The Fourth of July: Its Relevance to Today

The Fourth of July commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Amongst a sophisticated and admirable set of political ideas held by the signers of the Declaration was a disdain for despotic or tyrannical government--in modern terms: an over-reaching or overly powerful government. Today, on an almost daily basis, one cannot escape seeing a news story in which the federal government isn't trying to pass some new law to regulate some industry, or to issue some new threat against some business or businessman, or to bestow some new benefit on some new group of people--a benefit forced, by law, from others who must either produce it or pay for it.

“Of what relevance is this today?—in 21st century American? to my life?” one might ask. Although the Founding Fathers did not go out of their way to formulate treatises on the relationship between freedom (i.e., the protection of individual rights) and economic prosperity, one need only read some of their writings to see that they were, however, well aware of the relationship. Specifically, they took for granted that political freedom included and necessitated economic freedom, and they knew that the result of such conditions was economic prosperity. Come back to today: ever more stringent laws on individuals and their private enterprises; ever more regulations and “oversight” on “big business,” on banking, and on industries in general; ever more financial giveaways (bailouts to businesses and benefits and programs to individuals and categories of people); in short, ever more government—ever more government interference into the economy and into our lives, ever more government regulation and “public welfare.”

The result? Is our economy getting better or worse? Reliance on the opinions of economic experts and forecasters is not needed at this point. Ask yourself: Is your financial situation getting better or worse? Is the value of your house going up or down? Are your salary and benefits going up or are they getting cut? Are your prospects for jobs growing or diminishing? Is your earning potential going up, or do you feel lucky if it merely stays the same? Are things getting less expensive or more so? Do you find your savings going up or down? Are you finding that you have more money left over at the end of the tax year or less? Is it getting easier to make ends meet or more difficult? Is your debt getting paid down, or are you struggling while your debt just sits there unchanging or worse yet is mounting? Are your hopes for your economic future getting brighter or dimmer? Financially, is your life getting easier or harder? better or worse?

I would make a case in answer to these questions, but I don’t think I need to.

Are our elected officials—our President and our Congress—in recent decades (and even moreso today) on the right track? It depends on the standard. If the standard is government as a regulatory and welfare state, then, yes, they are indeed performing, as they continue to increase the size and scope of the government in this role. As Ayn Rand said, however: “Check your premises.” Check the basic ideas or assumptions underlying our ideas. Is this the proper standard? Should the role of government be that of a regulatory and welfare state—or should it be that of protector of individual rights, with the political and economic freedom that this entails and the economic prosperity that ensues? The full answer is not one that can be bestowed upon or ascertained by a person in a blog, or in any short article for that matter. It is in fact one that requires a thoughtful study and consideration over time. As an indication, however, one should consider the relationship between our current political leanings and our economic condition. One should not divorce the fact that as government increases in size and scope, our economy seems to be grinding to a standstill and our personal economic conditions worsen. (If this indication gives you pause to think and a desire to begin investigating further, I would recommend, as a place to start, a book called Atlas Shrugged.)

For me, the Fourth of July has always (as an adult) been about the revolutionary ideas of the Founding Fathers and how such ideas changed the world in terms of freedom and the resulting economic prosperity that such freedom created. I always assumed (or perhaps more likely hoped) that it meant the same thing for many others as well. Given the state of politics today and the political ideas and candidates that people are willing to support, however, I realize that this is not the case. Given our country’s current state, the Fourth of July is not and cannot be about recognizing this event’s political and historical significance; but I do hope that it can become about rediscovering it.

Our Dismal Economy A Result Of Our Politicians

Under our current statist political system, the individual is doubly injured economically. First, he is taxed in such a way and to such an extent that he can keep only very little of any surplus income he might have left over after meeting his financial obligations. Secondly, the economy has been so badly crippled via statist policies that the individual has a difficult time generating any substantial amount of income in the first place.

These phenomena are intentional. I do not mean that they are the result of some type of conspiracy—i.e., the plan of some hidden or behind-the-scenes group. The only sense in which one could ascribe the attribute of secrecy is that those who advocate these destructive ends could never openly admit to it. The actual collection of individuals who do this, however, is not some hidden or behind-the-scenes group. Rather, it is in fact the actual people who occupy our public offices.

The phenomenon of shackling of the individual via these destructive statist policies is explained by the fundamental ideas of the holders of public office who enact them. They do not want the individual to “get ahead.” In their view, the individual belongs to the collective—the group—and each individual is bound and chained to every other. If some must be sacrificed to others, so be it. If the result is a lower standard of living for everyone, so be it. Whatever wreckage or decreased prospects for human happiness and prosperity may or must result from such ideas, our current politicians are at root okay with it, because they believe that their ideas and their ends are correct—i.e., are moral. (Observe the fact that they are willing to shove these ideas and policies down our throat, as recently witnessed with the “passage” of the healthcare bill.) They do not believe in individual rights. They believe that the individual belongs to the group and therefore anything may be imposed upon him if in their view it serves the group. Furthermore, they believe that they are the group’s master.

These phenomena are intentional, but they are not part of a conspiracy. One need look no further than the actual occupants of government and the ideas implicit in their policies. Nothing less explains the phenomena and nothing more is needed. And so long as these basic ideas go unrecognized and unchallenged—and so long as incorrect causes and explanations are sought—we will continue to slide further and further into statism.