Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Myths of Roosevelt and the New Deal presented in Wichita

    Yesterday Burton W. Folsom, professor of history at Hillsdale College spoke to a capacity crowd at a luncheon sponsored by Americans for Prosperity-Kansas and the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy.

    His topic was three myths of the New Deal, based on his recent book
    New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy Has Damaged America.

    The first myth is that the New Deal got us out of the Great Depression, or at least made good headway. Massive spending and a doubling of the public debt, however, didn’t do much to cure unemployment, as admitted by Roosevelt’s treasury secretary Henry Morgenthau, Jr.

    Besides unemployment, other measures were bad. The arrest and murder rate was high throughout the 1930s. Life expectancy, which had increased rapidly in the decades before Roosevelt’s presidency, declined slightly during his first two terms.

    Why didn’t spending solve the problem and lift us out of the Great Depression? The money to support government spending has to come from somewhere. Even if the money is well spent — and there’s ample evidence it isn’t — it would have been spent in the private sector when it was in the hands of taxpayers. Government spending only shifts jobs from the private sector to the public sector.

    The second myth is that if the New Deal didn’t get us out of the Great Depression, it was at least a step in the right direction, a view commonly held today. A look at specific programs tells a different story.

    The Agricultural Adjustment Act (AAA) paid farmers to leave some of their land vacant, thereby reducing their production. Prices for crops, then, should go up. Some farmers, however, took the money, and then planted on the land that was to remain vacant. So Roosevelt sent inspectors. Farmers bribed the inspectors, so Roosevelt had inspectors inspect the inspectors. Then aerial surveillance started.

    Then, in 1935 there were shortages of farm products. We imported 11 million bushels of wheat, 34 million bushels of corn, and 36 million pounds of cotton — at the same time we were paying farmers to not produce these products.

    The National Recovery Act (NRA), another of Roosevelt’s programs, lasted for 2.5 years before it was unanimously ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.

    Folsom told how Massachusetts — back then a conservative state with a free-market orientation — took care of their own hungry people. But after seeing what other states (Illinois in particular) did to get federal funds, Massachusetts decided to take federal money.

    The third myth is that Roosevelt had good intentions. His actual goal was to put together a political coalition so he could remain in office. The WPA, in particular, served to reward loyal Democrats with jobs, and to do actual campaigning for Roosevelt. He was also the first to use the IRS as a weapon against his political opponents.

    Concluding, Folsom gave his recommendation for today: “We need to remember that massive spending did not work well back then. It carries with it a host of unintended consequences. Cutting taxes can often liberate people, produce more freedom, and turning the American economy loose with lower tax rates and more individual liberty would provide more of an opportunity to get us out of the current recession.”

  • AIG hysteria tramples liberty

    From Dave Trabert, president of the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy.

    The Founding Fathers, who took such deliberate care to preserve personal liberty in our Constitution, would be ashamed by the hysteria and pandering that have consumed Washington, D.C., over bonuses paid to employees of American International Group.

    There is no justification for rewarding people for failure, but the conduct of elected officials calling for legislative retribution is far more egregious.

    Members of both parties are tripping over one another in a rush to endorse legislation that would tax bonuses paid to employees of companies receiving bailout money at rates as high as 90 percent.

    Not that Congress should be giving away taxpayer money for handouts to failed companies, but it easily could have prevented this mess by putting some restrictions on the money.

    Taxpayers are justifiably angered by the lack of fiduciary responsibility, and Congress is predictably responding with diversionary tactics.

    House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, hit the nail on the head, saying, “This bill is nothing more than an attempt for everyone to cover their butt.”

    As unseemly as that is, it pales in comparison with the assault on the Constitution and our personal freedom. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, called the legislation “an ex post facto bill as well as a bill of attainder, which is unconstitutional, so they’re using the tax code to punish people.”

    “Ex post facto” is a legal term referring to an attempt to go back in time and apply new circumstances to something that already has occurred. A bill of attainder is a legislative act that singles out an individual or group for punishment. Both are prohibited by the Constitution.

    Some members of Congress may be acting like children, but this isn’t a game in which the rules can be changed to alter the outcome. It is of paramount importance that Congress act responsibly to preserve the principles of liberty and freedom. Today the issue is bonuses paid to AIG employees, but there are endless opportunities to use the tax code punitively.

    For example, House and Senate leaders are pursuing the elimination of secret balloting in order to make it easier for unions to form. Imagine if they decided to encourage the behavior they wanted by imposing special taxes on nonunion workers.

    Using the tax code to punish people who raise the ire of Congress is wrong under any circumstance.

    If Congress really wants to show leadership in going after those responsible for this latest abuse of taxpayer money, it should pass the hat at the next joint session.

    In the meanwhile, we must send a very strong message to Washington:

    Knock off the grandstanding, start acting like the leaders you promised to be, and keep your hands off our constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and liberties.

  • Southeast Kansas tea party planned

    Heres’ a message from Patricia Houser about tax day tea parties planned for southeast Kansas.

    Citizens of Southeast Kansas, join me in sending Washington a message against this outrageous, irresponsible and out of control Government Spending. Meet with your family, friends, and other fiscal conservatives from 4 to 6 pm on April 15th, at the Post Office in the largest city in your county, i.e.:

    Crawford — Pittsburg
    Cherokee — Columbus
    Labette — Parsons
    Wilson — Fredonia
    Montgomery — Coffeeville / Independence
    Allen — Iola
    Neosho — Chanute
    Coffey — Burlington
    Bourbon — Ft. Scott
    Woodson — Yates Center

    For More Information: sekteaparty@ymail.com.

