Pournelle and Sterling wrote an amazing Military Sci-Fi series of books under the banner of ‘Falkenberg’s Legion’ (1990) collected into a single title called ‘The Prince’ (2002). In this series an interesting quote appears.
“Every soul in his earliest stages of untutored awareness feels that the center of the universe resides within himself [or herself]. To learn that we exist and move for the most part in orbits, rather than preside at the focal point of even a minor cosmic system is a painful and difficult process for most of us…”
So far in this series of writing, the origins of the current employment system has been uncovered and commented upon. During this period of writing, the United States of America, a previously free Republic, has moved inexorably onwards in the path of less freedom, more chains of debt, and further into the dark abyss of history’s failed experiments. This does not mean that hope is lost; it simply states for the record that leadership is needed very soon. Toward this end, this missive is given.
The citizenry of the United States is comparable to a herd of anxious cows. Let me explain. No offense is intended; please do not choose to take offense.
Fear makes cowherds anxious. Loud sounds, changes in temperature, atmospheric pressure changes, and even the simple desire to run have spooked entire herds into running, mostly into dangerous territory and always to the disgruntlement of the cow herders, ranchers, and farmers. Ranchers have learned to make fences stronger, read the lay of the land, and place the herd into as tight an enclosed position as possible when the herd is put to sleep at night to protect the cows from harm. Just before a herd breaks into a run, the signs of anxiousness are observed; the emptying of bladders and the evacuation of bowels makes quite a mess. Other signs are apparent; the shaking of heads, the shifting of feet, the eyes roll back in the head, and restlessness or the shuffling of feet in every direction begins. Finally, the most important sign is a refusal to listen to external leadership, i.e., cowboys/girls tasked to watch the herd. The final straw before the herd breaks is usually not a major action but a minor inconvenience, which if it had occurred earlier would have been brushed off as nothing; but in the agitated state, the herd sees the minor as major and the herd breaks loose. Once the herd begins running, those tasked with the herd’s care are forced into running beside the herd to try to turn the leading cows away from danger. However, herd mentality has taken over.
The citizens of America are as restless as a herd of thunder struck cows right now. Recent events in Hurricane Sandy, tornadoes in Alabama, the massacre in Newtown, the regulatory nightmare from Washington D.C., Libya, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Israel, China, etc., all are culminating into a nameless fear. The leaders of the herd, or the politicians at every level, have been entrusted to care for the herd, to take limited resources and spend wisely on that which provides the best for American interests. The pathways the Federal Government have lead us down are filled with enough good intentions and self interests to pave a four-lane highway from Maine to London and Seattle to Tokyo. Yet, these same leaders are causing the people to err. Herein lies the problem.
America was founded upon, has lived upon, and rests upon a single principle, confidence. The US Dollar is strong because those people, who possess it, trade in it, and bet futures upon it, have confidence in the dollar. America’s military is strong because the US Soldier/Airman/Marine/Sailor are all possessing confidence individually, in their leaders, and in the political establishment. The American voter goes to the polls from an overabundance of confidence that the person they have selected is the best choice, but even in a loss, that same voter and nonvoter instills the winner with their confidence. This confidence forms a sacred trust, an unbreakable vow, an eternal contract, between the politician and the voters. Breaking this sacred trust hurts every institution in America at the core of confidence.
Look at the abysmal numbers of people who trust the House of Representatives, the Senate, or the President to do the right, plot a correct course for America, or simply to tell the truth, and it becomes apparent that the core has been shook, people are restless, and the herd is about to run. People need a paycheck, need to know how big the tax bill is going to be, and need to know that the collected taxes are going to reduce the debt, that the politicians elected will honor the contract America made by electing them to office.
