An absolutely brilliant piece of thinking and writing!
Professor Williams distills the current state of conflict in society to the barest essentials.
The reader cannot help but to gain greater understanding of our society’s ebb and flow, and a better appreciation of how we got to to this point in our history.
And, one can infer the solution without much effort. That is not to say that the solution will be effortless; it is the identification of the solution that is easy.
The hard part is up to us!
MUST READ PING!
1938
On the reduction of local self-government, hear the Governor of Kansas. He was visiting Iowa and made a speech in Des Moines. Twenty years ago, he recalled, the county — for example, the one in Kansas where he began to practice law — offered an almost perfect example of responsible self-government.
“We were able, I believe, to do a reasonably good job of local government. In meeting and solving our problems we looked to the state government very little and to the national government not at all. The citizens of the county knew who their elected officers were. They came and talked with us frequently. We knew their difficulties. We dealt with them across the desk, over the counter, and sometimes down at the corner drug store. They had definite opinions about the affairs of the county. They spoke their minds freely and they registered their approval and disapproval directly at the polls on the second Tuesday of the next November. There was no doubt and no uncertainty about it.
“Now, that has been a matter of only about twenty years — a short time indeed in the history of people. But in that twenty years there has taken place a most astonishing change. The court house is the same. The theoretical structure of county government is unaltered. But in practical operation the picture now is very different. Federal agencies are all around us. There is scarcely a problem presented to the county officials of today which is not either directly or indirectly involved with implications and issues related occasionally to state, but more often to Federal, regulation. There are Federal offices in the basement and in the corridors on the second floor. Except during the regular term of court there are extra employees of some Federal agency in the court room. A couple of Federal auditors or investigators are usually using the jury room. The whale warp and woof of local government is enmeshed in the coils of bureaucratic control and regulation.
“And that is only the story so far as county government is concerned. You know that parallels could be drawn in our cities, in our educational districts, and even more clearly in our state capitals. Let me cite just one example. In 1874 the western part of Kansas suffered a very severe calamity in the form of a horde of grasshoppers. Our state was young, only thirteen years old. The ravages of the grasshopper threatened the livelihood of many of the settlers. Upon that occasion the Governor called a special session of the legislature. It met, considered the problem and enacted proper legislation for relief and aid... and a disaster was averted.
“If that same situation should occur today we all know what would happen. It would take practically a photo finish to determine which would land first — the grasshoppers or a horde of Federal agents. The state and the county would have absolutely and exactly nothing to say about it. The policy and the means and the method of dealing with the problem would all be determined in Washington, D.C. The benefits, all from the Federal Treasury, in such manner and such form as Washington should dictate, would come to the farmers without their scarcely knowing what it was about — and we take it for granted. The other day a great number of farmers in my state did receive Federal checks, and dozens of them were wondering what in the world they were for, as they knew of no payment that was due under any of the existing programs in which they were participating.”
From The Revolution was, Garet Garrett, 1938
Thanks for the ping; post. That is an excellent, though-provoking article by Walter Williams.
That's right. We're being pitted against each other for a couple of reasons.
One, if we're fighting each other we're not fighting the real enemy; our own Government.
Two, once we buy into the idiotic idea that Government has the power to regulate these aspects of our lives they win.
It's long past time for us to tell Government to go p*** up a rope.
You are absolutely correct Taxman and I would expect nothing less from Dr. Williams! I never miss one of his articles.
bump