Texas

Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has recently “laid down the law” to the several sovereign states, in the form of a Senate vote that singled out Texas, sending them a message that they’d better get back to doing what they're told by our nations capitol! And what brought this about? Well, the Governor of Texas, in accordance with the provisions of the 10th Amendment to the Bill of Rights, actually had the audacity to tell Washington “no.” Ignoring the “fact” that Sodom-on-the-Potomac is the source of all money and “we know best” wisdom, Texas said “no” to federal educational funding that comes with excessive strings attached. They said “no” to federal unemployment insurance funding that comes with similar strings. And they said “no” to federal interference with state authority to regulate gas and oil exploration. Apparently, as per our illustrious congress, we must jump when Washington says “jump”, but when we don’t… the powers that be along the Potomac will punish us by withholding federal funds. But where do they think those funds come from?

It’s surprising to me that so many Americans don’t understand how all this works. In days long past, local government (local [county] people) collected the taxes, allocating a portion of those funds to the state government. From there, the state handed a pittance to the federal government, which did not have the authority to levy taxes on the citizens. Additionally, the feds were allowed to collect import fees and such, which gave them enough of an annual income to function within their constitutionally defined limits, if they maintained a balanced budget and didn’t get carried away with foreign adventures. Our currency was based on the limited supply of gold and silver, which meant that the government couldn’t issue paper “fiat” money either. The national government did have the authority to borrow money when necessary, but the payments on that debt were required to come from the rather limited annual budget. The President could ask Congress for money of course, but the House of Representatives, as the direct representatives of the citizenry, held the purse strings and if they said “no”, the President had best figure out some other way to finance his bright ideas. The Senate got into the act as well, representing the best interests of the sovereign states, NOT the people therein, and if the House cooked up some wild scheme that might cause untoward national suffering, the “cooler and wiser” heads in the Senate retained the power to tell the House “no”, by refusing to vote in favor of whatever bill.

Overall the nation’s economy worked pretty well under the old system, although there were occasional up’s and downs, usually brought about by the “get rich quick” shenanigans of both homegrown and foreign bankers, assorted financiers, and the occasional corporate “Robber Baron”. Naturally, and as has happened throughout human history, the rich slowly got richer and the poor slowly got poorer. But still, if the rich guy made an error in judgment (and lacking federal “bailout” funds), his fortune could disappear overnight. If the poor guy decided that enough was enough, he could always load up the family wagon and head west where he could, with a little luck, make his own fortune. It was a boom time for a young “Rough and Ready” nation that believed in individual liberty, personal responsibility, and the freedom to do what you darn well pleased without government interference. Then came the Civil War… and the federal government’s appropriation of the power to extort taxes directly from the citizen. Used in an on-again off-again manner for years, it became permanent in 1913 with the 16th amendment. 1913 was a bad year for the country, as it also saw the adoption of the 17th amendment which allowed the direct election of US Senators. Coincidentally, the 1860’s were also the era in which the theories of socialism reared their ugly head in Europe, and promptly immigrated to the United States where it soon found a ready audience among the poorest inhabitants of our larger cities. Today our tax dollars are handed out to nearly everyone who thinks they have an social entitlement to the wealth of the nation (or might vote for leftist politicians), even if they didn’t do anything to earn it. (See what happens when you don’t control immigration…)

The thirteen American colonies separated from the British Empire in the course of a severe disagreement over taxes, specifically the question of “Taxation without representation”. Now, the descendents of those colonists are finding themselves burdened with excessive taxes and a skyrocketing national debt, that our representatives can’t seem to get a handle on. Even worse, government at all levels is making every effort to increase our taxes even more so they can provide the “services” and “entitlements” that so many unproductive Americans demand. Taxes that quite obviously come out of our pockets, and then are handed out to all sorts of unnecessary government agencies where the money inevitably ends up buying votes for liberally minded politicians. Since the days of the New Deal the federal government has used our tax monies to make state and local government (along with the American public) dependent of federal largess, and has used the threat of withholding those tax dollars to bend us to federal will, which is exactly what Texas is presently attempting to avoid. ‘Course nobody seems to realize that if those taxes were collected locally, and distributed locally, as was done in days long past, the overall tax bill would be a whole lot lower, and we’d all be ahead of the game… well, except for the Gestapo agents employed by the IRS perhaps.

The uproar in Texas has yet again brought up the question of secession. A question that has nearly everyone in the country upset it seems. The loony left is foaming at the mouth because if the Union broke apart they’d then loose their free ride at taxpayer expense, while the radical right is climbing the walls because they are sick and tired of being forced to pay for every crazy thing the left thinks up. Several states have already filed legal challenges to federal usurpation of the states constitutional authority, and many more are preparing to do so. All across America secessionist groups are forming. They are forming out of anger and out of desperation at the thought of America becoming just another footnote in history. They're not terrorists as the Department of Homeland security would have us believe, nor are they the radicalized militia groups the media so loves to hate; they’re Americans purely and simply, loyal to our constitution. Today they’re fragmented, each focused on their own cause. But sometime in the near future our government is going to do something really stupid, and these groups will finally come together. When that happens, the left will be in serious trouble, and our country is going to be plunged into economic and political chaos that’s going to last for quite a while.

So, is it time for the United States of America to dissolve? I would hope not, but I sure don’t want to be standing around when Washington DC tells the Texicans they have to bail out California’s failed social programs in the name of “sharing the wealth”!