Machine Head

When it was all over
We had to find another place
Swiss time was running out
It seemed that we would lose the race
--Deep Purple

Once again I find myself chewing thru Isabel Paterson's classic work, The God of the Machine. Paterson was a member of what I might call the Flack Pack. This was a group of talented writers (although I do not think that they hung w/ each other all that much) that sprung from the Depression/New Deal/WWII period who railed against what they say as an increasingly federal government.

Unlike economists such as Hayek and Mises, the Flack Pack was composed primarily of journalists who engaged in deep self study of history, economics, sociology, etc. This enables a perspective that is unique to the period. This group, which included Garet Garrett, Rose Wilder Lane, Henry Hazlitt, Frank Chodorov, and Albert Nock (among others), provide a valuable contribution to a period where writing about freedom and liberty was unpopular among 'intellectuals.' Morever, this group wrote wonderfully; their pure writing style finds few peers.

I wanted to capture one particular passage Paterson makes on pages 69-70. It well captures the reasoning behind the limited government design enacted by the Framers. Here it is, with a few more paragraph breaks to separate the ideas:

"The change from the European basis of government was made by positing that men were born free, that since they began with no government, they must therefore institute government by voluntary agreement, and thus government must be their agent, not their superior. Since volition is a function of the individual, the individuals has the precedent right. Then even if it was presumed that government did equate roughly with the moral shortcomings of humanity, it should still be limited and subsidiary.

"If everyone were invariably honest, wise, and kind, there should be no occaision for government. Everyone would readily understand what is desirable and what is possible in given circumstances, all would concur upon the best means toward their purpose and for equitable participation in the ensuing benefits, and would act without compulsion or default. The maximum production was certainly obtained from such voluntary action arising from personal initiative.

"But since human beings will sometimes lie, shirk, break promises, fail to improve their faculties, act imprudently, seize by violence the goods of others, and even kill one another in anger and greed, government might be defined as the police organization. It would have no existence as a separate entity, and no intrinsic authority; it could not be justly empowered to act excepting to as individuals infringed on one another's rights, when it should enforce prescribed penalties. Generally, it would stand as a relation of a witness to a contract, holding a forfeit for the parties.

"As such, the least practicable measure of government must be the best. Anything beyond the minimum must be oppression."

If I had to explain the thought process behind the original intent of the Constitution, not sure I would need to add much to the above.

Reference

Paterson, I. 1943. The god of the machine. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons.