News & Analysis
America's Broken Politics
Social polarization, the growth in lobbying and a loss of faith in process has left government paralyzed in the face of huge challenges ... It is hard for international observers of the United States to grasp the political paralysis that grips the country, and that seriously threatens America's ability to solve its domestic problems and contribute to international problem-solving. America's governance crisis is the worst in modern history. Moreover, it is likely to worsen in the years ahead. The difficulties that Barack Obama is having in passing his basic program are hard to understand at first glance. After all, he is personally popular, and his Democratic party holds commanding majorities in both houses of Congress. Yet his agenda is stalled and the country's ideological divisions grow deeper. Among Democrats, Obama's approval rating in early November was 84%, compared with just 18% among Republicans. Fifty-eight percent of Democrats thought the country was headed in the right direction, compared with 9% of Republicans. Only 18 % of Democrats supported sending 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan, while 57% of Republicans supported a troop buildup. In fact, a significant majority of Democrats, 60%, favored a reduction of troops in Afghanistan, compared with just 26% of Republicans. On all of these questions, a middle ground of independents (neither Democrats nor Republicans) was more evenly divided. – UK Guardian
Dominant Social Theme: A tragedy in the making?
Free-Market Analysis: Granted this is the leftist Guardian, so commenting on such an analysis from a free-market point of view is a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. But the article also provides us with a dominant social theme of sorts – that America will do better when the federal government is more efficient. We beg to differ. If America has any more federal efficiency, the country will become even more unrecognizable than it already is.
Long, long ago, America was an "exception" in the world, a country that subscribed to the idea of minimalist government, respected state secession if necessary, lacked a progressive income tax, a central bank, an oppressive (or overly large) military-industrial complex and was organized along republican lines so that the "tyranny of the majority" was averted.
Today, America resembles the EU more than it does the nation it once was. Its president is almost avowedly socialist, its middle class is riven by ruinous federal, state and local taxes, its money is inflated by the Federal Reserve, its nearly unaffordable military power is projected abroad by over 1,000 bases and its federal government is generally increasingly untethered and uncontrollable.
Seen from this point of view, the Guardian analysis (which is also in a sense a larger dominant social theme of sorts) beggars logic. America has moved from minimalist government to maximalist government and it would be difficult for a clear-sighted individual to ascertain where improvements have been made. Is America a fairer society today than it was? Perhaps for African-Americans, but it is difficult to maintain that many progressive changes that have taken place in America have truly benefited the poor or middle class.
The Guardian analysis maintains that America's problems are BECAUSE of broken government. In fact the American republican model has been broken BY government, along with powerful private interests that have sought a dysfunctional (for most) mercantilist state.
Here's some more from the Guardian article:
Policy paralysis around the US federal budget may be playing the biggest role of all in America's incipient governance crisis. The US public is rabidly opposed to paying higher taxes, yet the trend level of taxation (at about 18% of national income) is not sufficient to pay for the core functions of government. As a result, the US government now fails to provide adequately for basic public services such as modern infrastructure (fast rail, improved waste treatment, broadband), renewable energy to fight climate change, decent schools, and healthcare financing for those who cannot afford it.
Powerful resistance to higher taxes, coupled with a growing list of urgent unmet needs, has led to chronic under-performance by the US government and an increasingly dangerous level of budget deficits and government debt. This year, the budget deficit stands at a peacetime record of about 10% of GNP, much higher than in other high-income countries.
Obama so far seems unable to break this fiscal logjam. To win the 2008 election, he promised that he would not raise taxes on any household with income of less than $250,000 a year. That no-tax pledge, and the public attitudes that led Obama to make it, block reasonable policies.
There is little "waste" to cut from domestic spending, and many areas where increases in public spending are needed. Higher taxes on the rich, while justified, don't come close to solving the deficit crisis. America, in fact, needs a value-added tax, which is widely used in Europe, but Obama himself staunchly ruled out that kind of tax increase during his election campaign.
These paralyzing factors could intensify in the years ahead. The budget deficits could continue to prevent any meaningful action in areas of critical need. The divisions over the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could continue to block a decisive change in policy, such as a withdrawal of forces. The desire of Republicans to defeat the Democrats could lead them to use every maneuver to block votes and slow legislative reforms.
