“It is easier for a republican form of government to be applauded than realized.” Tacitus, “The Annals,” in Complete Works of Tacitus, ed. Alfred John Church, William Jackson Brodribb, and Sara Bryant (New York: Random House, 1942).
Tacitus (c. 53-100 A.D.), Roman lawyer, politician, and historian, a man of republican ideals living in an age of tyranny and usurpation, chronicled the decay of Rome with moral force and biting satire, as evidenced by the quote above. Tacitus makes no attempt to hide his hostility to the shift in Rome’s power structure, the inability to reverse the consolidation of power in imperial rule.
I feel a kinship with Tacitus as I daily witness the self-aggrandizement of the centralized State in Washington, DC. The executive branch is courting war with Iran, despite draining our strategic reserves of oil and munitions to wage a proxy war with Russia in Ukraine. Simultaneously, our southern border is effectively erased, providing the green light for terrorists and enemy combatants to secrete themselves amongst the 7+ million illegal aliens released into our neighborhoods since January 2021. Our cities and counties are forced to foot the bill for these uninvited guests, and the pace is quickening.
The officials we elect to represent us in Congress refuse to stop spending money that does not exist on things their voters do not want; instead they continue to increase the national debt.
As of today, October 27, 2023, the national debt is $33.6 trillion and climbing every second. That means that every citizen owes $100,273 to cover the federal government’s shortfall. But since not all citizens pay taxes, that means that the government will hand every taxpayer a bill for $259,103. Add that to your personal debts for your mortgage, car note, credit cards, etc. Maybe you’ll need to get a second or third job – assuming the private sector is adding jobs in a recession.
I almost forgot to mention – that debt does not include unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare, etc. The shortfall in those programs is not on the “official” books of the US government (remind you of Enron?). Congress spent all of the money allocated for senior citizens, and continues to do so, leaving you and I on the hook for another $103+ trillion.
The ratio of our national debt to gross domestic product (GDP), not including unfunded liabilities, is 124.42%. According to the International Monetary Fund, “GDP measures the monetary value of final goods and services—that is, those that are bought by the final user—produced in a country in a given period of time (say a quarter or a year). It counts all of the output generated within the borders of a country.” Put succinctly, it represents “an economy’s all.”
Stated differently then, our current Debt/GDP ratio shows that the government needs to confiscate all of the goods and services produced in the United States this year, as well as the first three months of next year, just to pay off the debt that is on the books. In order to pay off the unfunded liabilities as well will require the government to suck up every penny from the economy for the next five years.
You may ask, what can we do to stop this from crashing? Nothing. Any rational person understands that there is a natural order, and economic laws are as immutable as the law of gravity. It is like watching a man in a rowboat approaching Niagara Falls – you want to save him from his own folly, but all you can do is observe the inevitable.
History is littered with the dead carcasses of societies that have followed the same course: voluntary society and self-rule is usurped by centralization, a steadily growing bureaucracy, State power replacing self-reliance, confiscatory taxes, the State continually appropriating more of the national income (GDP); State monopolization of private industry; censorship; increased police power and force; ultimately, war (usually a civil war) followed by bankruptcy and societal collapse.
My goal in the coming weeks is provide a framework, a study of our lost history, to assist the remnant that remain to rebuild society, not as it currently is, but as the founders and framers intended. It is intended for those with the will for freedom, and no one else.