During the latter part of the eighteenth century a phenomenal political development occurred which created the framework for a new civilization. This was the establishment of the first free people in modern times. In the panoramic history of the human race it was an epic achievement.
At the time this important political leap took place the whole pattern of human existence was bogged down by three man-made systems which had enslaved mankind. The first was the political system throughout the world which consisted of monarchial dictatorships where life, liberty and property were subject to the more or less fickle whims of individual potentates. The second oppressive system was the economic pattern of the world which was rooted in a variety of feudal contracts where the majority of the people wore out their lives as serfs on vast estates carved from the spoils of military conquest. The third system which dominated the lives of mankind was the overexpansion of institutionalized religion. The professional guardians of man’s spiritual welfare had practically choked off all channels of free spiritual expression so that matters of opinion and conscience were often scrutinized and controlled by oppressive surveillance.
For several hundred years prior to the eighteenth century a few liberal rebels had struck out fiercely against the Frankenstein systems which enmeshed mankind, and many of these liberals had left their mark. They were called “liberals” because they desired to liberate the race from these man-made systems. They wanted man controlling the systems instead of the systems enslaving man. Today “liberals” are often those who would like to restore those systems and once more make man their minions, but here we shall speak of liberals in the original sense—“liberators from man-made systems.”
The first group of liberals to gravitate together in sufficient quantities to take decisive action was a contingent of visionary men scattered among the American colonies. Historians say it is surprising how few voices in that day were prepared to speak up for complete liberation, but these few were sufficiently strong to chart a blueprint for the first free nation in modern times.
Of course, in many ways it was a most reckless venture. These American political pioneers risked life, property and the rights of citizenship by participating in this liberation movement. Nevertheless, they were successful to a degree never exceeded by political leaders in any other time or generation. Perhaps the following outline will illustrate why.
The American founding fathers were very uncommon men. They were neither anarchists nor revolutionists but were among the most successful political and business leaders from each of the colonies. In this sense, they were both physically and mentally equipped to be empire builders, and before the king had made his imperialism completely intolerable they had, in many cases, been among the most active subjects of the king carrying out the crown’s business among the colonies. Therefore, by their own contemporary standards, they could scarcely be called “proletariat.” As a group they were students of economics and political science, and when they set their hands to the task of creating a new nation they drained off the best thinking of men like John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu and Adam Smith besides adding many ingenious contributions from the inspiration of their own minds.
All of this evolved into a unique political philosophy worthy of the most careful study. The documents these men produced reflect the ingredients of this philosophy. They reveal that those who subscribed to it had the following fundamental convictions:
• They believed that certain inalienable rights of man are derived from God and not from any human agency; therefore, no human agency can rightfully disturb them.
• They believed class distinctions must be eliminated, that there is no place among free men for classes or castes. The public officer, the merchant, the banker, the farmer, the mechanic, the teacher—all are honorable and necessary, worthy of being treated as equals. They believed the progress of the human race will not be the result of pitting one class against another but will come by uniting all groups or classes in one concentrated offensive against man’s common enemies: poverty, ignorance, disease and war.
• They believed that in pursuing happiness, men must be free to work at any livelihood which their experience, training and native qualifications will permit them to secure and hold.
• They believed men must be free to enjoy the fruits of their labor—which means the protection of property rights.
• They believed men must be secure in their homes and the Privacy of their lives. They believed there must be good will, generosity and tolerance between those of difference professions, those of different religions and those of different races.
The translating of these principles from theory to practice has been a long and painfully slow process. Nevertheless, the historic steps which were followed constitute the straight and narrow way through which any and every people must pass if they are to gain and retain their freedom. These historic steps were as follows:
First: The redemption of the people’s freedom by an official Declaration of Independence in 1776.
Second: The enforcement of that Declaration by resort to arms from 1776 to 1783.
Third: For the first time in the history of the world a government was established with its powers strictly defined in a written document—the United States Constitution.
Fourth: The Constitution provided for a republican form of government. This is government by elected representatives rather than government by emotional mass participation as a pure democracy.
Fifth: For the first time in history a government was set up under a sovereign trinity—three equal branches of governmental authority—the executive, the legislative and the judicial. The separation of powers among three equal branches of government came from the brilliant mind of Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755). James Madison was a particularly warm admirer of Montesquieu and was responsible for the introduction of this principle into the framework of the Constitution.
