America: the new fuedalism

Milton Friedman has written the introduction to several versions of F. A. Hayek's The Road to Serfdom.

Hayek's classic was written at the end of WWII for those in England who were fans of collectivism, aka socialism. The book was an argument addressed to socialists as to why they should not follow the path of the great enemies they had just defeated, which was clearly the path the nation wanted to follow.

Friedman's Introduction to the most recent edition had a section that seemed worthy of quoting at the beginning of the next silly season of babbling politicians:

...The fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of communism behind the Iron Curtain, and the changing character of China have reduced the defenders of Marxian-type collectivism to a small, hard band concentrated in Western universities. Today, there is wide agreement that socialism is a failure, capitalism a success. Yet this apparent conversion of the intellectual community to what might be called a Hayekian view is deceptive. While the talk is about free markets and private property - and it is more respectable than it was a few decades ago to defend near-complete laissez-faire - the bulk of the intellectual community almost automatically favors any expansion of government power so long as it is advertised as a way to protect individuals from big bad corporations, relieve poverty, protect the environment, or promote "equality."

After a few words on how American government is relentless in its growth, only slowed a bit by Reagan,

...Total government spending - federal, state, and local - in the United States hasgone from 25 percent of the national income in 1950 to nearly 45 percents in 1993.

This explosion is more than a percentage boom. During that time the real number value of the economy grew faster than any nation in history.

We let politicians become pushers. They offer us, as individuals or groups, to feed from the trough seemingly funded by the "government." We each forget when we are getting the free lunch at the back door that the government has no largess. It takes money from us and redistributes it, keeping a usurious portion so that the the non-producers who work for it can live well. Our selfishness is the road to serfdom.

Where are we now? (Click here for full story) We are at 50%:

CNN:

Study: Government costs half a year of income

Americans for Tax Reform estimates that 192 days' worth of national income is needed to pay for government spending and regulations this year.

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer

July 12 2007: 1:09 PM EDT

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Amid the ongoing debates about how to reduce the deficit and pay for expensive endeavors such as entitlement and tax reform, one group this week released its analysis of what government costs Americans today.

Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative group that opposes tax increases and advocates for a low flat tax, dubbed Wednesday, July 11, "cost of government day" for 2007, two days later than last year and 11 days later than in 2000.

That day is 192 days into the year and is theoretically the number of days it will take Americans to pay (from wages, profits, interest and other income) for all government spending and regulation....

So, think of it this way, you spend half the year working in the fields for the King and Prince. Then you spend 1/4 or more of the year working to pay the (Land) Lord. Throw in the purchase of food, medicine, education and you find yourself visiting Shylock.

Don't bother about thinking about your government and society if you are happy working in the fields so that all you have is a roof. That roof may be showing big returns, on paper, but only if you sign on to spend more time paying the bank. Then again, that roof is losing value every day, now.

The way you get the loan from the bank is to show you are a good and humble serf by submitting your most personal information to a national data base where the key to finding you is your national identity number, you know the Social Security Card that says on it that it will not be used for identification purposes.

Since you cannot opt out of the government's tax and redistribution of your money, as the King will have its thugs arrest you, perhaps, you should pay more attention to what is going on or move to another country.

Either we are America or we are its serfs.

All we have to do is wake from the entitlement daze and realize we are addicted. We don't have to do that as a great movement, merely as individuals who dig in and act in earnest to protect ourselves and to cast out, one by one, the money changers, who are expert at centralizing power. Think about that as the argument begins to create government's largest grab - "free" medical care.

To my mind, if we let government control our bodies, there is no way back to a nation of individuals protected from the government, short of a major depression or war, which certainly will follow as our economy deteriorates and our will to remain the last best hope withers.

Recall last week's story of the British man who cannot get his broken leg reset so he can go back to work (and reduce pain) because the government will not work on him unless he stops smoking. He has tried, but failed, so Big Brother will let him hobble around in pain collecting welfare, as the masses don't like smoking, though they tax it rather than ban it. Boy, it is making a politically righteous statement, isn't it? If that happens here, don't look for me for morning coffee. I will be elsewhere.

Or, I could be wrong, and nothing will ever change and the world is a safe place filled with grace.