Volume 5, Issue 31
Seeking independence for transformational change became the (colonists’) only option.
Today, the American public finds itself in much the same situation. The election of Donald Trump was the ‘shot heard ‘round the world.’ The citizens of the United States can now refrain from further conflict and submit themselves to the Establishment. Or they can see the battle through for transformational change.
Why?
Because no government in recorded history had ever been established on the principle that the government was limited in authority and subject to the will of the governed. We banter about the term ‘freedom’ today as if it has always existed in its current nomenclature. It has not. What the citizens of the United States of America did in declaring independence and seeing the Revolutionary War through to victory is an absolute testimony to unconditional courage of commitment.
Unprecedentedly, establishing a government under the moral concept that God is sovereign over man and man is sovereign over government was a pivotal point in the history of mankind.
For 241 years, America has been a stellar steward of the philosophical construct of democracy. There is no argument in any corner of the world today that, by any standard of physical measure, the United States of America is the greatest country in the history of nations.
Part and parcel to our success has been the unwavering determination that, as a collective body of responsible people, we would never yield too much authority to government. This meant in definition that we as a people would not delegate to the government the ideals or purpose for our own pursuit of happiness. Alexis de Tocqueville, in his Democracy in America analyzing in the 1800s this great American Experiment, cited that, if America was to fail, it would be because the citizens subjected their future to politicians who promised them that government could provide all elements of prosperity, even if it meant that citizens would yield to government authority. A founding principle of American government was that the sovereignty of citizenship over government required each individual, through personal initiative, to seek his or her own path for happiness and opportunity. American founding principles never intended for citizens to be passive to government for moral, spiritual, or physical needs.
We are at a critical time in American history wherein the de Tocqueville question is being tested.
The Economic Age
In the affairs of the world, relations and conflicts of nations have primarily ebbed and flowed through currents of natural forces of societal needs. These elements of relationships of nation states have centered around military conquests, religious conflict and political dominance. We now find ourselves in the economic age. This is an age that explores the limits of all governments’ ability to deficit spend and accumulate debt.
These said elemental forces are the tipping point that result in wars and rebellions. In each age, any turmoil was caused by that resulting element. Today, the pressure points between nation states, and internally within countries, are intensified by economics.
Take for instance the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. The fear of conflict was based on a combination of political differences, resulting alliances, and military power. Had there been a tipping point, and had war ensued, it would have been brought forth by fractures in military insecurity. The pressures externally and internally were not economic. Citizens of the Soviet Union had a substandard standard of living. However, they did not know it. The fear was mutually assured destruction.
Today, in the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain, and the advent of the internet and social media, all societies know nearly everything about each other. Interestingly, all things being basically known by all peoples about each other has increased the desire of citizens of the world to find a way to get to the United States.
An economic truth that is seldom discussed is simply that a government cannot print and borrow money indefinitely. Therefore, it is an eternal principle that you cannot create wealth and prosperity simply by the dictates of government action and its control of the people. A government can subject the people to subordination, and to some extent, provide and maintain a low standard of living. However, such a government will go bankrupt slowly as the Soviet Union did. An alternative is for government to embrace freedom in its “1776 definition.” The result for the United States has been sustained years of prosperity that has set the standard for the pursuit of happiness for citizens.
Are there government program and service needs for the poor and disadvantaged? Yes, absolutely. And in the critical purpose to provide a better life for everyone, we must take care of each other. But in this economic age, balancing the cost of programs with available revenue must be soundly grounded by setting priorities. Understanding that if there is to be limited government in reference to citizens’ sovereignty, then government services must be prioritized to encompass the pursuit of happiness for all. Should taxes be higher? It is a matter of discussing how high. One hundred percent taxation is a form of socialism. That is not limited government. Should government services be greater to service critical needs? Perhaps. But at what cost and as a set of what priorities? Without priorities and some limits, we violate the basic principle of limited government. But furthermore, we violate the economic principle that no government can print and borrow money indefinitely without the government system collapsing upon itself.
Progressives avert this discussion, even if they understand the basic economic principle. Because total government control and standardization of life and individual activity is absolutely acceptable in their world view. Conservatives have discussed the economic principle, but have not emphasized it because they are timid in holding fast to the reality of the fact. Tocqueville was absolutely prophetic in his proclamation on the essence of what would determine the survivability of the great American Experiment.
In actuality, eternal principles unite a people rather than divide them. First, the truth must be recognized that there are limits to a government’s ability to indefinitely print and borrow money. Second, it is also critical to recognize that unlimited government directly betrays the founding principles of our republic, and thereby, the identity of who we are as a people. If in the current debates in our federal and state capitals, these two basic principles in the age of economics were respectfully addressed, we would unite in purpose in determining priorities and process for government services and programs. Therein, we would conduct a proper debate about how much service, at what cost, for the unified facilitation of all citizens’ pursuit of happiness.
It is our call as Americans to go forth, with our elected leaders, and institute government that, by and through a principled framework, pursues governance that does not deny, but respects, these basic truths.
It is our generational obligation to commit to truth through our character, by our actions, and with our respect for governance by principles.
My name is Marc Nuttle and this is what I believe.
What do you believe?