As both sides complete a major struggle over which path that our country was/is on, one of the finer points that has been ignored is the simple fact that neither vision of America is in pursuance of the Constitution. The president is neither supposed to aid nor hinder business, in fact; he should be largely irrelevant, not just to business… but to everybody but the most insider of government functionaries.
In fact, if we follow the Constitution, most people would not care who the president is. He could no more sanction infanticide than he could outlaw contraception; his view upon marriage (along with the rest of the federal government’s view of marriage) would be as irrelevant as his ability to throw a fast-ball. His views on the drug war would be moot.
Still, the problem with Constitutional government today is not so much that we don’t follow the Constitution (although following the Constitution would fix what is wrong) – rather, our particular problem can be summed up in just one phrase: “Monopoly Government.”
Now, I am not speaking of the traditional definition of ‘monopoly’ here, but the state of affairs that has existed in American government – increasingly – since the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913. With the passing of the 17th Amendment, state governments gave away their ability to compete with the federal government for authority!
For those who don’t know, the 17th Amendment changed the way senators are elected. Prior to 1913, state legislatures appointed senators. If you didn’t like the way your government spent your tax dollars, you could move to another state. Or you could work to get elected locally, or lobby your state legislator in person. The feds were more confined in the way that they raised taxes, and the states were also hesitant (after all, if you didn’t like the ways of your state, there were between 12 and 47 others that you could move to that would tax you less or take care of you better).
This limitation on government (of one sovereign – competing with not just one, but several other sovereigns) was referred to as “dual sovereignty.”
The idea being that by setting one government against another in an uneasy détente, neither would be able to implement tyrannical rule. It worked (for the most part). Up until 1913, combined peacetime spending of federal and state government, never exceeded 5 percent of GDP, and government always returned to its antebellum size after the war was wrapped up.
The 17th Amendment was only one part of enabling the monopoly government. It gave DC eventual authority over all of American politics (at least they think they have this power). Another part of the puzzle also fell into place in 1913 – the Federal Reserve Act. With this act, the feds gave themselves freedom from another check upon their power – the power to print money. Until the Federal Reserve, the U.S. never had a paper money standard for any length of time. Although it would take until Nixon to sever the last control on federal spending, the Federal Reserve set up a fractional reserve banking system that would guarantee that politicians could always find unlimited funding for their projects.
Today, the Federal Reserve prints unlimited amounts of money to buy federal bonds to fund unlimited federal spending that is paid for by devaluing the savings of the entire nation. This has resulted in a deterioration of the dollar of around 97 percent when compared to gold, and even more when compared with silver.
The effect, post-Nixon (when he closed the gold window), on federal spending has been breathtaking. Since money has ceased to be so dear to politicians; they spend it on wars, prohibition, drones, welfare, healthcare, and foreign aid. Without the need to raise taxes to fund their spending sprees, they are given a free pass on what they spend since the taxpayers only pay for the extravagance indirectly.
Our unfunded liabilities are literally more than 15 years worth of production at our current GDP rate, and yet every new politician has a new idea of how to spend MORE! We all saw what happens to a politician when they attempt to run on anything that looks like it might be constitutional government (like Ron Paul), or fiscal sanity (as with Gary Johnson). This is because debt has ceased to matter to politicians (or even to voters).
In the past, if they didn’t have the money they would borrow the funds on the open market, and rates would go up to limit their borrowing, now they can simply have the Fed buy the bonds with printed money. This gives the impression that there is still demand for US debt even though nobody would buy a bond guaranteed to be paid back with money that is worth less than the money it was purchased with, and of which pays virtually no interest.
The final component of monopoly government was the 16th Amendment. This amendment (so the feds say) gave them the authority to impose an unlimited Income Tax. This allowed the feds to make everyone dependent upon them. By making it possible for them to rob Peter to pay Paul, they have in fact made everyone perspective “Paul’s” hoping to be paid with the loot stolen from Peter.
Ironically, this actually impoverishes all of America and distorts the value of money! Since everyone is dependent upon government handouts, nobody is willing to be a party to the shrinking government… that government has not shrunk to its pre-1913 level , and we have not been on a peacetime footing since 1941.
With an unlimited purse, a dependent electorate, and with an unlimited authority- the feds have made a royal mess of things. In fact, I truly believe that the Federal government today has a vastly superior level of authority than any KING ever did.
In 1789, our founders established an ingenious system of government. They set up an eternal struggle between respective states and the federal government to force their successors to govern best (or their citizens would move to a neighboring state where government was governing less – or perhaps more, if their citizens so desired).
In 1913 the feds won. With their victory, they have established a full-blown tyranny, complete with drone spying, perpetual warfare , government controls on food medicine and drink, suspensions of habeas corpus, extra judicial assassination by presidential order, childhood indoctrination, government-owned media, and a refusal to acknowledge any limits whatever upon government power.
The defenders of the feds’ monopoly powers would cite the need to “keep shipping lanes open overseas,” the importance of welfare for the people unable to fend for themselves and the necessity of fighting terrorism. They point to ALL of the results of monopoly government as reasons that it must continue, but no one acknowledges the simple fact that these things are only necessary now to combat the self-inflicted wounds of which the government itself created)!
It should come as no surprise, once all of this is taken into account, that the wielders of such absolute power are unwilling to undertake any steps that will result in a reduction of such powers after all as Lord Acton famously remarked:
“All power tends to corrupt;absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
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This is what we are talking about at the Tenth Amendment Center when we insist that we cannot expect DC to fix problems they have created. As I have remarked many times, redress is not available in DC, They are absolutely corrupt.
The monopoly government powers will only end when we stand up and simply refuse to comply with them. When we insist that our states interpose against these unconstitutional power grabs! Say NO to the Drug War, it is not authorized to the Feds. Say NO to unconstitutional federal gun laws and taxes, they are off sides. Say NO to the Federal Dept. of Education, it is not in pursuance of a constitutional power.
Say NO to the NDAA, for it is in violation of the rights of the people per the 5th Amendment to not be deprived of the constitutional right to due process, say NO to federal ownership of over half of the lands in the west, this far exceeds the constitutional authority for ownership of lands in the Constitution!
In short, NULLIFY DC AND RECLAIM LIBERTY IN AMERICA! If we start now, and we are diligent- we may be able to pull this nation out of the fryer… but if all we are willing to do is VOTE to cut spending by a percent or 2, or to raise taxes on people who earn more than us, then all is lost. NULLIFY NOW before it is too late.
- Watertight Integrity and the American Federation - November 7, 2013
- Monopoly Government - November 25, 2012
- No More Signing Statements. Veto! - October 21, 2012