Liberty Defined: 50 Essential Issues That Affect Our Freedom (11 page)

The judiciary hasn’t helped matters either. Court rulings on discipline, decorum, and political correctness have intimidated many dedicated teachers and curtailed any creativity they might have. Lawsuits and threats stifle a good educational environment—something homeschoolers and private schoolers don’t have to worry about.

The founders of this country were well educated, mostly by being homeschooled or taught in schools associated with a church. In early times in new settlements, the families would band together to hire a teacher to come and teach. Under those rather crude conditions—without palaces in which to teach—the children were taught the classics as well as foreign languages. Today, our children can get through eight or even twelve grades without even touching on these subjects.

But everybody passes—no
single
child is left behind. Instead, they are all left behind in
large groups
. Washington, DC, the only city that Congress has jurisdiction over, has one
of the most expensive, most violent, most crime- and drug-ridden school systems in the country. And the only complaint Congress gets from District of Columbia teachers and administrators is that they need more money.

The current system has driven many state school systems into bankruptcy. Extravagance in building ornate physical structures while neglecting quality education has added greatly to the debt burden of local and state budgets. This is all in addition to the contribution of the huge sums of money eaten up by the federal bureaucracy and the Department of Education, which contributes to the national debt.

The NEA (National Education Association), one of the most powerful lobby groups in the country, not only successfully agitates for structural and bureaucratic excesses, it is responsible for teacher salaries and retirement benefits that far exceed those of the private sector. The future obligation to pay all the retirement and health benefits will require a constant inflow of revenues.

Many pension funds are not solvent. With an economy that is likely to remain weak for a long time, assuring that the retired teachers will receive their benefits is questionable. This will probably prompt federal assistance in time. When the conditions in the large cities and states present a major crisis, I’m certain the federal government will bail them out with printing press money. The only question then will be the value of the dollars they receive.

Even with the mess we have created with our schools, we are not on the verge of undoing our public school system or wisely reforming it. There is no serious effort to deal with the problem of vastly inefficient, underperforming schools. In reality,
the whole system may self-destruct by both poor performance and runaway costs. The grandiose structures built by so many government-run schools resulted from the huge subsidies from the federal government financed by debt and outrageous taxes.

It’s a huge problem to deal with under today’s circumstances. The majority of the American people assume the public school system is a “sacred” institution. We have been told that our “free” public school education made America what it is today. Soon they will be forced to quit making that claim. Eliminating federal controls someday may be achievable.

If government schools were maintained by local control, the problem of monopoly control of education for the entire school-age population would be greatly reduced. The “owners” of the school could be the local school boards, which could set curriculum and discipline standards and taxes. This solution is not perfect, but it is vastly better than a Washington-based economic czar using the educational system for propaganda, perpetuating the falsehoods of the state and the so-called benefits of a powerful central government. Thank goodness for the Internet, Amazon, and the thirst for truth that no government is big enough to silence.

Burleigh, Anne Husted. 1979.
Education in a Free Society
. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

Rothbard, Murray N. 1999.
Education: Free and Compulsory
. Auburn, AL: Mises Institute.

West, E. G. 1994.
Education and the State: A Study in Political Economy
. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund.

T
he majority of Americans, most likely, do not believe we are an empire. They believe we are a free people and enjoy the benefits of living in a democratic republic. Most people do not read the international news. Even wars are only interesting to people at the very outset. But most Americans lose interest after a few weeks.

As a result, most people remain blissfully unaware of the activities of the American global empire. This really came home to me on 9/11, when most Americans expressed shock and amazement that anyone would have a reason to deliver a message to the United States in the form of a bloody and destructive attack. Most people asked what we ever did to incite such a thing. George Bush explained that these crazy people must have “hated us for our freedoms.”

Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that, to say the least. There are lots of people who hate us for invading their countries, supporting dictatorships, starving people through sanctions, and maintaining an unprecedented military empire of global reach. Truly, the United States is an empire by any definition, and quite
possibly the most aggressive, extended, and expansionist in the history of the world. Do we really find it shocking that some people in the world don’t like this? Would we, as American citizens, like it if some superpower were doing this to us?

The transition from a republican form of government to an authoritarian empire is most often insidious. Yet history has recorded quite a precipitous shift that dated the end of the Roman Republic and the beginning of its empire. The date is etched in history when Julius Caesar boldly marched with his legions and crossed the Rubicon. The rules were clear. A proconsul in charge of a province outside of Rome was not permitted to enter Rome with his troops. The Rubicon, a twenty-nine-kilometer river running east and west in northern Italy, was the line that separated the militarily run provinces and the Roman Republic. It was a small river but a mighty barrier; it provided a symbolic wall of defense against any internal military threat by an ambitious Roman general.

But Julius Caesar successfully crossed the Rubicon with his legions and defeated Pompey’s effort to defend the Republic. Caesar quickly secured Asia Minor and within three years the Senate appointed him dictator for life, which was the final blow to the Roman Republic.

