The Debt Battle in America’s Current Civil War

[Ed Hudgins]

The Debt Battle in America's Current Civil War

By Edward Hudgins

August 3, 2011—The major German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that the debt-ceiling battle in Washington had a "civil war atmosphere." But the war was not confined to atmospherics.

A little over a year ago I wrote "Producers vs. Expropriators: America's Coming Civil War?" The war is here, and the debt-ceiling debacle was one battle in a long-term conflict for America's future. Like the war that tore this nation in two a century and a half ago, the current struggle is over whether the nation, in Lincoln's words, can survive half-slave and half-free.

America's producers seek their own happiness and prosperity by creating goods and services to trade with their fellows, based on mutual consent. They put a premium on productivity and take pride in their achievements. They want government to protect their lives, liberty, and property and otherwise leave them alone. However, the expropriators feel that the producers owe them a living and have a duty to serve them. They pressure government to use its taxing and regulatory authority to give them welfare, business bailouts, and special favors at the expense of the producers.

Today, the producers increasingly are in bondage to the expropriators—individuals who take out home mortgages they cannot afford, Wall Street bankers who make unsound investments, auto companies that cannot produce cars at a cost that will attract customers, or those who just simply prefer that the government pick their neighbors' pockets to give them handouts of every kind.

The paternalist politicians who are transforming America into a plantation get their pseudo-sense of self-worth from whipping the producers into creating more and more for them to redistribute. But these politicians know they must pace themselves, taking just enough from producers at any given time so that their victims won't revolt.

Thus politicians both tax and borrow to hand out "free" health care and waste billions in "stimulus" money, all in hopes that there will be future victims who will pay the bill. And to stifle criticism, they've addicted some producers to handouts as well—for example, student loans and expanded Social Security. The debt deal of this week will mean that the federal government will owe nearly $17 trillion by late next year, more than the country's GDP.

But the victims are rebelling. Their voices made it impossible for the politicians to include new taxes in the debt deal. And they forced some small budget cuts because they understand that federal spending, which produces skyrocketing federal debt, erodes their purchasing power as the value of the dollar drops and inflation ensues.

So the civil war continues. It will be a long war. But as producers shrug off their victimhood and fight, they will win more battles, save their honest earnings from those who would loot it, and in the process, save the country.

[GALTGULCH8]

The Debt Battle in America's Current Civil War

By Edward Hudgins

August 3, 2011—The major German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote that the debt-ceiling battle in Washington had a "civil war atmosphere." But the war was not confined to atmospherics.

A little over a year ago I wrote "Producers vs. Expropriators: America's Coming Civil War?" The war is here, and the debt-ceiling debacle was one battle in a long-term conflict for America's future. Like the war that tore this nation in two a century and a half ago, the current struggle is over whether the nation, in Lincoln's words, can survive half-slave and half-free.

America's producers seek their own happiness and prosperity by creating goods and services to trade with their fellows, based on mutual consent. They put a premium on productivity and take pride in their achievements. They want government to protect their lives, liberty, and property and otherwise leave them alone. However, the expropriators feel that the producers owe them a living and have a duty to serve them. They pressure government to use its taxing and regulatory authority to give them welfare, business bailouts, and special favors at the expense of the producers.

Today, the producers increasingly are in bondage to the expropriators—individuals who take out home mortgages they cannot afford, Wall Street bankers who make unsound investments, auto companies that cannot produce cars at a cost that will attract customers, or those who just simply prefer that the government pick their neighbors' pockets to give them handouts of every kind.

The paternalist politicians who are transforming America into a plantation get their pseudo-sense of self-worth from whipping the producers into creating more and more for them to redistribute. But these politicians know they must pace themselves, taking just enough from producers at any given time so that their victims won't revolt.

Thus politicians both tax and borrow to hand out "free" health care and waste billions in "stimulus" money, all in hopes that there will be future victims who will pay the bill. And to stifle criticism, they've addicted some producers to handouts as well—for example, student loans and expanded Social Security. The debt deal of this week will mean that the federal government will owe nearly $17 trillion by late next year, more than the country's GDP.

But the victims are rebelling. Their voices made it impossible for the politicians to include new taxes in the debt deal. And they forced some small budget cuts because they understand that federal spending, which produces skyrocketing federal debt, erodes their purchasing power as the value of the dollar drops and inflation ensues.

So the civil war continues. It will be a long war. But as producers shrug off their victimhood and fight, they will win more battles, save their honest earnings from those who would loot it, and in the process, save the country.

