Michael E. Newton's Blog, page 14

Could a Nazi-type takeover happen in America?

The Kindertransport Association (my grandfather and his brother were on the kindertransport) recently asked, "Could a Nazi-type takeover of our Federal government happen in America. Why? Why not? Could it happen in Western Europe?" My response made the front page of their newsletter:

History teaches us that society is always at risk of losing its freedom and descending into tyranny because there are always people who wish for and actively seek to rule over others and profit at their expense.

With the separation of powers and checks and balances, western civilization has created systems, best exemplified by the United States Constitution, designed to prevent demagogues from gaining power. However, when people think the political system no longer functions properly, they will demand change, thinking that "anything else will be better than this." At this point, a demagogue may convince them that he will fix the nation and bring prosperity to all with relative ease. These demagogues tell the people that all they need to do is vote for him and their problems will be solved.

Demagogues seeking to take over the government create or find an enemy to attack and blame. The demagogue informs the public that it is not their fault the economy is bad, they lost in a recent war, or that they are poor. Instead, it is somebody else's fault. Hitler's blamed Germany's problems on both the communists and capitalists, with the Jews supposedly supporting both groups. Julius Caesar blamed the Roman Senate. The Communists in Russia blamed both the Czar and the democrats. With the recent economic weakness and increased partisanship in the United States and Western Europe, there has been a lot of blame bandied about, especially by politicians looking to win election.

Weak economies, a wide disparity between rich and poor sparking class warfare rhetoric, and the perception of a broken political system open the door for an eloquent demagogue to trick the people into voting for him, increasing his power, and paving the way for him or his successor to become a tyrant.

So it is possible for a Nazi-type takeover in the United States or Western Europe? Most certainly. In fact, we have already seen something similar happen just recently in Venezuela, which had been a prosperous western-style nation until the late 1980s when an economic crisis and political corruption paved the way for Hugo Chavez and his Bolivarian socialism.

Fortunately, the Founding Fathers of the United States created a system specifically designed to prevent one man or faction from gaining too much power. Western Europe has largely copied that system, with some alterations. Additionally, our long tradition of liberty is not one that people will throw away lightly. However, an eloquent demagogue promising peace and prosperity at no expense amid economic and political chaos may, at times, be able to overthrow the delicate political, economic, and social system we have. This happened in ancient Greece, ancient Rome, ancient Israel, Russia in the 1910s, Italy in the 1920s, Germany in the 1930s, and Venezuela in the 1990s, to name just a few of the most notable examples.

Only through eternal vigilance against demagogues, their false promises, and their scapegoating of minority groups can we prevent Nazi-type takeovers in the United States and Western Europe.

Michael E. Newton, KT3

– Michael E. Newton is the author of the highly acclaimed The Path to Tyranny: A History of Free Society's Descent into Tyranny. His newest book, Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers: The Fight for Control of the American Revolution, was released by Eleftheria Publishing in July.

What Would James Madison Say About Our Legal Code?

The only thing that has grown faster than the national debt is the number of laws and regulations with which a bloated federal government has burdened its beleaguered citizenry.

The Obamacare bill ran 2,471 pages long, not including the thousands more pages of regulations (created by unelected bureaucrats) that come along with the new law.  The recent Dodd-Frank financial reform bill was 2,323 pages long.  Each year the federal government adds about 80,000 pages to the Federal Register. The tax code alone is over 70,000 pages long.

What would the Founding Fathers say about this?

Read the whole thing at What Would the Founders Think?

Usurping the Constitution to avoid default?

A number of political pundits, legal experts, and even government officials argue that President Barack Obama should use the 14th Amendment to circumvent the debt ceiling and avoid default. The New York Times reports:

A few days ago, former President Bill Clinton identified a constitutional escape hatch should President Obama and Congress fail to come to terms on a deficit reduction plan before the government hits its borrowing ceiling.

He pointed to an obscure provision in the 14th Amendment, saying he would unilaterally invoke it "without hesitation" to raise the debt ceiling, "and force the courts to stop me."

On Friday, Mr. Obama rejected the idea, though not in categorical terms.

"I have talked to my lawyers," Mr. Obama said. "They are not persuaded that that is a winning argument."

Despite President Obama's resistance to this idea, some House Democrats are pushing it. Politico reports:

Rep. James Clyburn and a group of House Democrats are urging President Barack Obama to invoke the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling if Congress can't come up with a satisfactory plan before the Tuesday deadline.

Clyburn, the third-ranking House Democrat, said Wednesday that if the president is delivered a bill to raise the debt ceiling for only a short period of time, he should instead veto it and turn to the phrase in the Constitution that says the validity of the U.S. government's debt "shall not be questioned."

According to the New York Times article, "Jack M. Balkin, a law professor at Yale" argues:

"This is largely a political question," he said. "It is unlikely courts would decide these questions."

"At the point at which the economy is melting down, who cares what the Supreme Court is going to say?" Professor Balkin said. "It's the president's duty to save the Republic."

Similarly, Eugene Robinson writes at the Washington Post:

It seems to me that definitive action — unilateral, if necessary — to prevent the nation from suffering obvious, imminent, grievous harm is one of the duties any president must perform. Perhaps the most important duty.