Sixth: Each branch of government was to be subject to a system of checks and balances from the other two branches so as to maintain a healthy balance of power. Government has been defined as society’s power of “organized coercion.” The genius of Montesquieu’s principle of separation of powers is the fact that when one branch of government exceeds its authority, one or both of the other branches combine against it to use their powers of coercion to put down the oppression of the offending branch. This makes it unnecessary to have the people rise up in revolutionary force to put down oppression.
Seventh: All powers not specifically delegated to the Federal Government were retained by the states and the people. The doctrine of the contractual basis of government with the reservation of political sovereignty in the people was described by John Locke in his “Second Treatise of Civil Government,” published in 1690.
Eighth: The following freedoms were guaranteed to the sovereign citizen:
1. Freedom of religion (First Amendment)
2. Freedom of speech (First Amendment)
3. Freedom of press (First Amendment)
4. Freedom of assembly (First Amendment)
5. Freedom to petition the government for grievances (First Amendment)
6. Freedom to bear arms (Second Amendment)
7. Freedom from illegal search of persons, houses, papers or effects (Fourth Amendment)
8. Freedom from prosecution without due process of law (Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments)
9. Freedom from multiple prosecutions for the same offense (Fifth Amendment)
10. Freedom from the necessity of testifying against one’s self (Fifth Amendment)
11. Freedom from imprisonment without a speedy and public trial (Sixth Amendment)
12. Freedom from excessive bail, excessive fines or cruel and unusual punishments (Eighth Amendment)
13. Freedom from slavery or involuntary servitude (Thirteenth Amendment added in 1865)
14. Freedom to vote regardless of race or sex (Fifteenth Amendment added in 1870 and the Nineteenth Amendment added in 1920)
Ninth: Social and political reform along liberal lines was encouraged within the various states. While serving as governor of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson led the way by encouraging public education, dividing church and state, breaking down the medieval laws of inheritance to prevent monopoly of land and wealth, advocating the emancipation of slaves, prohibiting the importation of slaves, revising the criminal laws, suggesting representation according to population; declaring the right to vote should be extended to all men who might be subject to military duty and not merely to landowners; encouraging self-government in the counties and towns of the state.
Tenth: The Civil War established the sovereignty of the Federal Government as the dominant authority of the Union (from which individual states could not secede and against which individual states could not pass conflicting laws.) This gave solidarity to the United States and a uniformity among the states which had been previously disputed. The Civil War also opened the way for the emancipation of all men living within its boundaries.
Eleventh: Down through the yeasts “promotional” legislation was passed to promote the general welfare of all citizens by encouraging interstate transportation, transcontinental communications, colonization, of public lands, cheap postal service, development of waterways and resources.
Twelfth: “Restrictive” legislation was passed for the purpose of protecting the individual citizen against various systems which began to encroach upon his welfare. Anti-trust legislation was passed to restrict the activities of monopolies in business and preserve free enterprise. Labor legislation was passed to fix responsibility for union leadership. Anti-crime legislation was passed to protect the citizens against organized underworld forces.
Thus, a whole new pattern of human government has been born among men. It is a political framework designed to keep the ultimate control of the government in the hands of the people who live under that government. It is an expression of political philosophy which makes it possible for men to protect themselves against the expanding power of man-made systems. It is a government of the people, by the people, for the people. It is the gradual unfolding of six centuries of true liberalism.
The encouragement of private initiative and self-determination and the protection of the individual citizen from the encroachment of man-made systems have now had 175 years to prove themselves. Did the liberation of the citizen from the systems of the past prove beneficial?
The United States, like all new countries, started poor in capital and badly in debt. Although other nations have often had equal access to natural resources, the United States slowly but consistently forged ahead. Today, with only 7 percent of the world’s population and 6 percent of the earth’s territory, the United States has acquired through peaceful industry nearly 50 percent of the world’s developed wealth. Each year its citizens grow, build, sell, buy and use more goods and services than any other country in existence.
With a population of 180 million (1962) the U.S. has succeeded in approaching the economists’ dream of total employment by providing jobs for 63 people while approximately 37 million of its youth been enrolled in school. Each year the people of the United States spend more than 200 billion dollars on personal goods and services. This means a per capita income of $1,453 which is twice the per capita income in Britain, five times the per capita income in Russia, and seven times the per capita income in Italy.
