Taking Liberty

It's my own design

It's my own remorse

Help me to decide

Help me make the most

Of freedom and of pleasure

Nothing ever lasts forever

Everybody want to rule the world

--Tears for Fears

Every now and then you encounter an article that really jumps out at you. This was one of those for me. Frank Chodorov nicely differentiates between economics were there are firm laws and politics which is 'the art of ruling.'

He also walks thru the progression of the United States. Unlike its predecessors, the US was carefully founded to 'prevent the new American State from acquiring the self-destructive habit of every State known to history, that of interfering with man's pursuit of happiness.'

Despite the precautions, Chodorov notes that the 'ink was hardly dry' before those eager for power began reinterpreting the design in favor of larger central government. The 16th Amendment passed in 1913 'completely unshackled the American State' with powers for unlimited taxation that would usurp liberty.

The quality of this writing finds me wanting to read the volume from which this missive was drawn, The Rise and Fall of Society, which was written in 1959.