The One-Handed Economist

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.
–Thomas Paine; December 23, 1776

Two hundred thiry years ago a gaggle of terribly flawed individuals embarked upon what, at the time, seemed like an impossible task. In order to guard their own freedoms, having already taken up arms against Britian, they declared themselves a new and independent nation. Men from many walks of life, with myriad reasons, took it upon themselves to cast off the outrageous yoke of tyranny and go forth under a new, post-enlightenment banner. It took another seven years to win independence, and another four after that to form the Republic.

The system of government was likely the best that could’ve been established at the time: freedom for all men, so long as those men were white and owned land. Slaves counted 3/5 for tax purposes. By 1791 there were 10 amendments to the document, all of which ennumerated specific controls on government and outlined some very basic freedoms for individuals from which all others could be built. Granted, those freedoms were only for white land-owning males, but the ideas laid to paper over 200 years ago still speak to a fundamental need for individual freedom and limits on state power. Fortunately, the idea of who qualifies as an individual has expanded greatly over the last 230ish years.

Expansion of another sort has also proceeded at break-neck speed, which is unfortunate, because the size and power of the central state in the daily lives of the citizenry has become such that one wonders if there will soon be a license to breathe. Like at least every Executive in the 20th century, and like every Congress since 1913, our Dear Leaders have been busy solidifying their own power while using dubious legal precendent to expand the role of the state. What started with the 17th Amendment has culminated with Bush’s Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and McCain-Feingold. Incremental decay over a period of roughly 90 years has left the citizenry complacent, uncaring, and suckling at the teat. While police arrest you for videotaping them on your property and Our Dear Leaders attempt to restict freedom by soiling the very document they have sworn to protect, you have people in media demanding that the government censor the press.

Isn’t there a law against that or something?

It has come to pass that we obtain freedom too cheaply, and thus we do not value it. Unlike generations before us, unlike our forefathers, and unlike many in much of the world today, we’re born with liberty and face no great struggle in keeping most of it. Or at least keeping enough to go about our daily lives without too much hassle. And parts get neglected, or we don’t feel too bad about giving up things at the margin: flashing an ID here, filling out a form there, being searched without cause this other place…. And each transgression taken individually perhaps isn’t that much, but taken in sum the results are disastrous. To simply enter into an agreement with a private party to hold our money, we must show two government pieces of identification. To move from one state to another by air, we must show ID and walk barefooted through the airport. It’s come to the point where we are not even secure in our homes. Liberty dies slowly while nobody is watching.

What a tragedy that a mere 230 years after a few thousand brave men took up arms against the world’s stongest Empire we can barely muster the energy to be upset when the NSA monitors our calls. What a sad state of affairs that only 230 years past the dawn of a new post-enlightenment era, the serious debate is not about whether or not the government should pay for healthcare, but about how and for whom. What American government has become is pathetic, a top-heavy morass of special interests and power-hungry bureaucrats. The Federalists won the day after the Articles of Confederation failed, but the power of the central state serves as a bright beacon of the anti-Federalist’s worst fears.

However, I do not believe that all is lost. While the course will be difficult, government can be rolled back. Power can be limited, the individual states can be granted their more powerful role once again. This will not be an easy road, nor one that is likely to move swiftly, but between playing the partisans of the left and right against one another and making the average citizen sick of state interference, it is possible to rebuild what the framers sought: a free nation, where individuals can seek reward in their own pursuits largely free of interference from the state. This is the vision of America that I love, and this is the vision worth celebrating 230 years after a bunch of uppity farmers told King George to stuff it.

Happy Fourth of July, burn a flag in rememberance. And watch Frank Zappa make a fool of John Lofton. Makes me wonder if we ought to ban Christian Rock.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Punching Above My Weight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.