Analyst's note: I am absolutely positive that you'd like to know about this one. I also felt a short review of a few guiding principles regarding the matter would be appreciated.
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[....] socialist programs don’t cure income inequality. They merely destroy wealth by reducing incentives for building businesses and encouraging dependency. That’s why societies with lots of government spending typically have few civil institutions and a small middle class.
Here’s the message our politicians on both sides of the aisle seem to miss: Fifty years ago, Detroit was one of the largest and wealthiest cities in the world. Nearly 2 million people lived there, and it enjoyed the highest per-capita income in the United States.
[....] Now consider this: Detroit went bankrupt with total debts of around $20 billion. That’s roughly $28,000 per remaining citizen. That’s nothing. The debts the U.S. government has amassed over the same period (the last 50 years) are vastly larger.
Today, all Americans owe more than $16.7 trillion on the federal level – that’s nearly $54,000 per citizen and nearly $150,000 per taxpayer. How many Americans do you think realize that our federal government is twice as bankrupt as Detroit?
Detroit is a living case study of why government efforts to redistribute wealth don’t work. But instead of recognizing any of the lessons of the catastrophe, Obama promises more of the same policies!
Meanwhile, his government is in far worse shape than the city. The only real difference is the president and the federal government are still able to print their way out of trouble, using the Federal Reserve’s ongoing manipulation of the U.S. Treasury market.
[....] The dream that the government could provide prosperity to the residents of Detroit has come to its inevitable end. The dream that the federal government can provide prosperity to the entire country is even more delusional. And it will come to a far worse end.
Printing trillions in new dollar bills to facilitate the madness won’t prevent the inevitable bankruptcy of our country. It will merely gut the middle class of its savings and its wages first.
Believe me, this will come to pass. It will not take another 50 years. Maybe 10.
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Here is the promised short review of a few guiding principles regarding this matter.
(New Testament | Matthew 13:27 - 28)
... Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?
28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. ...
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"The Constitution originally granted to government the power to use force against the individual only for the purposes of defending the nation, punishing evil (crime), adjudicating and enforcing property rights, and compelling each citizen to bear his fair share of the burden of performing these functions. That is all!
The nature of these functions does not change and, therefore, ... it is a violation of the constitutional rights of the individual for the government to tax him for any other purposes or to regimental him in his private and business affairs." (Introduction to "An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, by Professor H. Verlan Anderson, Brigham Young University, page "X".)
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"... the proper function of government is limited only to those spheres of activity within which the individual citizen has the right to act. By deriving its just powers from the governed, government becomes primarily a mechanism for defense against bodily harm, theft, and involuntary servitude. It cannot claim the power to redistribute the wealth or force reluctant citizens to perform acts of charity against their will. Government is created by man. No man possesses such power to delegate. The creature cannot exceed the creator." ("An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, page 131)
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"A category of government activity which, today, not only requires the closest scrutiny, but which also poses a grave danger to our continued freedom, is the activity NOT within the proper sphere of government. No one has the authority to grant such power as welfare programs, schemes for redistributing the wealth, and activities which coerce people into acting in accordance with a prescribed code of social planning. There is one simple test. As an individual have a right to use force upon my neighbor to accomplish this goal? If I as an individual do have such a right, then I may delegate that power to my government to exercise on my behalf. If I do not have that right as an individual, then I cannot delegate it to government, and I cannot ask my government to perform the act for me.
To be sure, there are times when this principle of the proper role of government is most annoying and inconvenient. If I could only force the ignorant to provide for themselves, or the selfish to be generous with their wealth! But if we permit government to manufacture its own authority out of thin air, and to create self-proclaimed powers not delegated to it by the people, then the creature exceeds the creator and becomes master. Beyond that point, where shall the line be drawn? Who shall say "this far, but no farther"? What clear principle will stay the hand of government from reaching farther and yet farther into our daily lives? ... "Nothing can enter the public treasury for the benefit of one citizen or one class unless other citizens and other classes have been forced to send it in." (The Law, page 30; P.P.N.S., page 350). ("An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, page 135)
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"In 1801 Thomas Jefferson, in his First Inaugural Address, said:
With all these blessings, what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous people? Still one thing, fellow citizens -- a wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. (Works 8:3)
The principle behind this American philosophy can be reduced to a rather simple formula:
1. Economic security for all is impossible without widespread abundance.
2. Abundance is impossible without industrious and efficient production.
3. Such production is impossible without energetic, willing and eager labor.
4. This is not possible without incentive.
5. Of all forms of incentive -- the freedom to attain a reward for one's labors is the most sustaining for most people. Sometimes called the profit motive, it is simply the right to plan and to earn and to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
6. This profit motive diminishes as government controls, regulations and taxes increase to deny the fruits of success to those who produce.