According to the American Automobile Association, the people of the United States spend more than 9 billion dollars vacations each year. Individual savings amount to 17 billion dollars annually, and 3 out of 4 families are covered by life insurance. Of the 50 million dwelling units in the nation, 60 percent are occupied by their owners. The millions of acres of developed farm land produce more food than its citizens can eat. The productive capacity of the United States is the largest in the world. It owns 30 percent of the world’s railroad mileage, 76 percent of its automobiles, 51 percent of its trucks, 47 percent of its radios, 42 percent of the electric power output, and 47 percent of its steel.
Each year the United States produces 51 percent of the world’s output of petroleum and about 30 percent of its coal. The U.S. merchant fleets have replaced Britain’s as the rulers of the seas with the greatest volume of foreign trade.{227}
World travelers or people who have lived abroad can appreciate the abundant living of the United States better than the average American. The table on the opposite page illustrates how little time it takes an American citizen to earn the necessities of life and why he is able to spend so much of his income on travel and items of commerce which foreign citizens would call luxuries. This table shows how many minutes the average citizen of leading countries must work to pay for one pound of the various items listed.{228}
| Food | U.S. | France | Germany | Ireland | Italy | Norway | Sweden | Russia |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 lb. Wheat Flour | 4 | 20 | 15 | 6 | 15 | 6 | 18 | 27 |
| 1 lb. Macaroni | 8 | - | - | - | 20 | 17 | - | 45 |
| 1 lb. Rice | 6 | 33 | - | - | 17 | 17 | 16 | 91 |
| 1 lb. Bread | 6 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| 1 lb. Beef | 31 | 126 | - | 72 | 128 | 58 | - | 132 |
| 1 lb. Pork Chops | 32 | 91 | 87 | 68 | 124 | 59 | 97 | 220 |
| 1 lb. Veal | 48 | 120 | 94 | - | - | 48 | 100 | - |
| 1 lb. Leg of Lamb | 31 | 133 | - | 76 | - | 61 | 85 | 140 |
| 1 lb. Fish | 18 | 33 | 31 | 42 | 55 | 18 | - | 135 |
| 1 lb. Butter | 30 | 135 | 150 | 83 | 162 | 63 | 115 | 270 |
| 1 lb. Cheese | 22 | 140 | - | 60 | 109 | 38 | 35 | - |
| 1 lb. Fresh Milk | 8 | 16 | 15 | 16 | 20 | 9 | 12 | 42 |
| 1 lb. Eggs | 32 | 118 | 125 | 109 | 126 | 82 | 97 | 187 |
| 1 lb. Fresh Apples | 4 | 19 | 16 | - | - | - | 9 | 89 |
| 1 lb. Cabbage | 2 | 7 | - | - | - | 5 | 6 | 37 |
| 1 lb. Carrots | 5 | 9 | 8 | - | - | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| 1 lb. Potatoes | 2 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 9 |
| 1 lb. Oleomargarine | 13 | 64 | 39 | 55 | - | 19 | - | 152 |
| 1 lb. Sugar | 4 | 21 | 21 | 9 | 37 | 7 | 14 | 110 |
In this list the statistics for potatoes may be used as an illustration of what has been happening in the world. Russia, for example, produces more potatoes than any other country in the world, but a Russian must work four times as long as an American to buy one pound of potatoes. And observe that a Russian must work twenty-seven times as long as an American to buy one pound of sugar; twelve times as long as an American to buy one pound of oleomargarine. In the United States by 1951 there were 105 million radios.
It took the average citizen 1 day and 2 hours to earn enough money to buy an average radio. In France it requires 7 ½ days of toil to pay for an average radio, in Italy 15 days, in Russia 27 days.{229}
In the United States there are 201,277 physicians, 87,000 dentists and 1,439,030 hospital beds. The life expectancy in the United States is 65.9 years for males and 71.5 years for females. In Russia the last life expectancy tables show the average to be 41.9 years for males and 46.8 years for females.{230}
Certain foreign propaganda agents have tried to depict U.S. wealth as a fortuitous gift of nature. Economists have pointed out that many foreign nations have equal access to resources and could duplicate the wealth of the United States if they were willing to accept the principles of government and economics which make the development of such wealth possible. Propaganda agents have insisted that since the United States has become remarkably wealthy it should divide that wealth with the rest of the poverty-stricken world. Economists have answered this by pointing out that what America has to share with the world is not so much her wealth as her time-tested system of government and economics.
If America’s wealth were spread around the world it would soon be dissipated, but if her system of free government and free enterprise were spread around the world, nations would soon find them to be perpetual producers of wealth. What foreign nations envy in America is the fruition of 175 years of true liberalism.