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Mugged by Truth and Reality
by Jacob G. Hornberger

There is one thing that American statists cannot deny: their beloved paternalistic state has failed to protect people and keep them safe and secure. The statists can declaim against deregulation, free enterprise, capitalism, speculators, CEOs, and greed all they want, but the simple fact remains: The paternalistic state has failed in its mission — to keep people safe and secure.

Don’t forget that that’s what Franklin Roosevelt’s economic revolution was all about. That was why Americans were induced to abandon a free-market system for a welfare state and a controlled economy. We will keep you safe and secure, the statists said. All we need is control over your lives and fortunes.

For the last several decades, libertarians have been warning people that this was all a Sirens’ Song. The paternalistic welfare state will not keep you safe and secure, we have repeatedly said. You are losing your economic liberty for nothing. The state will not protect you from the vicissitudes of life and, in fact, will only make life worse for you.

But who wanted to listen to the libertarians? The federal government was viewed as a idol, even by Christians. It would guarantee that nothing bad would happen to us. We wouldn’t lose our savings to charlatans. We’ve got the SEC for that. Everyone would be guaranteed a home, whose value would soar forever. That’s what HUD and Fannie Mae were all about. Lose your job? No problem, that’s what unemployment compensation is all about. Retirement? We have that covered with a Social Security fund. Healthcare? Fear not, Medicare and Medicaid are here. Education? Just look at our list of federal grants. Bank failure? That’s what the FDIC is for.

And the beauty of it was that it was all free. We’ll take care of you, from the cradle to the grave, and all for free.

But they have failed, haven’t they?

Well, not according to the statists. They say that the problem is that despite decades of the socialistic welfare state and the controlled economy, they simply didn’t have enough welfare and enough control.

But the truth is that ever since 1937, they have had full and complete power to establish any and all welfare and regulatory programs they’ve desired. Thus, the problem returns: No matter how they try to rationalize it, the paternalistic welfare state and regulated society have failed to achieve their purported end — to keep people safe and secure.

And so, what do the statists propose? The same sort of socialistic and regulatory junk that they’ve heaped on people since the Roosevelt administration. Isn’t that precisely what George W. Bush and now Barack Obama have been doing? Bailouts, stimulus plans, and other welfare and regulatory programs. It’s the same socialistic and interventionist junk that is at the root of America’s economic woes.

Meanwhile, the American people, the poor, little, innocent hapless souls that they are, continue to place their faith in the federal government. Just give the bailouts and stimulus plans more time to work their magic. Just give the governors and the mayors more money. Just increase the welfare, subsidies, regulations, bureaucrats, departments, and agencies. Everything will work out. The paternalistic state will not let us down. It will yet keep us safe and secure.

Heaven forbid that anyone should suggest that it’s the federal government itself — and, specifically it’s socialistic and interventionist paradigm — that is at the root of America’s economic woes. In a world in which many Americans, including Christians, have elevated the federal government to idol status, doubting the idol is considered to be heresy.

For all too long, Americans have lived the life of the lie and the life of unreality. Living under the purported protection of a paternalistic state, they have convinced themselves that all the welfare and regulations weren’t really socialistic or interventionist but rather all part of “America’s free enterprise system.” No one, except the libertarians, has wanted to admit that Roosevelt didn’t save free enterprise, he rejected and abandoned it.

The problem Americans face today is that truth and reality are mugging them in the face, and they’re having a terrible time trying to figure out what to do. Should they continue following the Sirens or should they instead move toward restoring the genuine principles of economic liberty on which our nation was founded?

Jacob Hornberger is founder and president of The Future of Freedom Foundation. Send him email.