In past years of writing for a state-based, free-market think
tank, I have suggested New Year’s resolutions aimed at Missouri
policymakers. This year, my New Year’s resolutions are more
personal and they go out to all Americans who are deeply worried
about the future of our country. Is there no stopping the drift
toward more spending and higher taxes, along with ever-increasing
debt, heavier regulation, stunted growth, and greater and greater
dependence on government? Are we about to barrel-roll over a
Niagara-like “cliff” into a financial panic and a hard
recession?
These are my resolutions for 2013:
1. Ask not what government can do for you; ask what you can do
for yourself — without being a burden to others. Recognize, and
encourage others to recognize, the grave danger that is posed by a
supposedly “caring” government which is in the habit of making
promises it cannot keep.
2. Do not go quietly into the dark night of buying into
arguments about “fairness” and “social justice” as an excuse for
the limitless expansion of government. You will be accused of being
heartless, cruel, just plain stupid, or worse. But do not let
others define you, or dismiss you — when they are the ones who
press ahead in ignoring the lessons of history, common sense, and
genuine humanity.
3. Always keep in mind that our history and form of government
(unlike many other hopeful but fleeting “democracies”) were not
built on the proposition of One Man, One Vote, One Time.
The great debate in the U.S.A. about the size and scope of
government did not end with the 2012 elections. But the proponents
of big government are seeking cloture — attempting to discredit and
marginalize those who continue to believe in liberty, limited
government, and individual responsibility as the essential pillars
of democratic self-rule and human progress.
4. Write out — and be prepared to defend — your own Declaration
of Independence against the prevailing orthodoxies of the
Hollywood/academia/media elite, who favor every kind of “free
lunch” — whether it is universal, “free” health care or universal,
“free” college education even if it means severely limiting
individual choice, undermining quality, and raising the real costs
of health care and higher education.
5. Do not shy away from the battle of ideas as it continues to
evolve inside your own family, your circle of friends and
acquaintances, your community, and state. Ideas have consequences,
and it is time to consider the catastrophic consequences of
thinking it is possible to expand government spending and mandates
without destroying jobs and economic growth — and condemning young
people to the bleakest of futures. You only have to look at the
extraordinarily high rates of unemployment and under-employment
among young people in much of Europe (the nations teetering on the
brink of bankruptcy) to appreciate the magnitude of the threat.
There is solace in the wisdom of our Founding Fathers, who
looked upon anti-federalist sentiment at the state and local levels
as an important bulwark in an enduring democracy. They used the
words “the states” and “the people” interchangeably. Thus, the 10th
Amendment, the final element in the Bill of Rights drafted in 1789
as part of the U.S. Constitution, famously states: “The powers not
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited
by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to
the people.”
We the people can begin to reassert the principles of liberty
and limited government by stopping the growth of crony capitalism
(and crony unionism) at the local and state levels which occurs (in
Missouri and other states) when officials award tax credits, Tax
Increment Financing (TIF), and other subsidies to politically
favored businesses and constituencies.
Along with other states, we in Missouri can say “no” both to the
expansion of Medicaid in our state and to the creation of a
state-run health insurance exchange that would implement the hugely
expensive, deeply flawed, and greatly unpopular Affordable Care Act
(aka Obamacare).
The battle for liberty, freedom, and responsible self-government
continues. Indeed, it is never-ending.
