Adam Smith's theories formed the basis for capitalism, an economic system based on free enterprise, unhindered by government interference. This, in turn, helped form the foundation of what is commonly referred to as "The American Dream," the idea that with hard work and determination, everyone has the potential to achieve great things. Smith, however, opposed the formation of monopolies, whereby one company had absolute control of an entire market.
This concept of a laissez-faire economic system has worked well for a few hundred years. People work hard, make a living, make a life, pass both down to their children who either take over the family business or take their cut of the family money to a certain university and learn a new skill set which they can use to work hard and make their own way in the world. Then along came the Great Depression and FDR's attempt to bail out the American people.
The plan was simple, and the plan was good. Create jobs and invest a relatively small amount of money in helping people, initially farmers, then it spread to other strata of the population, allowing them to find other work. Franklin Roosevelt's main and biggest program was the WPA - Works Progress Administration - which created jobs for millions of unemployed people, mainly men. Few women were hired under the WPA, though those who were were trained and hired to sew linens and clothes for orphanages, hospitals and adoption centers. The thinking behind this was, if two adults in the same family were hired, then that was one less job another breadwinner might get. However, as many as 40% of women were heads of households, often taking care of up to five other people.
Roosevelt's New Deal laid the groundwork for much of what we've seen in America for the past 50 years. The Social Security Act, which included welfare and social security, was a part of the New Deal, designed to be a temporary solution during the Great Depression. The WPA ended in 1943 when employment in America skyrocketed as manufacturing companies had to hire a tremendous work force to keep up with war-time demand for planes, MREs, clothing for soldiers, weapons and so forth. With the end of the Great Depression, it would make sense that all Depression-era government programs would end, but such wasn't the case.
Social Security was set up so that employees could pay out a little bit of their paychecks into a fund off which they could draw upon retirement. FDR established social security as a way to help out workers as they got older. Now, almost all of us in the private sector pay it, but the concern is that we'll never see it. Ironically, Roosevelt was adamant that the funds would be safe from future politicians or even his contemporaries in Congress: "We put those payroll contributions there so as to give the contributors a legal, moral, and political right to collect their pensions and unemployment benefits. With those taxes in there, no damn politician can ever scrap my social security program."
I tweeted earlier today that, I wonder if non-American nations have citizens who make a living off of sucking the goverment's teat for generation after generation? Not so surprisingly, none of my non-American followers jumped in and said, "No, we don't." Drive through certain areas of town - any larger city in America, really - and you'll see slums of row houses, porches sagging, screens torn, broken windows covered with plastic or cardboard, satellite dishes and $40,000.00+ vehicles (Hummers, Escalades, Beemers and Benzes), their inhabitants sitting on the front porch in the middle of the day, talking. Ask any teacher who works at the schools who serve these neighborhoods, and they'll tell you stories about the violence endemic in such areas and how this student is fourth generation welfare. Some of the students want a better life; others - probably the majority - don't care. Why work 40 hours a week when you can sit at home and still get paid for it?
And that brings us to today. In 1996, then President Clinton passed a law that would make welfare temporary, maxing out a five years, and some states imposed even stricter guidelines, such as showing proof of having looked for a job for a month before receiving benefits. Instead of states getting paid per welfare recipient, they were given a flat amount of money based on population. Under these new policies, unemployment dropped and the number of welfare recipients dropped, indicating some success with the program. With the huge government bailout that began in 2009 at the individual level, forecasters predict that welfare will once again rise with unemployment.
Under Roosevelt's presidency, the national dept rose over 120% as he spent billions of dollars to bail out America. If we don't learn from history, we're liable to repeat it, and that's certainly true in America today. Obama wants to spend trillions of dollars to pass his own personal-agenda legislation. He says that this money will go to create new jobs. Where? In China? Will any of this money actually stay in America, encouraging factory owners to hire American employees instead of outsourcing production to China? Likely not. In his campaign, Obama promised a complete withdrawal of US troops from Iraq by the end of 2010. Well, it's February 2010, and that 21st century Viet Nam doesn't seem any closer to an end. Talk about deceptive! Instead of working to dramatically reduce the number of troops in Iraq, he now wants to send 60,000 troops into Afghanistan, meaning more money and lives squandered.
At the beginning of The Crisis, Thomas Paine wrote:
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.We are here. These next almost three years of enduring the Obama administration with its double talk, higher taxes and free-for-all spending (well, free for professional welfare recipients, illegals and so forth, but not for hard-working, legal Americans) will certainly try our souls. "What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly." My conservative and libertarian brothers and sisters, while we do our Christian, biblically-mandated duty and pray for this administration, we also find and support that one candidate who will bring our country back to a more even keel, restoring balance and peace, not fear and dread.
