of it set up on a long-range basis. Stabilizing the dollar with precious metal backing and deregulating business should be undertaken immediately. Then the phasing out of unconstitutional programs could follow just as soon as the private sector is able to begin absorbing the two or three million people who will be coming off the Federal and State payrolls.
What Would Happen to Taxes?
Within a short time the federal budget would be reduced by about 50% and that would make it possible to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment, thereby eliminating income taxes, Federal gift taxes and Federal inheritance taxes. Since these account for only about 40% of all Federal revenue, they would no longer be needed after the appropriate cuts in expenditures were made.
What About Social Security?
Another significant improvement would take place in the Social Security sector. This program would gradually be transferred over to the competitive private sector annuity program where people who retire would begin getting their money as a matter of right rather than having to show low-income need as they do now. These annuity funds from the employee and employer would be invested in American industrial development so they could grow and thereby give each person a substantial retirement benefit instead of the pittance people receive today which is not even a bare-subsistence level of income.
Are These Important Improvements Politically Feasible?
Anything is politically feasible if the people are sold on it. Today the trend is definitely in the direction of Constitutional principles. This is demonstrated in the voting records of those in Congress. There is a rising tide of conservative votes which means that the Constitutional coalition is coming closer and closer to a majority.
Congress is being monitored on Constitutional principles by several organizations and it is quite obvious we are gaining. This means that more and more Senators and Congressmen are willing to bite the bullet and vote on sound principles rather than bow to pressure politics.
For example, if we count Democrats and Republicans as Constitutionalists where they have voted for sound political and economic principles 70% of the time or more, then we need only 45 more Constitutionalists in the House to have a majority; 29 more would be required for a majority in the Senate.
If we include the fringe group such as all of those in the House who voted for sound principles 50% or more of the time, then our supporters would almost equal the number of liberals and big spenders on the other side. 14 more would be required in the Senate.
The Margin of Victory Is Closer Than Many Had Thought
This clearly indicates that all we need is just a little more weight to tip the scales toward a Constitutional majority. Then, by electing a strong vigorous Constitutionalist into the White House, America could soon get back onto the high road of a happy, debt-free, prosperous society.
America has demonstrated her capacity to do great things before. It is time we got on with the job. Americans could then be proud of the legacy they hand on to their children.