By Keith D. Rodebush, Contributor to US Daily Review.
As one peruses the propagandist media in search of serious discussion on the current primary season, one is inevitably disappointed in perpituity. The juvenile discourse which masquerades as political journalism is so pathetic as to be laughable, if not for it’s unfortunate impact on the average distracted voter of modern times. How is it that the most important issue of our times is not only seldom discussed; it is NEVER discussed? It’s the Liberty stupid!
Those of us unfortunate enough or boring enough to remember the 1992 presidential election will not soon forget James Carville’s brilliant political sound bite, “It’s the economy, stupid.” An impactful statement that spoke to the heart of most voting Americans. What person doesn’t worry at some point in their lives about the economy, their jobs, their pay, prices or the value of their retirement account? It was a brilliant, if not sincere, political strategy. George Bush the senior was coming off of an enormously popular victory in the first Iraq War, at one time sporting a 90+ favorability rating. Carville successfully diverted the American voters attention to the economy, which was not really that bad, but the propagandist media had convinced Americans it was. The result was the first Presidential impeachment since Andrew Johnson, but I digress. It depends on what your definition of ‘is’ is.
The tragedy of it all belies the falsehood of the premise; that government can improve the economy. Nothing could be further from the truth and yet to a gullible electorate it is palatable. The futility lies in the inability to define a negative. In other words, in the absence of a policy, one cannot possibly define the benefit of the policy. This is especially true when a supposed ‘free press’ has already assumed that all benefits are simply bestowed upon us by a benevolent government. The truth is that government, while capable of providing favorable tax or regulation policy to the benefit of individual companies, can only benefit the whole of business by being absent. Government truly benefits an economy by getting out of it’s way.
You see the brilliance of our Founding Fathers was in knowing that freedom, coupled with free-market capitalism would unleash the potential of Mankind. The prosperity and progress of America has come DESPITE government, not because of government. And yet, we have a nation which unfortunately has become entirely dependent on government. The unholy alliance of business and government is a drag on the economy, not a benefit. However, one cannot prove such can one? If the government implements a crony capitalist program and it creates a thousand jobs; how can one prove that if the government had reduced their influence, ten thousand jobs would have been created? And that is the negative that politicians have turned into a golden goose that has produced many a millionaire politician, has it not?
Government is Man controlling Man. Is there one among us that doesn’t recognize the inherent corruption of that system? Any business that should be successful would be successful without government assistance. The market is brutally honest in that way. Government is brutally dishonest in that it supports what could not be supported by the market. It’s the Liberty, stupid.
The classical Liberal argument would then be, “Don’t you think government has any role at all?” Well, yes of course it does. But only in the macro and not the micro. Government’s role is to level the playing field, allow all to participate, to protect the people physically while they pursue commerce, protect the fruits of their labor, provide an infrastructure to facilitate commerce and to provide legal redress for the disenfranchised. That’s it. That is all they should do in a free society. Anything that goes beyond that is tyranny, simply because it will eventually favor one over another. It’s the Liberty, stupid.
How long will we allow craven politicians to ingratiate themselves at the expense of the People under the pretense of providing economic growth? Economic growth comes from the labor and the entreprenurial spirit of the individual. This can only be promoted by the government in it’s absence from same. Individual freedom to profit from effort and ingenuity is the whole of prosperity. Government, aside from protecting this freedom, is a detriment, not a benefit. That there are more than a few among us that fail to understand this, in an age of supposed advancement, is nothing short of puzzling. Give me Liberty, or give me death! Why do you think that statement started a revolution?
Keith D. Rodebush is a Christian businessman, a writer and an armchair scholar. He has a Bachelor of Science in Architecture from the University of Arkansas. Keith is currently working on a novel and periodically writes at his blog “Ignarus Semino Dominatus“
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