The Revolution Was
Garet Garrett at The Ludwig von Mises Institute - How F.D.R. performed his mostly-bloodless coup, changing America from a government of and by the people into the totalitarian state we all know and despise today. First published in 1938. The Busheviks ain't nuthin' new, they've just taken the gloves off. [Strange Attraction]
So it was that a revolution took place within the form. Like the hagfish, the New Deal entered the old form and devoured its meaning from within. The revolutionaries were inside; the defenders were outside. A government that had been supported by the people and so controlled by the people became one that supported the people and so controlled them. Much of it is irreversible. That is true because habits of dependence are much easier to form than to break. Once the government, on ground of public policy, has assumed the responsibility to provide people with buying power when they are in want of it, or when they are unable to provide themselves with enough of it, according to a minimum proclaimed by government, it will never be the same again.
