[From the Mises list] > ---------------- Begin Forwarded Message ---------------- > Date: 8/11/2000 6:40 > Received: 8/11/2000 8:54 > From: Loren Mark Swearingen, [EMAIL PROTECTED] > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > When I began making plans last year to move to New Zealand or Australia, a > few friends asked me a very perceptive question -- if I am in favor of > free > markets and opposed to high taxes, why would I move to a socialist country > with a government health care system that has even higher tax rates than > the > U.S.? > > That's a very good question, and -- although it didn't stop me from > moving -- > I have been pondering it for a while. > > I grew up with the notion that America was the country in the world with > the > greatest freedom, and that other countries were, to varying degrees, > socialist basket-cases. > > In the last year, however, I have begun to wonder whether that is really > an > accurate perception. After all, two of the ten government economic > policies > advocated by Karl Marx were a central bank and an income tax, and America > had > both of those before the 1917 Bolshevik revolution in Russia. > > Living in Australia has made me concious of how much America really is the > center of the world. American music, American magazines, American TV, > American movies, and even American politics all dominate the intellectual > life of other countries to an extent that I think very few Americans are > aware of. When Amy & I got to New Zealand, for example, we were > surprised to > find McDonald's and KFC's all over the place, decorated in 1950's American > style with pictures of Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, 1950's > Cheverolets, > etc. I guess we thought other countries would have their own fast food > chains, their own movie stars, etc. > > Might it be possible, then, that other countries have copied America's > laws > and economic system? I have been thinking that I would like to do more > research about when various countries in the world adopted various > socialist > policies such as a central bank, an income tax, a welfare system, > tax-financed education, and so forth. The results of such a study could > be > quite surprising. > > Serendipitously, Fr. Vincent recently sent the web reference of the > following > article to his list, which compares the history of economic policy in > America > and Canada. The article confirms what I had already begun to suspect -- > that > America has been a leader and a teacher, not a follower, in socialist > ideology and practice. > > =============================== Begin excerpts > ============================== > > http://www.FreeRepublic.com/forum/a399197565aba.htm > > THE SOCIALIST WIND FROM THE SOUTH > > by Martin Masse > > ... William Watson explains in "Globalization and the Meaning of Canadian > Life" ... that the Canadian identity based on interventionism and > protectionism is in fact a myth, and that we're certainly not > distinguishing > ourselves from the Americans by trying to become more socialist, since the > Americans were there before. In two chapters in particular entitled The > American "Governmental Habit" and The American Lead, he shows that new > interventionist and collectivist fads in various sectors of the economy > and > society have usually been tried first south of the border, and only later > brought in to Canada... > > Thus, in spite of our supposedly more interventionist traditions, the > allegedly anti-statist Americans had both an income tax and a central > bank, > two necessary accoutrements of modern big government, before we did. (p. > 92-93) ... > > Whatever its official ideology might ordain, the United States has always > had > an active -- and when necessary protectionist -- tariff policy. On July > 1789, > the very first economic act the new Congress undertook was to legislate > tariffs to both raise revenue and restrict imports... > > Of the two countries, Canada has been the most resistant to the socialist > wave sweeping the world in the first half of the 20th century, and had the > least activist government until the 1950s... > > It wasn't until a constitutional amendment in 1940 that Canada had > national > unemployment insurance, something the United States had put in place in > 1935. > Nor was the almost three-fold expansion of federal spending in the United > States during the 1930s, from $3.1 billion in 1928 to $8.8 billion in > 1939, > matched in Canada, where Ottawa's spending rose by only 70 per cent in the > same ten years, from $405 million to $681 million. (...) > > At the end of the 1930s, the United States was the more advanced welfare > state, Canada the backward northern neighbour... > > Public health care, government-run pension plans, social welfare, > unemployment insurance, etc., ... were first thought out by American (and > German and British) socialists, and were imported here rather late. > Pearson's > reforms and Trudeau's so-called "Just Society" scheme to expand social > programs at the end of the 1960s simply copied, a few years later, > Kennedy's > and Johnson's "Great Society" plan... > > There was a Great Society, after all, before there was a Just Society. > U.S. > spending on social programs went from $77.2 billion in 1965 to $146 > billion > just five years later... > > So, what should we conclude of all this? Answer: that the real > interventionists and socialists at heart are the Americans, and that the > real > Canadian tradition is one of rugged individualism being slowly frittered > away > under the overwhelming influence of American collectivism... > > The anti-Americans among us have a point: we should protect ourselves from > the nasty winds coming from the south. But they are wrong about the rest. > The > Canadian identity that should be cherished and the Canadian tradition that > should be upheld are based on individualism, small government and the free > market. That's what we were until the 1950s. The new identity and > tradition > invented since are phony ones, and we should let the Americans have them. > > ================================ End excerpts > =============================== > > Thus it can be truly said of America: > > "By your magic spell all the nations were led astray." > (Revelation 18:23) > > Mark Swearingen > Sydney, Australia > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: PGPfreeware 5.5.5 for non-commercial use <http://www.nai.com> > > iQA/AwUBOZNZWN9poeMJbeQUEQJuLQCguIrSB456JVoPiAFdmNskOI7MSZ8AniK4 > uRWky7JcqaVti6Lz98cCAnON > =aW/k > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > ----------------- End Forwarded Message ----------------- > >
