What They Didn't Teach in Highschool... The Great Intervention

Introduction

   In Highschool it is often taught that the Great depression was caused by the stock market crash, that President Hoover had a hands off approach, and that FDR's New Deal got us out of it. These teachings are false, and Heres Why:

Cause 

   While buying on margin without having money to pay for things is bad practice for most anything, people have been and still do buy stocks on margin. Even when the stock market crashes, the investors are punished, but businesses are not harmed if they have most of their stock sold already.

   What contributed far more was the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. They inflated the currency, which increases prices, and after the negative effects of this were observed, they tightened the currency, cutting people off from the loans needed for starting businesses, farming, etc.

  When a government is going into a recession, they should spend more. The Fed did not do this, and instead plunged us deeper into the recession, which became the Great Depression.

Hoover's Policy

   President Hoover did not have a hand off approach to the Great Depression, in fact, one of his rivals correctly stated that he spent the most of any presidents in a non wartime economy. In fact, Hoover started many programs that were similar in purpose to the New Deal.

   Later, when FDR became president, he did exactly what he accused Hoover of doing, and spent more money in the process, sinking the country into debt, and providing citizens with pseudo-jobs that didn't actually create any wealth. This lead to wasted money, and a false employment level, as really the govt. was employing people with money it didn't have.

New Deal

   Later, when FDR became president, he did exactly what he accused Hoover of doing, and spent more money in the process, sinking the country into debt, and providing citizens with pseudo-jobs that didn't actually create any wealth. This lead to wasted money, and a false employment level, as really the govt. was employing people with money it didn't have.

    This practice left a legacy of govt. regulation, welfare, and pseudo-jobs. These practices are still in full swing today, with the govt. trying to get us out of the 'great recession' by spending it's way into oblivion, purchasing FRD's economic bill of rights with money they don't have, coupled with taxes sent to programs the gov't has no right to set up.

City Charter - Economic Prosperity

Goal: A charter city where people can come in search of opportunity, with rules made, changed, and enforced so as to ensure economic prosperity

Managment of Resources

   Land is present from the beginning, and would have to be alloted so as to allow a free market to exercise itself, the easiest way being to auction it off in lots, with minimal rules:

• Initially, at least 4 entities must split the available land.
• If any one entity controls 80% or more of the land, it must split within a year.

This would allow investors to lay claim on the land to turn profit, without stifling initial competition because of a monopoly or lack of choice for immigrants.

Management of Labor

   No law shall be made to the benefit or detriment of any individual in  obtaining employment. All applicants must be judged according to merit and experience, eliminating 'equal opportunity' laws that allow race, religion, and national origin to take precedent over applicable skills an applicant may have.

  Further deregulation would occur in the abolishing of minimum wage, allowing workers to work at their worth, and allowing smaller companies to spring up without as high a wage overhead as minimum wage laws would require.

Management of Capital

   Wealth may be brought into the city, and taken out without taxes being levied. This would benefit businesses moving in, and allow them to expand without being taxed. This benefit would trickle down to government funds through wage (income) taxes.

   Income would also be taxed on a flat level, instead of punishing the rich by taxing them more as it currently does. This would remove the proverbial stick behind getting rich, and allow those who create and maintain wealth to prosper without punishment.

   In essence, this lack of regulation would help to isolate people from the government, to act in self interest, and to create and distribute wealth.

Federalist 51 - Controlling the Government

 Paradox

   The paradox that lies in creating a workable government is in creating a power composed of...

"...several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places."

   After this goal is set, one realizes the difficulty in its execution. If one were to suppose, like Madison, that the voice of the people were sufficient to separate these powers and control them, then their position would be weakened by the following predicaments:

• A panel of Judges being politically motivated and impartial.
• A Congress so bound to it's majority constituency that it quashes the minority.

