The Politics of Hope

On this day, March 23rd, 1775, Patrick Henry rose and gave one of the most powerful speeches in the history of our nation. While the speech is most famous for his last line, there is more to the speech than just that. One short section worthy of review is this:

“Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, see not, and having ears, hear not, the things which so nearly concern their temporal salvation?

For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth -- to know the worst and to provide for it. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.”

The Founding Fathers were concerned, beyond all other issues, with the dangers of unchecked government. They constructed a system which not only had multiple checks and balances, it was also a system that called for deliberate – slow and deliberate – process, all built on a framework of a federal government of limited powers.

The history of the last 80 years of our republic is one of expanding government powers, until today we see the federal government taking control over 1/6th of the economy of the nation, in the form of the healthcare industry. It is sadly ignored by many that the dramatic rise in healthcare costs in this country followed the creation of Medicare, that is has been government presence and government actions, more than any other single force, that has made healthcare as expensive as it is today.

The federal government has, over the last 35 years taken a controlling position in the housing market through a complex set of quasi governmental organizations and rules and regulations, steps which were the principle drivers in causing the housing bubble and the current recession. Did the government seek to undo its actions? No, it chose instead to create new and more extensive regulations and oversight.

The federal government has already asserted the right to seize control of the auto industry.

The federal government has already assumed de facto control over the banking industry and new legislation is being introduced monthly to tighten and expand federal oversight and control over the entire financial industry. Where will this effort stop?

Discussions continue on government taxation and regulation over emissions and carbon ‘footprints.’ Is there any reason to believe that this effort is simply another step towards control of the energy industry?

We have a federal bureaucracy that has inserted itself into the education of the youth of the nation. Does anyone believe that the presence of $60 billion per year not sway how history and politics is taught in our public schools? Does anyone believe that this is anything other than subtle pressure to teach what the bureaucrats and their mentors believe?

In every case the justifications have been the same: these actions will both improve the lives of our people and make our economy more stable and solid. FDR stated that Social Security would help restore the economic basis of the country when he signed that legislation. Now it represents a $50 trillion unfunded annuity.

Patrick Henry was right when he said that: “I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided; and that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judging of the future but by the past.”

The federal government will continue to take: to take our wealth, our rights, our freedoms. It will do so with smiles and with subtlety. But it will continue. To hope otherwise is to indulge in an illusion, as Patrick Henry noted. We must push back.

How? Simply put, we must limit the bureaucracy. Remember: we are the real power. Governments “…derive(ing) their just powers from the consent of the governed.’ The Constitution is ours; the Bill of Rights is ours. The bureaucracy has long trampled on selective elements of  both, in particular the 9th and 10th Amendments. We need to reclaim them.

We need a national debate on the limits of government. Let us use this moment as a call for a Constitutional amendment to limit federal spending and a second to limit federal regulation of industry. Write your Congressmen and Senators. Write your candidate. Use this election year to begin the debate.