Ed,

I am impressed by the work being done by the Atlas Society as well as many other organizations within the pro freedom movement such as CATO, Young Americans for Liberty, FEE, Future of Freedom Foundation, Campaign For Freedom, etc. I am sure you are aware of the Students for Liberty which has gotten the attention of Stossel and promises to continue to grow as it nurtures students to assume a leadership role in growing the movement among students the world over. Surely the next generation has a strong incentive to restore freedom to the marketplace. Have you considered contacting them to participate in their conventions to arm them with the "intellectual ammunition" they will need for their endeavors?

http://studentsforliberty.org/

Worth doing!

gulch

Edited August 4, 2011 by gulch8

[Ed Hudgins]

Gulch - I was at the founding international confernce at SFL and the ones after that, have spoken at their Philadelphia regional conferences, and do briefings for them along with other friendly groups. SFL is one of the best new pro-freedom groups in decades. They are consistent in their pro-freedom policies--unlike more conservatives groups--and they have excellent leaders--Alexander McCobin, Clark Ruper, et al.

I urge everyone to support Students for Liberty!

[GALTGULCH8]

Gulch - I was at the founding international confernce at SFL and the ones after that, have spoken at their Philadelphia regional conferences, and do briefings for them along with other friendly groups. SFL is one of the best new pro-freedom groups in decades. They are consistent in their pro-freedom policies--unlike more conservatives groups--and they have excellent leaders--Alexander McCobin, Clark Ruper, et al.

I urge everyone to support Students for Liberty!

Ed,

I should have known!

Thank you.

gulch

[Selene]

NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Readers of

Atlas Shrugged

, Ayn Rand's prophetic, best-selling 1957 novel (which was turned into a recent movie), understand what's behind the debt crisis and what will happen if America continues on its current moral path. It portrays the collapse of industrial America as a war between producers and expropriators—just what we see in America today.

"To solve the debt crisis, productive Americans must declare to every elected official that they have a right to their own lives and the fruits of their labor; that government has no right to redistribute their wealth; and that other Americans should be ashamed of themselves for trying to steal it," says Edward Hudgins of The Atlas Society (

www.atlassociety.org

). "Productive individuals would reject government handouts and thus governments would not run up debts that will destroy the productive."

"In America paternalist politicians needed to pace themselves, taking just enough from producers at any given time so that their victims won't revolt," says Hudgins. "Thus politicians both tax and borrow to hand out 'free' healthcare and waste 'stimulus' money, hoping there would be victims in the future who would pay the bill. And they've addicted some producers to handouts as well—student loans, expanded Social Security. Thus the Feds have run up a $14.5 trillion debt, equal to the GDP."

This is from Yahoo Finance here .

[Brant Gaede]

NEW YORK, July 19, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Readers of

Atlas Shrugged

, Ayn Rand's prophetic, best-selling 1957 novel (which was turned into a recent movie), understand what's behind the debt crisis and what will happen if America continues on its current moral path. It portrays the collapse of industrial America as a war between producers and expropriators—just what we see in America today.

"To solve the debt crisis, productive Americans must declare to every elected official that they have a right to their own lives and the fruits of their labor; that government has no right to redistribute their wealth; and that other Americans should be ashamed of themselves for trying to steal it," says Edward Hudgins of The Atlas Society (

www.atlassociety.org

). "Productive individuals would reject government handouts and thus governments would not run up debts that will destroy the productive."

"In America paternalist politicians needed to pace themselves, taking just enough from producers at any given time so that their victims won't revolt," says Hudgins. "Thus politicians both tax and borrow to hand out 'free' healthcare and waste 'stimulus' money, hoping there would be victims in the future who would pay the bill. And they've addicted some producers to handouts as well—student loans, expanded Social Security. Thus the Feds have run up a $14.5 trillion debt, equal to the GDP."

This is from Yahoo Finance here .

I spent decades thinking this. I was wrong. The primary focus should be on individual rights. The looters won't be stopped by jejune references to morality. In fact, they'll put it right back to you. This is the great screw up of Objectivism. By not focusing on individual rights, individualism and critical thinking, NBI went all wrong, supporting a cult. Atlas Shrugged had already been there and done that. It was a great redundancy--a great waste. Individual rights are for everybody, Objectivism was for Ayn Rand and hangers-on. I understand why this happened, it was a powerful seduction apropos the dominant intellectual culture. If this weren't true, people wouldn't have been kicked out right up to today. The only thing to be kicked out of was a cult with a kicker-outer. Rand did it. Peikoff did it. It's done, stick it with a fork.

--Brant

this doesn't mean Objectivism hasn't had great value to millions of people who were sanctioned to live happy, productive and guilt-free lives by reading Atlas