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Renewing Limited Government: Currency Inflation

Guest post by: Michael Hume

Article Overview: Slowly, over time (one might say, progressively), we can get rid of currency inflation and get back to a solid dollar. If we did, and we renewed the other essential limits on our government, we'd enter an era of unprecedented worldwide peace, strength, and prosperity....

Renewing Limited Government: Currency Inflation

Rein In The Unelected "Federal" Reserve - Now Over the last three months of Tuesdays, I've written a series about the critical importance of renewing limited government in the United States. Why? Because the great American experiment in self-rule - fueled by the core principle of limited government - has created unprecedented freedom and prosperity not only in America, but throughout the world-wide economy she leads.

If you want to start a business, run a better business, risk capital, build wealth, leave something for your children, stay meaningfully employed, or retain the right to make the important choices about your daily life, you depend upon the limited government guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. America's Founders knew that any power not reserved to the people would be sucked up by the government. They were careful to craft founding documents that sought to reverse this age-old tendency of governments by placing strict limits on the federal government and explicitly saying all rights not granted the feds were reserved to the states, and to the people.

It's worked better than anyone expected for more than two centuries. But for about half of America's existence, the Constitution has had to withstand increasing attacks from "progressive" statists who seek to, as the president declared during his candidacy, "fundamentally transform" the U.S. into yet another socialist, big-government state. The fact that socialism has failed every time it's been tried (see "The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics") has not deterred them... because statists don't care about the success of their nation. They care only about the centralization of its power - under them.

Currently, "occupiers" are protesting against a nebulous enemy roughly called "Wall Street," "capitalism," and "corporate greed." To some extent, the instinct to rise up against greed is a good, American one... but the fact is, these protestors are fueled (in many cases, paid) by left-leaning statist organizations who want to employ them as "useful idiots" to achieve the very opposite (more government authoritarianism) of what the average occupier probably wants (more freedom).

Ronald Reagan famously taught us that government was not the solution to our problems, but that government IS the problem. That lesson's been lost on this generation of occupiers. They've become convinced that "corporate" greed is the problem, and that only the government - and heaps more of it - can save them. But as renowned economist (genius) Milton Friedman once asked, why is corporate greed worse than government greed? In truth, government greed is far worse. It demands not only your money, but your power to do anything about it. He was actually one of Reagan's predecessors in the Oval Office, Gerald Ford, who taught us that a government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take everything you have.

Any member of "the people" is supposed to be free, in this nation, to start a business, risk capital, employ others, and build wealth for himself and for his community. That's why, when the "top one percent" of Americans get richer, so do the rest of the "ninety-nine." However, these free capitalists are currently villified, and the socialist leaders of our country are doing their best to banish them and send their money overseas. As the government takes over more and more of the wealth and resources of the nation, the freedom of the people diminish. Eventually, as "Atlas shrugs," the occupiers will wish they'd protested in a different direction.

I've detailed ten much-needed limits on our government (and on the quasi-governmental institutions that have arisen as parasites around the collectivist movement). Government should be limited in terms of debt, spending, and taxation. Legislators should be term-limited, and legislation should be page-limited. There should be limits restored on the size of government in terms of the number of bureaucrats it can employ, and the pages of regulation those bureaucrats can churn out. Further, there should be limits on the "punitive" damages lawyers can collect for lawsuits, the amount and use of dues big labor unions can collect from rank-and-file workers, and the boundless comfort brought to academics by the concept of "tenure."

Restore those limits, and you restore freedom, strength, and prosperity in America and throughout the world. Force the U.S. government back into its rightful role, and you unleash the unprecedented power of free people to solve the world's thorniest problems.

There's one more limit I should add, and that's a limit on the Federal Reserve. Most people think it's an arm of the government (that word "federal" is deceptive), but the Fed is really nothing more than a cartel of private banks which has been given (since 1912) the power to regulate U.S. currency. I'd love that deal - wouldn't you? I'd love to be in the banking business, and be put in charge of how much money the government prints and gives me to lend out (or not lend out).

The Fed has unlimited power to print (or electronically create) American money. And lately, they've been printing it like crazy. What that does, since our money is no longer tied to any tangible asset, is create massive inflation. It was massive currency inflation that brought down the German republic and gave rise to the National Socialists (Nazis) and Adolph Hitler in the 1920s... and, once again failing to learn from history, our own Federal Reserve is jogging eagerly down the same road.

Fixing this would be relatively simple (though, due to the powerful fight you'd get from the statists, far from easy). You'd start by demanding regular Congressional audits of the Fed (no audit has ever been done in the Fed's history). This would probably lead to the abolition (or extreme diminution) of the Fed, especially if the most obvious fix were enacted: the re-linking of our currency to gold and/or silver.

Slowly, over time (one might say, progressively), we can get rid of currency inflation and get back to a solid dollar. If we did, and we renewed the other essential limits on our government, we'd enter an era of unprecedented worldwide peace, strength, and prosperity.

A lot of talk is given to protecting America's "renewable resources." But the biggest resource we've enjoyed (and shared with the world) throughout our existence is freedom. Free people (producers, capitalists, investors, employers, even private banks) are a powerful force for good, and that force depends on limited government. Happily, government limits are also a "renewable" resource... and the time to renew them, from the bottom up in America, is now.

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Article Tags: entrepreneurship, inspirational leadership, personal responsibility, wealth building



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