Day by day the economy worsens and more people lose their jobs. Every action taken by the government at the expense of the private sector makes our problems greater. Some of us are old enough to say, "We've seen it before," when the constitution was violated time after time and the Great Depression lasted and hung on and lasted as government programs succeeded in only one thing -- increasing poverty.
To a farmer the field was a beautiful sight. Almost every cotton boll was open and the cotton was ready to be picked and hauled to the gin. But my dad and I were not there to pick the cotton; no, we were there to plow the cotton under. I couldn't understand; I knew that many people were in rags, but we were destroying what could be made into cloth. The answer to my why was "the government"" The same government that killed our little pigs and the pregnant sow, and also our cows. The same government that poured milk on the ground while children cried for it.
What I did not know then as a child was that Henry Wallace, the "farm dictator" and an admirer of the Soviet Union collectivization of farms, through the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was controlling the production of cotton, corn, wheat, rice, peanuts, tobacco and milk. Farmers were paid to destroy their crops while people went hungry. During the life of the program (declared unconstitutional in 1936 but enacted again in 1938) 6 million pigs were destroyed and 10.4 million acres of cotton were plowed under.
Some economists say that Franklin Roosevelt's policies extended the depression by at least 7 years. As soon as the Supreme Court would find a program to be in violation of the constitution, the administration would re-enact it, often just scrambling the alphabet for a new name.
Let us learn and be aware -- no program is worthwhile enough to enact it by edict of the president or vote by Congress in violation of the constitution.
To a farmer the field was a beautiful sight. Almost every cotton boll was open and the cotton was ready to be picked and hauled to the gin. But my dad and I were not there to pick the cotton; no, we were there to plow the cotton under. I couldn't understand; I knew that many people were in rags, but we were destroying what could be made into cloth. The answer to my why was "the government"" The same government that killed our little pigs and the pregnant sow, and also our cows. The same government that poured milk on the ground while children cried for it.
What I did not know then as a child was that Henry Wallace, the "farm dictator" and an admirer of the Soviet Union collectivization of farms, through the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was controlling the production of cotton, corn, wheat, rice, peanuts, tobacco and milk. Farmers were paid to destroy their crops while people went hungry. During the life of the program (declared unconstitutional in 1936 but enacted again in 1938) 6 million pigs were destroyed and 10.4 million acres of cotton were plowed under.
Some economists say that Franklin Roosevelt's policies extended the depression by at least 7 years. As soon as the Supreme Court would find a program to be in violation of the constitution, the administration would re-enact it, often just scrambling the alphabet for a new name.
Let us learn and be aware -- no program is worthwhile enough to enact it by edict of the president or vote by Congress in violation of the constitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment