Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
4, 1988
Take Back
GORE
verynow and then, usuallywhile shaving,
realize that I have lived through nearly one-third
of the history of the United States, which proves
not how old am but how young the Republic is.
The American
which started officially in 1898 with
our acquisition of the Philippines, came to a peak in the
year 13945,while was
part of that army which had won
us the political and economic mastery of two hemispheres.
If anyone had saidto me then that the whole thing would be
lost in my lifetime, I would have saidit is not possible to lose
much quickly without an atomic catastrophe, at least.
But lose it we have.
Yet, in hindsight, can see that our ending
implicit in
our beginning. When Japan surrendered, the United States
was faced with a choice: Either disarm, as we had done in
the past, and enjoy the prosperity that comes from releasing
much wealthand energy to the private sector, or maintain
ourselves on a full military basis, which would meana tight
control not only over our allies and such conquered provinces as West Germany, Italy and Japan but over the economic - which isto say the political - lives of the American
people. As Charles E. Wilson, a businessman and politician
of the day, said as early as 1944, Instead of
to
disarmament and unpreparedness as a safeguard against
war, a thoroughly discredited doctrine, let us try the o p
posite: full preparedness according to a continuing plan.
The accidental President,
Truman, bought this notion. Although Truman campaigned in 1948 as an heir to
Roosevelts New Deal, he had a continuing plan. Henry
Wallacewas on to it as early as: Yesterday, March 12,
1947, marked a turning point in Americanhistory, [for] it is
not a Greek crisis that we face, it is an American crisis.
Yesterday, President Truman . . . proposed, in effect,
America police Russiasevery border. There is no regime
too reactionary for us provided it stands in Russias expansionist path. There is no country
remote to serve as the
scene ofa contest which may widenuntil it becomesa world
war.Buthow to impose this doctrine? The Republican
leadership didnot like the state to be the master of the couneconomic life, whileof the Democrats only a few
politicians, like Dean Acheson, found
the prospect
of a military state, to be justified in the name of a holy war
against something calledCommunism in generaland Russia
in particular. The fact that the Soviet Union was no
or economic threat to was immaterial. It must bemade to
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June 4,1988
782
dexterously hijacked the country, establishing military conscription in peacetime, overthrowing governments that did
not please them and, finally, keeping all but the very rich
docile and jittery by imposing income taxes that theoretically went as
as 90 percent. That is quite an achievement
in a country at peace.
We can date, from January 1950, the strict governmental
control of our economy and the gradual erosion of our
liberties, in order to benefit the economic interest of what
isnever, to put it tactfully, a very large group-defense
spending is money- but not labor-intensive. Fortunately,
bad things must come to an end. Our huge indebtedness has
made the maintenance of the empire a nightmare; and the
day Japan stops buying our Treasury bonds, the troops and
the
will all come hometo a highly restlesspopulation.
Now that have defined the gloomy prospect, what solutions do have? shall make five proposals. First, limit
presidential election campaigns to eight weeks. That is what
most civilized countries do,and all democratic ones are
obliged to do. Allow no paid political ads. We might then
entice that half of the electorate that never votes to vote.
Second, the budget. The press and the politicians constantly falsify the revenue and the disbursements of the
Federal government. How? By wrongly counting Social
Security contributions and expenditures as a part of the
Federal budget. Social Security is an independent, slightly
profitable income-transferring trust fund, which should be
factored
of Federal revenue and Federal spending. Why
do the press and the politicians conspire to give us this
distorted view of the budget? Because neither they nor their
owners want the public to know how much ofits tax money
goes for a war that does not exist. As a result, Federal
elections.
as
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783
4, 1988
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