Planning for Peace
Hans F. Sennholz, Feb. 1970, The Freeman, www.libertyhaven.com

…Peace is the natural state of man, war the temporary repeal of reason and virtue.

In the words of James Madison, fourth President of the United States, “Of all the enemies to public liberty war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other. War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes; and armies, and debts, and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few. In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors, and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people. . . . No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

Ratchet-Effect of Wars and Lost Liberty

In a “Globe and Mail” article by Neil Reynolds, Wed. Aug. 16, 2006 (don’t know if it’s online), “The Untold Tale of How Government Got Big”, his point is that the largest spending increases were between 1960 and 1980 due to “naive public spending”. But I notice that the facts in his article confirm the ratchet-effect of World Wars I and II in their effect on increasing the size and power of government.

…with European governments arming for the First World War, the average level of government spending had risen in some countries precipitously… Britain had increased its public expenditures by a third (to 12.7 per cent), Germany and France by almost half (to 14.8 per cent and to 17 per cent)….

It was the five-year conflict that ended minimum government…

With its temporary wartime income tax now permanently in place, postwar Canadian governments required 16.7 per cent of GDP, roughly twice the 1870’s level….

The average spending for industrialized countries crept up to 22.8 % by 1937. And by 1960, the average was 28 % of GDP. The author’s statistics came from Public Spending in the 20th Century. Although he and that book seem to want to take the blame off war, these statistics confirm that the two world wars ratcheted up the size of government, thus eroding or stealing our liberties.

And as far as post-war spending, somebody should have told the U.S. and other Western nations that they didn’t need huge Cold War military expenditures. Was Cold War spending and Empire maintenance part of the pattern of naive government spending during the 1960’s and 70’s?

(Original Post)