Cicero failed to save the Republic, but he left a great legacy in his effort and influenced generations to come—including the Founders of our own republic. Though the crossing of the Rubicon is considered the seminal event in the fall of the Roman Republic, militarism had already been in place outside of Rome itself. The destruction of the Republic came as a consequence of the growth and expansion of Roman military power throughout the Mediterranean region.

The Romans assumed that as long as the proconsuls and their military forces did not take over the republican Senate in Rome, the status quo of the Republic would be maintained.

Julius Caesar’s military genius, his loyal troops, and the material benefits they received though conquest, along with the Senate’s forbearance, permitted him to annex essentially all of Europe and part of Great Britain. Eventually, most of the known civilized world became part of the Roman Empire.

Some analogies can be made between the fall of the Roman Empire and the problems we face today in America. One thing for certain, though, is that the duration of the American republic and empire compared to those of the Romans will be much shorter. Geopolitical events today are moving rather swiftly compared to ancient times due to modern technology—weapons, speed of travel, and communications.

The Roman Republic lasted approximately 450 years before Octavius Caesar brought it to an end. The Roman Empire, if dated from time when Octavian was called the Exalted One in 29 BC, lasted until AD 476. Today’s military and CIA efforts are almost totally unrestrained by the U.S. Congress. The extent of our modern-day worldwide empire strongly suggests a similar pattern of the military independence enjoyed by Julius Caesar.

Much more sophisticated today, the CIA along with our military might have orchestrated military coups against governments we find dispensable. Iran-Contra-type financing is a tool used to circumvent any effort by Congress to restrain clandestine activity that promotes our empire.

Eighty billion dollars are spent on intelligence gathering to protect the American people, without much to show for it.
Possible secret financing by the Federal Reserve, with loans and guarantees to our friends to assist empire building, is unconfirmed but would not be surprising.

Money spent by the CIA and other security agencies receives virtually no oversight by the U.S. Congress. When problems result as a consequence, the military is frequently called upon to bring about order and Congress is coerced into supporting the effort for supposed national security reasons.

These efforts have led to a worldwide presence of American troops. The American people have been brainwashed into accepting this for various reasons. Some Americans believe a great danger is lurking and have become convinced that security demands our ever-growing presence around the world.

Others, less fearful, believe we are only spreading our “goodness” and democracy out of a spirit of benevolence. Even if this were true, why would we spread such a message with armed military? Some still believe in a modern-day mercantilism that requires us to protect natural resources—such as oil—for national survival. Too few understand that the much greater threat to us is the deeply flawed policy that condones military occupation and a world empire.

But just as the military of Julius Caesar and the empire he forcefully implemented eventually led to the destruction of the 450-year-old Roman Republic, our current worldwide military presence invites the same result.

Though it took years for the Roman military empire to be built, it was clear that “passing the point of no return” was when the republic was doomed and the empire would reign. The question for us is, Have we crossed our Rubicon? Our future depends on a proper assessment and wise discussions
as to what actions we should take. History will determine the outcome and the wisdom of our actions. We have only the present in which to decide on our course of action. History and an understanding of human nature should be used to guide us, but they do not provide all the answers.

We don’t have a geographic boundary to delineate our republic from the imminent danger of becoming an empire. But I cannot conceive how anyone can deny that the American Empire is not in charge of the world today. With the demise of the Soviet Empire in 1989, the United States quickly assumed the role of the worldwide administrator of military power, and the domination continues to expand and grow. Even with the financial crisis and our shrinking wealth and the exponential growth of debt, we remain the economic powerhouse of the world. The dollar still reigns as king for now. We have more military might than all the rest of the world put together. No one dares attack us in a conventional manner. The danger lies within, with our military and our economic excesses and our lost liberties.

If we indeed are an empire, is our republican form of government salvageable? If so, one thing is certain: it won’t take hundreds of years to complete the transition as it did with the Roman Republic and Empire. It’s more likely to be like the dissolution of the British Empire or the quick disappearance of the Soviet system.

All governments reflect the people’s attitude; no system lasts that cannot maintain popular support. Welfare and warfare brought us to where we are, and the majority remains enthralled with promises of bliss.

Pompey fought a military battle in an attempt to stop Caesar
and lost his life for it. Today, we can still resist without a military or violent confrontation. To acquiesce and not resist in any way and escape to another part of the world is not a realistic option for most Americans. To confront the opposition and defend the rightness of the grand experiment in liberty is the only choice we have.

I am encouraged by Victor Hugo’s frequently quoted assessment regarding ideas and military powers: “There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” We’re in an ideological struggle and one that is winnable, but it cannot be won without addressing the status of the American Empire. An empire, which requires perpetual war and preparation for war, is incompatible with a free society. Those who consider themselves to be opponents of big government and yet have an uncritical attitude toward militarism and war are either fooling themselves or haven’t thought enough about the problem. War feeds the growth of the state. The state is nourished on the liberties of the people. The choice is liberty or dictatorship (authoritarianism), republic or empire. The notion that we can cut government and maintain the empire is preposterous.