The Conservative Revolution - Circa 1776

The American Revolution is not my most favorite period of history. But I do know that it is considered to be the Conservative Revolution. It was not a revolution rooted in the misfortune of the downtrodden like most such events, most notably the French and Russian Revolutions. The American Revolution was rooted in the privileged classes. It was a revolution to preserve property rights for those whose wealth was being taxed away without representation by an oppressive British Crown.

Our founding fathers considered themselves to be proud British subjects who had recently participated with the mother country in defeating the French in the French and Indian War, establishing Britain as the primary European power in North America. These guys wanted to remain British subjects, but were faced with a King whose main goal shifted from the war toward paying off the government debt incurred thereby, as well as all of the other wars in which Britain was involved. How to do it? Disenfranchise the colonies in Parliament and tax the productive and wealthy classes to death. The colonial leaders tried desperately to stay British, and only moved reluctantly to break away when all other means of resolving the issues failed.

The colonial intellectuals justified their actions by redefining the relationship between God, King and Man. Until that time, kings ruled by Divine Right. Prior to the Reformation, God gave the power to the Pope, who then gave power to the kings, who then gave power to their nobles, who then decided what, if anything should be given to the citizenry. Of course the Pope thing ended, and the King of England claimed to derive his power directly from God. Way to go, Henry. Who knew you would get your own series on Showtime!!! Hope you signed up for residuals.

Our guys flipped the pecking order. God creates all men equal with certain rights: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The government then derives its powers from the people. THAT is what was revolutionary. While the polemics and platitudes are worthy and stirring, the message our very middle and upper class founding fathers sent to the British King was you can’t tax us without us allowing you to do it. The American Revolution was pure and simple a revolution over excessive taxation on the disenfranchised middle and upper classes. I submit that the poor grunt soldiers, who were mostly subsistence-level farmers, may have at some level grasped the revolutionary ideology, but didn’t truly understand what the battle was about.

Have things changed that much today, and are we ripe for a new revolution over the same thing? The government has, as of late, shown a propensity for taking away people’s property. That whole eminent domain thing…you know…where the Supreme Court ruled the taking of property for public purposes included taking my house away from me and giving it to a developer who was deemed more worthy…that was kind of upsetting.

Then there is the illegal structuring of the order of payment of creditors strong armed by the government in the GM and Chrysler bankruptcy. Sure makes me feel secure in investing in anything if the government can arbitrarily change the rules to suit what the government wants. So much for Rule of Law!

Then there is the use of TARP money to take over GM and a good portion of Chrysler. That money was intended to purchase toxic assets from the banks. Where, in the enabling legislation, does it say that money can be used takeover American companies. That’s scare and smacks of South and Central American banana republics.

Then there is the whole income redistribution thing. It is easy for a majority of the public not paying taxes to force those who are paying taxes to pay even more taxes. I don’t think that is too good for productivity.

Then there is cap and trade, the energy bill currently being considered in Congress which will represent government intrusion into every aspect of your life. It will affect everything you do from the kind of car you drive to how warm you can keep your house in the winter to the type of food you eat, while quadrupling the costs of daily living.

Finally, the proposed concept of government operating a health insurance company to compete with private insurance companies…guess who will win that one!!! That is not what our government was formed to do.

We currently have a government which has centralized power in Washington faster than the entire previous 235 some years of our history with total disregard to the Constitution, and is acting in ways seriously effecting our way of life and our financial well being with no legislation or constitutional authority. It is sapping the middle to upper classes of their savings and through erosion and coming new taxes. That is not a good thing. President Obama should remember that it wasn’t the poor rebelled against King George, it was the very people he is going after.

Are things developing in such a way now as might justify another conservative revolution, peaceful, violent, or otherwise? As the saying goes, if government fears the people, there is freedom. If people fear the government, there is tyranny. A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.

Okay, okay…I will put away my musket. But my three cornered hat will stay on the back seat of my car!