   The first is handled well by having Judges be appointed by the executive branch. They should have all the proper merits based on the judgment of the president. These merits can be confirmed or rejected by the senate in their support or refusal of the executive appointment, thus checking the power of the executive branch over the judicial.
   Further guards are established by having a long tenure of office, enabling judges to act correctly without the fear of being displaced by the next election. This tenure also works to further insulate them from the whims of the 4 year executiveor 6 year senator.

   The second predicament is managed by recognizing many division of sects, or rather, classifications of the citizens. Though there may be a majority, does not necessarily embody a greater part of the population when compared to the combined minorities. So long as the people are put into several different groups, no one will rise above the other. Furthermore, the majority may be compelled to support the minority if they wish to maintain their own security when they fall out of favour with the larger part of the population.

Primary Control

   The voice of the people is the first obstacle to a government becoming too strong. Since the government is an extension of the rights of the people, it is reasonable to establish democracy as the ruling power. This enables the most good to be had by the greatest number of people.

    Tow of the three federal branches of government are limited to officials elected by the people. The states are also limited in this same regard, with high level offices being elected, rather than appointed. This fracturing of individual or branch power in government eliminates the danger of one corrupt person or body from ruining the system.

   

Auxiliary Precautions

   Auxiliary precautions are those that lie within the government itself. Independent of the people, these measured ensure further security of the rights of the people. One of these precautions is to divide the state governments from the federal, in essence having a cluster of 'voters' (states) in control of the higher powers by regulating their respective states as they see fit.

   Also included in these safeguards is the separation of federal powers into three branches, each made to operate independently of the others. Beyond this, the legislative branch, the most powerful in a republic, is separated into two powers. This is the solution to it exerting too much power. As stated by James Madison, the answer is:

"...to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit."

    In conclusion, our constitution established the division and separation of powers. It also establishes the rights of the people, tenures of office, and the splitting of congress into two separate houses. All these things combined with the governing power of the people will create a government that is both controlled by itself, and by the people it governs.

Divine Inspiration - The Constituion

    The longest standing constitution of our day was written be men over two hundred years ago. It stands as the highest law of our country, and the process of adding too, and amending pieces of the constitution has contributed to it's utility though modification. The fundamental principals of it however, remain similar to if not exactly the same as the original document.

Means and Action

   Members of the continental congress were educated, and many knew of and expounded on the principles of John Locke, in that men not only had the right to rebel, but a duty if the situation required it. Samuel Adams took the argument further when he published pamphlets about divinely given or natural rights. 

   He expressed to the colonists that their rights were given to them by God, and not my a Monarch, whether he claimed divine appointment or not. Not fearing the power of the colonial authorities he was offending, Sam Adams inspiration convinced the colonists that they were above the tyrannical law when resisting the acts of the British Parliament. He had the means through his word craft and publishing, and acted on it. 

   Later he was the one to move that meetings of the constitutional convention be started with a prayer. Although the gospel had not been restored yet, God acknowledges the prayers of the righteous, and their offering likely helped them be more sensitive to the spirit while drafting the constitution.

Humble Assembly

   Further contributing to the delegates ability to receive inspiration were the circumstances and situations members had been raised in or exposed to. Delegates from Pennsylvania had been refused protection from state militia because of the inability of the Congress to enforce the protection of its citizens from domestic threats.

  Compounding the frustration of many of the delegates was the lack of funds from their respective states. Many were not reimbursed for travel expenses, and for a time spent money of their own to take part in congressional and constitutional conventions many miles away.

Reference to Inspiration

   George Washington, in expressing his awe of the newly drafter Constitution, stated that:

 “It appears to me, then, little short of a miracle, that the delegates from so many different states (which states you know are also different from each other in their manners, circumstances, and prejudices) should unite in forming a system of national Government, so little liable to well-founded objections.”

   Further adding  to its divine implications, we have God stating its purpose in the Doctrine & Covenants of the Church:

"77 According to the laws and constitution of the people, which I have suffered to be established, and should be maintained for the rights and protection of all flesh, according to just and holy principles;

 78 That every man may act in doctrine and principle pertaining to futurity, according to the moral agency which I have given unto him, that every man may be accountable for his own sins in the day of judgment.