This seems all too familiar because it comes straight out of history. In ancient Rome, Sulla was given dictatorial power to restore the republic. By violating Rome's constitution, Sulla and the Senators that gave him power established a precedent that enabled Julius Caesar to become dictator for life and destroy the republic. Similarly, men like Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler also rose to power and expanded their control under the guise of saving the nation.

The Founding Fathers, being students of history, knew that extra-constitutional actions would only undermine the republic in the name of restoring it. As George Washington explained in his farewell address:

If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in the way which the Constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed.

– Michael E. Newton is the author of the highly acclaimed The Path to Tyranny: A History of Free Society's Descent into Tyranny. His newest book, Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers: The Fight for Control of the American Revolution, was released by Eleftheria Publishing in July and is now available in stores.

The Founding Fathers Solve Our Debt Crisis

The United States accrued a huge debt to fight the American Revolution. The debt equaled 35 to 40 percent of GDP at a time when government spending and taxes were just 2 percent of GDP. Interest consumed about half of the government's revenues. Numerous states and the government under the Articles of Confederation were negligent in paying interest and principle.  The nation faced a real debt crisis.

The Founding Fathers recognized the burden of such a large debt and wanted to pay it off.

Read the rest at What Would the Founders Think…

Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers is now available!

I am proud to announce that Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers: The Fight for Control of the American Revolution is now available for sale at numerous online stores, including Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. Additionally, Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers is also available on Kindle.

If you would like a preview, you can read a portion of the book and search through it over at Google Books. (Amazon's Look Inside feature should be enabled shortly).

Angry mobs launched the American Revolution when they protested against British acts of tyranny. These rebels threatened, harassed, and chased away British officials and Loyalists. The Founding Fathers agreed with the goals of these Patriots, but not with their methods. Fearing anarchy, the Founders channeled the passions of the mobs toward independence.

Working together, the angry mobs and Founding Fathers defeated the mighty British army and won independence, but the new nation that emerged was anarchic and chaotic, much like the angry mobs themselves. Meeting behind closed doors, the Founding Fathers conspired to depose the Confederation government, wrote a new constitution, and created the world's most successful republic.

'Angry Mobs and Founding Fathers' tells the little-known story of how these two groups fought for control of the American Revolution.

Schooling Ben Bernanke on the merits of gold

Yesterday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke got all confused when asked whether gold is money and why central banks hold gold instead of diamonds. Watch the last 32 seconds of this youtube clip:

I know I am not the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, but at least I've heard about fungibility. Heck, even wikipedia mentions:

Diamonds are not fungible because diamonds' varying cuts, colors, grades, and sizes make it difficult to find many diamonds with the same cut, color, grade, and size.

In contrast to diamonds, gold coins of the same grade and weight are fungible, as well as liquid.

If the Fed Chairman needs more information about why gold is money, he should google "why gold is money." Now, I just need a good answer as to why pieces of paper with pictures of Presidents on them are considered money.

Gay marriage hurts states' population growth

With the addition of New York this week, six states permit gay marriage. Looking at the data, those states that permit gay marriage are growing more slowly than the rest of the country.

Below are the population growth rate between 2000 and 2010 for those states that permit gay marriage. Data from the 2010 census.

Connecticut: 4.9%

Iowa: 4.1%

Massachusetts: 3.1%

New Hampshire: 6.5%

New York: 2.1%

Vermont: 2.8%

Additionally, Washington, D.C. permits gay marriage.

District of Columbia: 5.2%.

In contrast, the United States population grew 9.7% between 2000 and 2010. Every singe state that allows gay marriage has grown more slowly than average.

Now, I don't imply that gay marriage reduces a state's growth rate, though that could be a logical conclusion because heterosexual couples are much more likely to reproduce. Nevertheless, I think the number of people in the LGBT community is too small to effect the population number to that extent.

Instead, it is the other policies of the liberal states, especially their tax policies, that drive migration between states. Notice how low-tax New Hampshire was the fastest growing of all the states listed above. It is the overall effect of liberal policies that are driving people out of these states into more conservative states.

Three classic quotes on perfection

"We are not to expect perfection in this world." ~ George Washington

"Absolute perfection is almost never a feature of a system of laws." ~ Alexis de Tocqueville

"I never expect to see a perfect work from imperfect man." ~ Alexander Hamilton

There is something rotten in the state of Greece. Also in Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.

Europe is patting itself on the back as they supposedly work out a fix for Greece. Basically, Greece will get billions more Euros in exchange for spending cuts. As a result, Greek interest rates fell slightly, though they are still very very high.

Greece 10-year interest rate:

Greece 2-year interest rate:

Great job Greece and Europe! The 10-year interest rate in Greece is now only 16.81%. And the 2-year rate is down to 29.38%. A job well done, indeed!

But wait a second there Europe. Don't drink your champagne just yet. What about the rest of Europe?

Ireland 10-year interest rate:

Portugal 10-year interest rate:

Spain 10-year interest rate:

Italy 10-year interest rate:

Very puzzling. Why are those interest rates rising to record highs if you solved the problem? I'm starting to think you don't know what you're doing.

Obama the Luddite

Barack Obama believes that unemployment is high, in part, because of ATM machines.

Our President is totally right. It's totally the ATMs fault. I think we should go around destroying all ATM machines. Think about how many jobs we'll create by destroying all those machine.

Luddites of the world, unite!