THE LATEST IN THE DESTRUCTION OF AMERICA: OUR CURRENT FEATURE ARTICLE
Table of Contents
FROM BEHIND ENEMY LINES:A Conservative Libertarian Inside Academia
SOUTHERN HERITAGE: Dedicated to the truth about the War of Yankee Aggression
Constitutional Law
NEW WORLD ORDER, UNITED NATIONS, ONE WORLD GOVERNMENT AND AMERICAN SOVERIGNTY
Why is the government persecuting Ernst Zündel? Click here to visit the Zundelsite
How to Lobby Congress
What is Digg? Click to Find Out
A Condensed Version of The People's Pottage by Garet Garrett. The complete book is available for download at: http://www.mises.org/books/pottage
Condensed by
Dr. Jimmy T. (Gunny) LaBaume
Forward
Americans were the only people who had ever approached being free. But after a while, they began to ask questions: What is freedom? Can it be absolute? Why can't people choose less freedom in order to have more of some other good? What good? Security? Stability?
With the help of a disaffected intellectual cult and Marxist propaganda, doubts such as these grew into a creed that grew to critical mass in 1932 when a group of intellectual revolutionaries seized control of government.
Since then the government's position is that there is too much freedom. It is professed that the few have used it to exploit the many. The government claim is that “economic insecurity, want in the midst of plenty, property rights above human rights, taking it always out of the hide of labor” is the price of freedom and that price is too high.
So, we were told to trust the government to administer freedom and redistribute the national wealth so that everybody has a decent living and the widows, orphans, sick, disabled, indigent and old are all provided for.
To achieve these things, government would require more freedom from old Constitutional restraints for itself. This, of course, has been at the expense of individual freedom.
Although they did not intend to, the people surrendered control of government but did not realize it for a long time. Many were persuaded to exchange freedom for benefits until they had surrendered their most basic freedom—the right to do with your pay what you will. And this is how the Welfare State was built.
But, the building of the Welfare State had a moral cost. If the Government were a private corporation no bank would lend it money because it defaulted on the words printed on its bonds. The dollar became simply paper with no certain value. The “checks and balances” provided by three co-equal powers ceased to function and executive power became elevated to being the dominant mechanism. Executive government became a vast system of bureaus and commissions that write laws that influence every facet of life. The purse and the sword are now in one hand.
There has been a revolutionary change in the relationship between government and people. Before the revolution government was the responsibility of people. Now the people are the responsibility of government.
This change was silently geared to the law of compulsory thrift—Social Security. This is a system that is doomed to failure for a couple of reasons. First, there is no surety that the money will be worth as much when the person gets it back. Second, government spends the money and replaces it with a paper promise—e.g. the only security is just more government debt.
To facilitate this process, old American words have undergone semantic change. For example, “ freedom” is regarded as reactionary. "Individualism" will get you placed into the greedy class and "c apitalism" is anathema.
The three essays brought together in this book…are mainly descriptive. They tell what happened and how without any “sickly pretence of neutralism.”
Copyright ©2004, FlyoverPress.com
Jimmy T. LaBaume, PhD, ChFC is a full professor teaching economics and statistics in the School of Agricultural and Natural Resource Sciences, Sul Ross State University, Alpine, TX. He does not speak for Sul Ross State University. Sul Ross State University does not think for him.
Dr. LaBaume has lived in Mexico and spent extended periods of time in South and Central America as a researcher, consultant and educator.
“Gunny” LaBaume is a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War and Desert Storm. His Marine Corps career spanned some 35 years intermittently from 1962 until 1997 when he refused to re-enlist with less than 2 years to go to a good retirement. In his own words, he “simply got tired of being guilty of treason.”
He is also currently the publisher and managing editor of FlyoverPress.com, a daily e-source of news not seen or heard anywhere on the mainstream media. He can be reached at jlabaume@sulross.edu.
Permission is granted to forward as you wish, circulate among individuals or groups, post on all Internet sites and publish in the print media as long as the article is published in full, including the author's name and contact information and the URL www.flyoverpress.com.
FlyoverPress.com can be contacted at editor@flyoverpress.com
*Note: We hold no special government issued licenses or permits. We don't accept government subsidies, bailouts, low-cost loans, insurance, or other privileges. We don't lobby for laws that hurt our competitors. We actively oppose protectionism and invite all foreign competitors to try to under price us. We do not lobby for tariffs, quotas, or anti-dumping laws. We do not support the government's budget deficits: we hold no government or agency securities.
To Subscribe to our daily e-mail alert service, send an e-mail with the word "subscribe" on the subject line.
OUR SPONSORS
Options for Homeland Defense, Inc.
Professional Firearms Training at its finest.
Protecting Liberty Through Private Firearms Ownership
AMERICAN LAPEL PINS & EMBLEMS, INC. has a large selection of patriotic lapel and hat pens, embroderied patches, badges, and service awards.
They also do custom work and can make just about anything. Your own pin complete with your logo or motto.
Visit their site.
Military Manuals and Correspondence Courses
Infantry, Armor, Recon, Special Forces, Seals
Weapons; Tactics; Security; Intelligence; Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Warfare
We also carry a selection of unusual, outrageous and even banned books