 79 Therefore, it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another."

   These purposes were protected by the constitution which outlines a system of powers and courts to protect the liberty of the people. One branch would not have enough power to oppress another or the citizens, and citizens rights would only be taken away in fair trials in established courts.
 

The Moral Foundation for the American Struggle for Independence

Tradition of Tyranny

   The dispensation of rights by the monarchs of Europe was a long standing tradition that proved successful throughout the middle ages. Later the foundation was laid for equal application of law in the Magna Carta, or 'Great Charter.' It established the Rule of Law as being higher than the ruling power, and equally applicable in similar situations by the use of precedent. While this would seem to be effective when paired with a constitution, King George crushed the notion when he refused to apply standard English laws to the colonists.

   In England, the rulers would appoint ministers and leaders of the church. Their salary would also be set and paid for by the government. The colonists, however, were subject to these same rules, with one exception: They were to pay the salary. This financial burden would not have been so grievous if the colonists were granted representation in the British Parliament. Since they were not, they could neither select or dismiss those responsible for their connection to God, and had to pay for a service they had no control over. This is an example of government endorsed pillaging: When people are forced to pay for something that no one has the right to farce their neighbor to pay for. This is one of the few moral downfalls of the British crown that led the colonists to feel justified in rebellion.

Oppression of the Colonists

   Secondly, taxes were levied to control the colonists and they were denied the ability to make their own currency. While this is not inherently wrong, it is wrong to subject a people to economic distress, when their proper governing bodies are attempting to pass laws to solve the problem. In this way, Kind George sought to oppress the economy of New England, and took away peoples right to property since they were forced to barter and use scarce English currency for all of their transactions. This had a great effect on Samuel Adams when he tried to open the Land Bank, and failed due to legislation being passed in Britain, again without representation. It seems to have given Adams the support of those who had relied on the bank, and those who were suffering because of the lack of currency.

   Third, our natural right to liberty is blatantly threatened when a military presence is maintained in our own homes.  Many totalitarian regimes throughout history have cowed the citizenry with displays of military strength. This struck at the core of the colonists feelings of security and freedom because they were required by law to house soldiers without payment or compensation. New York was incompliant with the 1765 quartering act, and later Parliament passed resolutions to give officers of the law power to enforce the act more harshly.

   To further 'maintain order,' or rather, to further the oppression of the regime, writs of assistance were given to aid in the search and seizure of property. There we baseless warrants, which were not awarded in court, and unspecific as to their limitations. In essence, they had none. A British officer with a writ was 'legally' entitled to search the property of any colonists at any time without prior notice or consent being given. This took away the right to property that Samuel Adams felt everyone had. If one is not secure in their belongings, they are not likely able to pursue their happiness.

Mock Trial and Partial Courts

   Another attack, this time on the right to life, was made in the trials of colonists, who were judged by English judges, and without a jury of peers. Obviously this court setup would incriminate colonists more than a court of unbiased or local judges, and juries made up of local townspeople. When you are being tried for your life, you have the right to a fair trial. People have the right to defend themselves from their life being taken, and in a court, this is exactly what is supposed to happen, albeit in a nonviolent and civilized manner. When this is not the case, one is forced back to more primitive and violent means of protecting life... like starting a war for independence in order the possibility of equality in the court systems.

   Lastly, the Townshend acts attempted to establish a precedent... one based on the laws of a tyrant and a foreign parliament that would not cater to the needs of the colonists. These acts sought to further limit the rights of the colonists by taking more money in the form of taxes, and to set up the English Parliament as a superior governing body to the local colonial organizations.

   It was under these extenuating circumstances that some of the colonists started the War of Independence. Their God given rights had been overlooked for the purpose of increasing the money and power of the monarch. They were ready to stand by their moral justification and fight a war against the most powerful nation on the earth, on whose empire the sun never set. This strong foundation and belief in justice helped pave the way for a nation based on liberty instead of the divine rule of a monarchy.