.7. Therefore, any attempt through governmental intervention to redistribute the material rewards of labor can only result in the eventual destruction of the productive base of society, without which real abundance and security for more than the ruling elite is quite impossible. (See G. Edward Griffin, The Fearful Master, page 128)
("An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, page 139)
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In reply to the argument that just a little socialism is good so long as it doesn't go too far, it is tempting to say that, in like fashion, just a little bit of theft or a little bit of cancer is all right, too! History proves that the growth of the welfare state is difficult to check before it comes to a full flower of dictatorship. But let us hope that this time around, the trend can be reversed. If not, then we will see the inevitability of complete socialism, probably within our lifetime.
Three factors may make a difference. First, there is sufficient historical knowledge of the failures of socialism and all the past mistakes of previous generations. Secondly, there are modern means of rapid communications to transmit these lessons of history to a large literate population. And thirdly, there is a growing number of dedicated men and women who, at great personal sacrifice, are actively working to promote a wider appreciation of these concepts. The timely joining together of these three factors may make it entirely possible for us to reverse the trend." ("An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, page 141)
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"This brings up the next question: How is it possible to cut out the various welfare-state features of our government, which have already fastened themselves like cancer cells into the body politic? isn't drastic surgery already necessary, and can it be performed without endangering the patient? In answer, it is obvious that drastic measures are called for. No halfway or compromise actions will suffice. Like all surgery, it will not be without discomforts and perhaps even some scar tissue for a long time to come. But it must be done if the patient is to be saved, and it can be done without undue risk.
Obviously, not all welfare-state programs currently in force can be dropped simultaneously without causing tremendous economic and social upheaval. To try to do so would be like finding oneself at the controls of a hijacked airplane and attempting to turn it by simply cutting off the engines in flight. It must be flown back, lowered an altitude, gradually reduced and speed, and brought in for a smooth landing. Translated into practical terms, this means that the first step toward restoring the limited concept of government should be to freeze all welfare-state programs at their present level, making sure that no new ones are added. the next step would be to allow all present programs to run out their term with absolutely no renewal. The third step would involve a gradual phasing-out of these programs, which are indefinite in their term. In my opinion, the bulk of the transition could be accomplished within a 10 year period and virtually completed within 20 years. Congress would serve as the initiator of this phase-out program, and the President would act as the executive in accordance with traditional constitutional procedures.
As I summarize what I have attempted to cover, visualize the structural relationship between the six vital concepts that have made America the envy of the world. I have reference to the foundation of the Divine Origin of Rights; Limited Government; the pillars of Economic Freedom and Personal Freedom, which results in Abundance; followed by Security and the Pursuit of Happiness.
America was built upon a firm foundation and created over many years, from the bottom up. Other nations, impatient to acquire equal abundance, security, and pursuit of happiness, rush headlong into that final phase of construction without building adequate foundations or supporting pillars. Their efforts are futile. And even in our country, there are those who think that, because we now have the good things in life, we can afford to dispense with the foundations which have made them possible. They want to remove any recognition of God from governmental institutions. They want to expand the scope and reach of government which will undermine and erode our economic and personal freedoms. The abundance which is ours, the carefree existence which we have come to accept as a matter of course, can be toppled by these foolish experimenters and power seekers. By the grace of God, and with his help, we shall fence them off from the foundations of our liberty, and then began our task of repair and construction. "An Enemy Hath Done This" by Ezra Taft Benson, page 141 & 142)
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"The first object of a free people is the preservation of their liberty…. The spirit of liberty is, indeed, a bold and fearless spirit; but it is also a sharp-sighted spirit; it is a cautious, sagacious, discriminating, far-seeing intelligence; it is jealous of encroachment, jealous of power, jealous of men. It demands checks; it seeks for guards; it insists on securities; it intrenches itself behind strong defences, and fortifies itself with all possible care against the assaults of ambition and passion. It does not trust the amiable weaknesses of human nature, and therefore it will not permit power to overstep its prescribed limits, though benevolence, good intent, and patriotic purpose come along with it." (Daniel Webster, May 7, 1834; Works 4:122, as quoted by Ezra Taft Benson in An Enemy Hath Done This, p. 323)
