Radical Cures

I am reading a lot of American history these days. I hope you are too. I find it comforting. Instead of posting my observations here over the last few months I have been submitting them as a column to the local newspaper conglomerate after having been promised a monthly column in December. They have run one so far. I guess my writing career is still embryonic. Thanks for reading and thinking.

Radical Cures
In 1787 prior to the Constitutional Convention, George Washington wrote of a need for “radical cures” regarding our fledgling nation. A few years earlier he had written that unless Americans believed that they constituted one people with one sense of purpose and one overriding goal they would never achieve true independence. Yet over ten years after the remarkable defeat of the British by a “rag tag band of rebels,” Americans remained mistrustful of centralized, national political authority. After all, whites, blacks, American Indians and all shades in between had sacrificed blood and treasure to gain freedom from an oppressive, over taxing government far removed from them. Some were leery of creating another such government.

When the 55 delegates converged on Philadelphia, PA that May and sat sequestered, sweltering in the state house for four months without recess, none took lightly their charge. It was without doubt the most revolutionary undertaking in political planning the world over. Through “a finger of that almighty hand” according to James Madison and “little short of a miracle” said Washington they seemed to simultaneously understand the power a national government would need and the seriousness with which that power must also be balanced. Historian James M. Burns noted that they knew the new federal legislature would be the engine of law and policy but were unwilling, as James Madison wrote to allow it to “absorb all power into its vortex.”

So, the American Constitution produced by consensus set up a system of government, a constitutional republic where branches of government, interest groups and citizens would collide, and it worked. It has worked for 222 years because it hinges on an understanding of free will and human nature. They knew that coercion does not breed loyalty; only men and women free to choose their own paths and suffer or enjoy the consequences thrive.

Americans are being told that once again “radical cures” are in order. Private business as the provider of goods and services within a free market system may no longer work. Our government is forced to bail out large industry; become in effect an omnipotent board of directors. Health care must be nationalized and taken out of the failed hands of private and charitable organizations. Bankers can no longer be trusted to protect and nurture our once coveted dollar. According to many leaders in our government, the rich have gotten too rich and the poor too poor. There has been what appears to be a loud cry for leveling, sharing the wealth.

Comparing today’s government actions with more recent history, the Obama administration in many ways appears to be operating out of Harry Truman’s playbook when the Marshall Plan was put forward. That administration put forward the unheard of sum - $17 billion. They sold the plan appealing to American altruism and American self-interest and none too little the reputation of General George Marshall. Europe was starving to death and the Soviets were rapidly filling the vacuums left by a defeated Germany. At that time, American’s disdained communism and its socialist underpinnings with a passion. How much more appealing is today’s cry that our economy is failing; banks, insurance companies, auto industry and more are “too big to fail.” It’s a risky business dealing in radical cures and for over 200 years Americans have been willing to let the federal government conceive of and administer those cures usually based on confidence in the sitting President. The trick is to intuit the tipping point and not go beyond it because despite being latent for many, many years there is still a revolutionary spirit in America; a love for freedom that at times exceeds self interest.

1776 - David McCollough
Truman - David McCollogh
George Washington - James M. Burns