The Constitution and the American Political Tradition

A friend of mine sent this video to me today. It is an introduction video to a course that has the same title as this thread. The gentleman speaking, talks about how things were when we had a smaller government, and how things are now with a huge centralized government. He offers some statistics to prove what he has to say and some interesting stories to aid in making his points.

I found what he has to say very interesting, as much of it, I have believed for some time. The size of, and centralization of our government here in the US has become a rather large problem. He sites several examples which really make this problem stand out.

He covers so much that this is about the best I can do to summarize. Please take the 30 minutes to watch the video. It is well worth the time.

a reply to: lonegurkha

Huh spending increased in 1940? Wonder why...Kinda glosses over the great depression there.

Oh and both your quotes were not said by Jefferson.
www.monticello.org...

a reply to: lonegurkha

I like Hillsdale, that was a good introduction.

Besides the constitutional limitations clearly prescribed, there are also economic and moral cases to be made against the ever increasing coercive power of the federal government.

Maybe some people will get it.

Professor Arn said the vast majority of the Power money and regulations happened after 1960. The government, which had stayed the same from 1787 to about 1940, became both more centralized and bigger.

As government becomes a larger part of the economy and the electorate, the government can assign and vote to itself more and more workers and power. By its shear size alone it can alter and influence society by its tastes and activities. The voterless regulatory state grows as if by gravity from the growth of the elected state.

The central government is a distant government. Centralized government tries to make one law that applies to Eskimos, Desert Farmers, and Big City Workers. Local government keeps the law appropriate and responsive.

We are only two generations past the system that the Founding Fathers, as in, everybody alive at the time of the American Revolution, had in mind.

Professor Arn said a lot more than that and he shows two profound graphs of government growth.
"Public policy is half of the country now"