A breakthrough will require a major change in direction. The US must leave Iraq and Afghanistan, thereby saving $150bn a year for other purposes and reducing the tensions caused by military occupation. The US will have to raise taxes in order to pay for new spending initiatives, especially in the areas of sustainable energy, climate change, education, and relief for the poor.
We actually agree with some of this analysis. America's out-of-control federal spending will demand sooner or later that its current live wars be reduced considerably. It may even be that the overall military budget will be reduced slightly, though not very much. But the trend toward larger government and a more dysfunctional state is NOT going to be reduced by the players in either major party, their business backers or the monetary elite itself.
The last thing that America needs in our opinion, however, is a more effective federal government. When one looks at the industrial and sociopolitical model that vaulted a sparsely populated nation into the ranks of the world's most powerful and wealthy states, one can make a good argument that it was pre-Civil War free-markets that positioned America for her vast prosperity. It is easy to miss this fact, however, just as it is easy to mis-identify Rome's success. Both Rome and America, in our opinion, utilized the republican model of fairly minimalist, representative government to build powerful, market-driven economies. In the case of Rome, empire actually signaled the decline of the society. The signs of American empire similarly signal decline.
Conclusion: We do not know if America, unlike Rome, can return to the roots of her greatness. But the Internet itself has certainly provided millions (not only in America) with a powerful learning tool. Those interested in culture and polity – and how societies function properly – have relearned the lessons of minimalist government and the value of honest money (gold and silver) in the past two decades. These great lessons may in fact provide a launching pad for the reinvigoration of America and the West if one is to come. Perhaps, then, the Guardian has it backwards. The problems that America faces are not going to be solved by government but by an expansion of freedom.
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Posted by Bonnie Donaldson on 11/24/09 03:14 PM
Re: General Smedley Butler, "War is racket."
In the most riveting moment of my high school experience, our charismatic Problems of Democracy teacher, a six-foot tall, Viking-warrior-like woman, Mrs. Ervine, was asked in class about the cause of World War One.
Pounding on the desk, she exclaimed, " I'll tell you the cause of that war and every other war. Power and money! And don't you ever forget it."
I have never forgotten.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Great anecdote. We agree.
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Posted by Ralf Meister on 11/24/09 01:30 PM
Is there a German version of "the Daily Bell"? I would sure like my father to know some of this.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Coming. Thanks.
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Posted by Glenn Murphy on 11/24/09 11:54 AM
What if we are looking in the wrong place for answers? Consider the following, by Benjamin Fulford.
Click to view link
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks. He's been a bit controversial of course.
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Posted by Gul on 11/24/09 10:09 AM
Great perspective. I hope many free market thinkers will read this. I am forwarding this link to many of my fellow compatriots.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks!
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Posted by Kaydell Bowles on 11/24/09 09:14 AM
The facts that are not given was he was on the radar screen and he was on the Homeland Security team of President Obama. Was it not connecting the dots, political correctness, or just the going along with "he was in high places and surely could not be a terrorist," created the man-made disaster the Obama's administration refers to?
Reply from The Daily Bell
The entire war on terror is riven with these coincidences, incompetent acts and an overall, generalized dysfunction. There is plenty of money sloshing around but few results - and seemingly fairly few enemy combatants thus far as well. War, even a war on terror, would seem to be, in General Smedley Butler's wise words, something of a racket.
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Posted by Kaydell Bowles on 11/24/09 09:08 AM
Your approval rating of Obama is wrong. In early November his over approval rating by all polls was below 50%. Where did you get in early November it was 84%? Seems as if the European journalists have fudged the numbers from 84% instead of the 48% that is reported.
Reply from The Daily Bell
It is not our number but the Guardian's. And the number refers to approval among DEMOCRATS. Anyway, we take it as a given (cynical or not) that much of the information in the mainstream press may be wrong, or at least wrongly interpreted.
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Posted by Geoff on 11/24/09 08:59 AM
In your article on Major Hasan and Holy War, you conclude that the domino theory was abandoned after the loss in Vietnam, and the legacy of those wars are the dead and wounded.
