Rewriting Historyby James Turk
George Orwell penned the following about the tyrannical and totalitarian State described so vividly in his chilling novel, 1984: The past is whatever the records and the memories agree upon. And since the party is in full control of all records, and in equally full control of the minds of its members, it follows that the past is whatever the party chooses to make it. To my dismay, but not to my surprise, this explanation of history has been put to work in a product released by the US Government Printing Office. I have just read A history of the Bureau of the Public Debt, 1940- 1990, with Historical Highlights from 1789-1939. The government apparently commissioned this work to sing paeans about this bureau and its bureaucrats on the occasion of its 50th anniversary. There was no permanent home for the national debt bureaucrats until Franklin Roosevelt came along. He created the Bureau of Public Debt in 1940. It was another culmination of his schemes that fostered central government and big government. The creation of permanent bureaus accomplished this objective by giving the bureaucrats a mission that perpetuated their existence. The mission of this Bureau, for example, is not to encourage the repayment of the debt, nor even to educate the American people about the burden of a national debt. No, the Commissioner of this Bureau proudly states in the Foreword to the book that their mission is "to borrow money", which is an act that can only perpetuate this Bureau's existence. Whatever happened to the old, but traditional and prudent strategies that had been proven sound over time and prevailed before FDR took office? They can be summed up by the words of President Andrew Jackson: "I am one of those who do not believe a national debt is a national blessing." Well said, and he put his belief into action. It took the first six of the total eight years he served as President, but he managed to repay the national debt. Yes, believe it or not, the national debt was repaid in its entirety. He then balanced the government's budget for two more years, so his administration ended with the country out of debt. He was the only President to have accomplished this admirable feat. President Jackson was the model of fiscal prudence and was emulated, or at least admired, by all subsequent holders of that esteemed office, at least until 1933. FDR changed that because he changed the nature of our government. No longer would it be the quaint little institution that earnestly and sincerely tried to protect the rights of individuals and private property. The Federal government had managed to accomplish these noble goals by deferring to the wisdom of the Constitution, which in practice very simply meant just promoting a common defense and a unified judiciary. After FDR, the Federal government would become ever bigger and more totalitarian. And as Orwell pointed out, totalitarian governments can rewrite history. Even the most important events of history. What is the single most important event in the history of the national debt of the United States? Without a doubt it was the default of the Federal government, passed by Congress and signed into law by President Roosevelt on June 5, 1933. Specifically, to quote the Joint Resolution of Congress: Every provision contained in or made with respect to any obligation which purports to give the obligee a right to require payment in gold or a particular kind of coin or currency or in an amount in money of the United States measured thereby, is declared to be against public policy...Any such provision contained in any law authorizing obligations to be issued by or under the authority of the United States is hereby repealed. In other words, even though the US government was obligated to repay in Gold the debts its Treasury Department had incurred, it would not do so. The Treasury defaulted. If you think that I might be overstating the importance of this event, here is what the respected Senator Thomas of Oklahoma said in Congress about that piece of legislation as that body deliberated on that fateful June day in 1933. The [proposed legislation] in my judgment is the most important proposition that has ever come before the American Congress. It is the most important proposition that has ever come before any parliamentary body of any nation of the world. Saving the single issue of the World War there has been no issue joined in 6,000 years of recorded history as important as this issue pending here today. Back then, members of Congress were not known for the exaggerated hyperbole so prevalent in those halls today. But even if Senator Thomas did overstate its importance (and I don't think he did because this act did away with hundreds of years of precedent in terms of the contractual obligations as practiced and defined under Anglo-Saxon law), it surely deserves mention as one of the "Historical Highlights from 1789-1939" in the above referenced book. But nary a word appears throughout its 261 pages. In fact, 54 pages deal with the period from 1790-1933. The remaining seven years until the Bureau was established are dealt with in only three paragraphs. Needless to say, there is no mention of the default, nor much else for that matter given the monumental task of squeezing seven years of the New Deal into three paragraphs. Because the post-Civil War era dealing with the notorious "Greenbacks" was given ten pages, the nearly complete absence of any discussion of the national debt during the Great Depression is as glaring as the missing fifteen minutes on President Nixon's Watergate tape. Who is responsible for this rewriting of history? While asking questions, who is responsible for the propaganda contained within the book? We are told in those few precious words about the Great Depression the following. The prosperous years of the 1920's ended in spectacular fashion, as the stock market suffered its great crash and the economy entered into the worst depression ever experienced...[because]...THE TREASURY CUT TAXES TOO QUICKLY [Emphasis added]. By placing extra funds in the hands of investors, it may have encouraged excessive and speculative stock market activities. The main problem was that the return to normalcy from a wartime economy had meant a period of highly unregulated business activity, and the economic difficulties of the period came from WITHIN THE PRIVATE SECTOR [Emphasis added]. What?! It's an outrage. Are we to believe that the private sector is our enemy? Are we to believe that all will be well if the State owns the entire means of production? Oh, I forgot that this book was written in 1990. That was before the collapse of the Soviet Union. Socialists and totalitarians no longer can point to that country as their model State to perpetuate their lies and propaganda. Napoleon said: "History is a set of lies agreed upon." This book proves that he was on to something. His point is well taken, except that I don't have to agree with what is agreed upon by "the party", using Orwell's term for totalitarian government. I prefer to stick with the truth. James Turk writes and publishes a very interesting newsletter titled Freemarket Gold & Money Report: A Commentary on Precious Metals and Monetary Matters. 20 letters per year at $180.00 annually. Freemarket Gold & Money Report, P.O. Box 4634, Greenwich, CT 06830.
Table of Contents | 1993 Issues | Subscribe Credit card Orders call: 800-321-9054 or fax: (619)676-0433 Truth Seeker is published by Truth Seeker Co., Inc. (ISSN 0041-3712) © 1996 |