Restoring the American Dream – Revisited and Reactivated Part 2: Viable Solutions
In Part 1, I diagnosed the destruction of the American Dream by
demonstrating that blatant governmental violations of Natural and Economic Law
were to blame. Tragically, the vast majority of the people support
these violations. They are unwittingly helping the government lead us
down the road of ruin.
Robert Ringer presented many viable solutions in his landmark book
”Restoring the American Dream.” I agree with much of what he has to say.
However, the solutions I set forth are my responsibility. They are
based on my understanding of Natural and Economic Law. I would have to
write a treatise on economics to cover all the issues. For now, I am
presenting the necessary solutions in an “economical” way.
Individual Rights and the Constitution
Government is the most malicious violator of an individual’s life,
liberty and property on earth. Common criminals look like boy scouts or
altar boys compared to the predatory practices of this “entity’ of
violent compulsion and coercion. What is the solution to prevent and stop
these attacks on our God given rights?
Some libertarians advocate the elimination of the institute of
government. Murray Rothbard’s book “For a New Liberty – The Libertarian
Manifesto” and Morris and Linda Tannehill’s book “The Market for Liberty”
presents some cogent and interesting arguments in favor of this. For our
purposes we are assuming a strictly limited government—though I doubt
that any government is fit to even operate the dog-catching service.
The Constitution must explicitly forbid Federal, State and Local
governments from prohibiting or interfering with any voluntary exchanges of
its citizens—and any consumption of goods or services that result from
these exchanges. Unhampered capitalism is the only social system in
harmony with this measure.
We must prevent the government from violating Natural and Economic Law.
Their only function is protecting an individual’s life, liberty and
property. By the way, this was the intent of the framers of The
Declaration of Independence. The sorry state of affairs the government has
created would no doubt send them into a state of shock.
Eliminating Government Agencies
We must abolish most government agencies. Their existence violates
Natural and Economic Law. Eliminating the FCC, FAA, OSHA, FDA, EPA, SEC
and all the other agencies too numerous to mention is the logical course
of action. These agencies commit gross violations of individual
rights.
For instance, the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) and its supporters
disregard Economic Law. Just as alcohol prohibition was doomed to
failure—so is the war on drugs. All laws prohibiting drug exchanges and (or)
drug use are contrary to the laws of economics. And they definitely
violate Natural Law.
The Federal Reserve System
The Federal Reserve System is an engine of money creation that we can
happily abolish. Its inflationary policies trigger most of our economic
catastrophes. Inflation causes economic distortions and eventually
monetary collapse. It benefits the favored few at the expense of the
rest of us. It destroys the savings of the hard working individual and
producer. Plain and simple—it is legalized theft.
The 100% Gold Standard is the only solution. Gold is impervious to the
political mechanisms of politicians. It is scarce—and only productive
effort in the form of mining can produce it. Our current paper money
system is a disaster. It allows the government to increase the
quantity of money until it is practically worthless. The Gold Standard
guarantees that wealth goes to honest hardworking individuals— and not to the
parasites that live at the expense of others through inflation.
Taxes
All taxes are an outright theft of an individual’s life and productive
effort. No amount of caviling from altruists, do-gooders and other
assorted world-improvers can refute this basic fact. Taking from one
person to give to another is dishonest. All platitudes such as “the good
of society”, “for the commonweal”, “from those who have to those who
need” are illogical and irrelevant. It doesn’t matter what euphemism a
person uses to justify confiscatory taxation. Theft is theft.
Dishonesty is dishonesty. Of course, if you believe in the doublespeak of
George Orwell’s book “1984” then you might think that “Theft is voluntary
giving” and “Dishonesty is truth telling.”
The only legitimate function of government is the protection of an
individual’s life, liberty and property.
Should the citizens pay a minimum tax to provide for these functions?
Although it’s possible that this is the only solution, I’m not so sure
it is feasible. Honestly—is there any case of a government maintaining
only a minimum tax—and not abusing their power of taxation? I think
not.
The power to tax and inflate is the power to destroy. I don’t believe
we can allow governments to possess these massive weapons of
destruction.
The Night Watchman
Government should serve the same function as the night watchman at the
factory. Another comparison is that the government should play the
same role as the “Maytag Man.” If we reduce government to this status—we
finally arrive at the glorious day when everyone’s life, liberty and
property are safe from the predatory practices of altruists, politicians
and bureaucrats.
In Part 3, I will explain how a return to unhampered capitalism will
restore and reactivate the American Dream. I will explore three methods
for achieving this.
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