I beg to differ. The legacy of the loss in Vietnam is today's American socialism. The domino theory was absolutely correct: if we failed to counter socialism and communism abroad, it would visit us here at home.
Well, the chickens have come home to roost. America has now been taken over by the very same anti-war activists that emerged during the protests against Vietnam. Is it a surprise to anyone that these neo-communists have quickly moved to nationalize everything the U.S. Federal Government can get its hands on? Not to me, it isn't!
Don't be so quick to dismiss the Domino Theory. I believe the doctrine has found a latter-day proof. Sadly, it comes at the expense of America's shriveling middle class.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Good point. But, using your line of reasoning, would the anti-war protestors have emerged without the war? If not, then once again war provides unintended consequences, as bad or worse then those it was intended to combat. (Unless those in charge of the failed war, including the monetary elite, anticipated an upsurge of leftism as a result and were not actually opposed to it.)
There are those who believe that the various wars started to defend America from terror are spawning the very radicalization and terror that American leaders apparently fear.
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Posted by Ernest Kroll on 11/24/09 07:10 AM
This article does a good job explaining the problem we face here in America in solving our economic mess. A must read, unless you are not interested in what the future portends for your pocketbook, freedoms and security.
If you voted for a progressive liberal or 'moderate' this might be the time to seriously re-think your politics and what you want from life.
It is a foregone conclusion that nothing will be done to address the internal pressures of Islam in America during the reign of Obama & Company. We already see that Europe is crumbling under Islamic pressures there, even recognizing Sharia law. As Muslim populations becomes dominant in one European country after another, it is only a matter of time before we see it happening in North America.
Thank God I won't be alive to witness the debacle.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks. Is Islam the main problem, though - or is it state adoption of Islam?
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Posted by Ernest Kroll on 11/24/09 07:03 AM
As we learn more of what happened behind the Wizard's curtain during GWB's presidential years, the more we understand how we have arrived at where we are today economically and militarily.
GWB's 'compassionate conservatism' has turned around to bite us in a most uncomfortable part of the anatomy.
It may be that we can no longer depend on the two parties currently major in the political arena -- we may have to destroy the two-party system and concentrate on thinking 'outside the box' in order to find the political platform that will guide us back to fiscal and moral sanity.
I, for one, refuse to respond to the two-party Pavlov conditioning that has affected my entire adult life, and will vote for a candidate outside the major political party arena who will lead America back to the right path of economic recovery and national sanity.
Kudos on a well-written and insightful article.
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks. Ron Paul might be someone to consider if he re-enters the national stage as a candidate.
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Posted by Tio Carver on 11/24/09 05:16 AM
This is a very polite article about what governments have done throughout history once they've reached a certain critical mass. They crack down on their own citizens through the use of outside threats. History always repeats.
Reply from The Daily Bell
An unnecessary repetition?
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Posted by Holdor on 11/24/09 05:00 AM
Thanks for "telling it like it is" in both of these articles. There really is a difference between the mainstream and alternative press!
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks for reading.
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Posted by Alan on 11/24/09 03:10 AM
You are right in that the 'war on terror' seems to be an excuse to further erode individual freedoms for all. However there is still no meaningful discussion of Islamic ideology. Just PC soundbites of 'The Religion of Peace'. For reference I include two links.
The first is Major Hasan's 50 slide lecture to senior army doctors on 'The Koranic World View As it relates to Muslims in the US military' and the second an informed comment on this issue.
Click to view link
Click to view link
As the comment states:
"Hassan is the first terrorist in history to give an academic lecture explaining why he was about to attack. Yet that still isn't enough for too many people, including the president of the United States--to understand that the murderous assault at Fort Hood was a Jihad attack.
"Ultimately, he concluded that he could not be a proper Muslim without killing American soldiers. Obviously, other Muslims could reach different conclusions but Hassan strongly grounds himself in Islamic texts."
Islamists use Koranic texts to justify their actions, yet more ire is poured out on those who point out this fact. When that ire is more fully directed at those Islamists instead, we may be getting somewhere!
Reply from The Daily Bell
Thanks for the feedback and links.
