Author:  R. Alan Harrop, PH.D.

This is the second article on issues critical to ensuring the continuation of America as we have known it as we celebrate the 250″ year since its founding. As one looks back on the history of this great and unique country, it is evident that a strong tradition of personal independence and self-reliance was critical to America’s success. The Founding Fathers gave us the framework for freedom from government control, which allowed hard working individuals to prosper and improve their standard of living. This became the basis for the so-called “American Dream”, where an individual through perseverance and self-improvement could lift themselves up by their own boot straps and achieve economic success. This is the essence of the free market system. The question is, “Where does America stand in the year 2026 on this critical value and tradition?”

Since the mid-1800s, the ideas of Karl Marx (the basis of communism/socialism) have been the antithesis of personal freedom and self-reliance. Since that time we have witnessed sufficient evidence to judge whether Marx or the Founding Fathers were correct. Communist China, Russia, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela all serve as examples of the failure of communism and its essential element, which is reliance on government rather than on oneself. The Marxist theme “From each according to his ability; to each according to his needs.” sums up how communism takes from hard working successful individuals and gives to everyone else regardless of their effort. To accomplish this requires a strong central, controlling government, which of course is the opposite of the limited government written into our Constitution.

Unfortunately, America over the past hundred years or so has been steadily drifting towards socialism. A few examples standout: First, the implementation of personal income tax in 1913 allowed the government to directly tax the individual. Originally, only the top 1%-3% of workers were subject to paying any tax on their income which could amount to 1% -7% of earnings. The highest percentage of workers paying income tax occurred in 1945 at 60% with a top marginal tax rate of up to 95% of income! The expansion of government taxing of citizens has allowed a tremendous growth of government spending and control over consumption. The size of the federal government has grown far beyond that envisioned by the Founding Fathers and has resulted in government control over much of our lives. The establishment of the so-called “Great Society” in the 1960s by Democrat President Lyndon Johnson opened the door to all kinds of controls from the type of vehicle we drive to the food that we eat. Most of these social programs originally aimed at helping a small number of people who for one reason or another could not help themselves. For example, the food stamp program, now known as SNAP, began in 1964 and served a half a million people. Participants had to purchase the food stamps which allowed them to buy food items at a discount. The federal government in 1974 expanded the program and removed the requirement to purchase the food stamps and received them based on their income. As a result the number of people on food stamps reached 22 million by 1981. As of today, there are over 42 million people receiving food assistance through the SNAP program. This substantial expansion of this program is typical of social programs that may start off small but soon grow making more people dependent on the government. In addition, most of the welfare programs have income limits which discourage an individual from increasing their income since they will no longer be eligible for free stuff.

The impact on the federal deficit has been profound. In the mid- 1950s, federal budget spending on welfare programs was about 5%; now it is 65%! Defense spending has gone down while all other government spending has gone up which accounts for the unsustainable deficit of $39 trillion. No country has ever lasted when their budget deficit reaches such high numbers. America at some point will to face the inevitable. We need politicians that are strong enough to address this budget crisis and stop kicking the can down the road. As British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher once said,

“The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.” President Trump has reduced the size of the federal government workforce by about 300,000. More needs to be done. People have to be encouraged to rely on themselves instead of the government. If not, we will find ourselves increasing controlled by the government as we experienced during the Covid epidemic where businesses were closed, people could not gather in groups, and had to wear ineffective face masks. Big government results in loss of freedom, period. Always has and always will.