Compensatory spending is wrong now and was wrong back in 1946 when passed into law for the euphemistic purpose of ‘Full Employment.’ No government from Ancient Greece to Modern America can provide ‘Full Employment.’ Going into debt does not bring true prosperity. The only reason compensatory spending was entered into law was to cover up the pain the Federal Government created through fiscal policy failures accrued during the Great Depression. It took a globe spanning war, millions of deaths, thousands of mutilated bodies, the complete destruction of every civilization on the planet, along with millions of gallons of tears shed in pain and misery to lift the world from the Great Depression, and no society has recovered since. Our current society is at best a farce, Kabuki Theater, to what it could be if the government left people alone, followed the law, and had not accrued so much debt.
Not once in all the discussion about spending has a single politician offered to apologize for the laws of 1946 allowing compensatory spending and offered to remove this horror from the legal code. Not a single politician has said, “No more debt, we will live within our means.” America is a rich country; we are not alone in this label. The United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, China, Brazil, etc., are all rich countries. Yet all these rich countries share the same problem with Africa, Australia, and New Zealand: debt, cold, hard, and totally unsustainable. The politicians tasked with the people’s trust have failed them by running up huge mountains of debt for little or no purpose. The end result is simple. More debt equals higher taxes, higher taxes means less freedom to the people and more power to the government.
Another truth, simply expressed; money is power. Ever since people began forming societies, the need to trade goods and services has required something of value. Possessing more of that valuable substance automatically equated to power, for the possessor could stop providing the resource valued and the entire economic structure would topple and fall. A final truth: actions have consequences. The creator gave man the unalienable right to choose, whether he chooses right or wrong. While man can choose his thinking and actions, he cannot choose the consequences, and wrong choices cause pain.
Going back to the legislation of 1946, the politicians had chosen to meddle in financial controls. The consequence was lost value, destroyed confidence, and the crash of the world’s economies. This brought pain, suffering, despair, and a tremendous backlash. The answer chosen was to increase the government. Increasing the government meant more taxes to pay for bigger government. Bigger government took that which was valuable from those producing valuable tools and gave to others in a vote-buying scheme unparalleled in any society known in history. Now to retain power, those currently in power have a choice to make: stop spending at unsustainable levels, reduce the government, and return power to the people where it rightly belongs; or, to try and continue on the unsustainable path and end 200 years of experiment in freedom. America cannot and will not survive if the debt mountain continues. The monies must be repaid, the debt satisfied, which will occur in either money or blood. This is not doomsday scare mongering, but simple truth.
Look to history for this to be unfolded. A single example: when Ancient Rome experienced serious debt dilemmas, they conquered their creditors with their armies and navies. Once Rome could no longer conquer their creditors, fighting began between Roman and Roman, civil war weakened the empire, and external enemies and creditors destroyed that civilization. This pattern repeats itself time and time again throughout the history of the world. When a government can no longer conquer their creditors or raise capital to service debt, the debt begins to be serviced by the blood of its citizenry. The unfunded liabilities must be serviced, the debt must be serviced, and the service of the debt will be painful. Reducing government to live totally within its means, even during natural disasters and war is the only solution. This path is difficult, but the more difficult and bitterer pill to swallow is to see civil war break out again in every state of this republic.
By tying employment to economic indicators, the Federal Government placed people in harms way. Lose your job and suddenly you place the entire country at risk of debt default. Mass unemployment means fiscal uncertainty for the entire world. This is not right. If the government provides more freedom to the electorate, the reward is longer terms in office to keep providing more freedoms to the people. Be courageous, shift the paradigm, service the debt, and release the power of individuals by untying employment to the economy by annulling the laws of 1946 and 1976 that would free employees to become independent contractors capable of choosing their destiny, choosing those they want to work for, and choosing what they want to do. Employers should not have by government intervention the ‘Right to Control’ free and independent people. Employment should be the trading of time for something of value, negotiated between two free and independent parties with the intention of improving both parties. Act now to rectify a wrong made by previous congresses; free the employee!
© 2012 M. Dave Salisbury
All Rights Reserved
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