  • Burton Folsom, writer on capitalism, to speak in Wichita

    Here’s a message from AFP-Kansas and the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy.

    Please join Americans for Prosperity-Kansas and the Flint Hills Center for Public Policy for a policy luncheon in Wichita next week, featuring noted author Burton Folsom

    Thursday, March 26, 12 p.m.
    Wichita Country Club, 8501 East 13th Street

    The luncheon costs $25 per person, or $185 per table of eight.

    Contact the Flint Hills Center at 316-634-0218, or by visiting www.flinthills.org, to make a reservation by Tuesday, March 24.

    Folsom has written several books, including most recently New Deal or Raw Deal? FDR’s Economic Legacy for America (Thresshold Editions, 2008), and The Myth of the Robber Barons: The Rise of Big Business in America. He is a senior fellow with the Mackinac Center for Public Policy as well as the Foundation for Economic Education.

  • Wichita tea party planning session

    We’re having a tea party in Wichita on tax day, April 15.

    Here’s the planning group hard — hardly, I should say — at work.

    For more information about the tea party, click on Wichita Tea Party planned for April 15.

  • Articles of Interest

    Journalism, crime alerts, war on drugs, minimum wage, stimulus and education

    The State of the Fourth Estate (Jordan Ballor at the Acton Institute) What will happen to journalism in the digital age? The article describes its importance to a free society, with reflection from a Christian view.

    Alert system tells you when a crime occurs (Stan Finger in the Wichita Eagle) Receive email or text messages alerts concerning crime in your area by signing up at www.citizenobserver.com. Maybe criminals will start using Twitter to tweet about their escapes, making it easier for police to capture them. While email and text messages are fine, this is a good application for Twitter, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this service expanded to include Twitter.

    From the Trenches of the Drug War: A Street Cop’s Perspective (The Future of Freedom Foundation) Speaking of crime … what is the true cost of the war on drugs? Lessons from the front.

    Raising BC’s minimum wage: Good intentions, bad policy (The Frazer Institute) As we in Kansas appear ready to raise our state’s minimum wage — with good intentions (I wonder about that sometimes) — consider the well-known unintended consequences: “The most damaging consequence of minimum wage increases is that employers respond by reducing the number of workers they employ and/or the number of hours their employees work. In other words, minimum wage increases result in higher unemployment for low-skilled workers and young people. This unpleasant reality is well documented in the research.”

    Spec. Ed. Stimulus Money Raising Cautions (Education Week) Managing the use of stimulus money may be tricky: “Within the next few weeks, though, the federal tap will open up, releasing an extra $6.1 billion for districts to use for special education, with another $6.1 billion to come later this year. … Though grateful for the largess, school leaders face restrictions with that money. The rules governing the use of federal special education money mean that it’s unwise for districts to use the added funding to start new programs or hire new teachers. If they were to do so, districts would have to continue to pay for those costs in two years, when the federal infusion goes away, under a provision in the IDEA that requires districts to avoid making large cuts in programs from year to year.” What should the money be spent on? Professional development is one recommendation mentioned.

  • Wichita Tea Party Planned for Tax Day, April 15

    Bailouts, stimulus, pork.

    It’s never enough.
    It’s never over.
    There’s no end in sight.

    Tell Washington that enough is enough!

    We’ll be protesting near the main Wichita post office on West Harry Street, north of the airport.

    There will be food and drinks, with a small donation requested.

    The time is from 4:15 pm to 8:00 pm. Come and go as you please.

    Bring your homemade signs.

    You can see a Google map of the location by clicking here.

    Please register for the event by clicking here. Registration helps the organizers estimate the need for food and drink.

  • Kansas City Tea Party Protest, Again

    Actually it was in suburban Olathe, Kansas.

    The Kansas Meadowlark provides coverage when you click on Tea Party in Olathe today.

  • Articles of Interest

    Us v. Them: The People and the Political Class (Jack McHugh, Mackinac Center for Public Policy). “The fundamental problem facing our nation is that true representative government has been supplanted by an inbred, self-serving, self-perpetuating political class that does not represent the people. As a result, the government has escaped the control of the people.” McHugh explains how resistance to term limits, campaign finance regulations, public employees and their unions, even the political parties, work against the interests of the people.

    When Change Is Really More Of The Same (Howie Rich of Americans For Limited Government). “No more lobbyists dictating terms. No more bitter partisanship. No more wasteful earmarks.” Can President Obama deliver on the promised change? “Not hardly” says the author.

    What Are the Odds of a Depression? International evidence suggests there is a 20% chance our stock-market crash will lead to much worse. (Robert J. Barro, Wall Street Journal) It’s a grim picture: “The bottom line is that there is ample reason to worry about slipping into a depression. There is a roughly one-in-five chance that U.S. GDP and consumption will fall by 10% or more, something not seen since the early 1930s.”

    Sweden’s Government Health Care (Walter E. Williams). What about health care in Sweden, a country often described as a place where socialism works? “Malmo, with its 280,000 residents, is Sweden’s third-largest city. To see a physician, a patient must go to one of two local clinics before they can see a specialist. The clinics have security guards to keep patients from getting unruly as they wait hours to see a doctor. The guards also prevents new patients from entering the clinic when the waiting room is considered full. Uppsala, a city with 200,000 people, has only one specialist in mammography. Sweden’s National Cancer Foundation reports that in a few years most Swedish women will not have access to mammography. … I wonder how many Americans would like a system that would, as in the case of Mr. D. of Gothenburg, prohibit private purchase of your own medicine if the government refused paying.” Further information is at Sweden’s Single-Payer Health System Provides a Warning to Other Nations and Mammography at risk in Sweden, says Cancerfonden.