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Where’d We Go Wrong?
What policy mistake most contributed to our current situation in the United States? I think it’s fair to say we’ve diverged widely from what the Founders had in mind for us when they declared independence from King George III. To keep things reasonable, let’s limit this to changes since the Declaration of Independence. So you can point to the Constitution but not to Christianity, as Christianity predates the Declaration.
One might point to direct elections of senators, for instance, or Prohibition. (One could make an argument for both, but I won’t.) Perhaps our biggest mistake was abandoning the Articles of Confederation? Or not taking the Anti-Federalists’ arguments more seriously?
Ideally we’re talking about root causes, not symptoms. But I don’t think we should limit it to root causes that can be fixed, since that would preclude, for instance, an observation that basing a Constitution on a virtuous citizenry may have been unrealistic. If people aren’t fundamentally virtuous, I don’t think that can be fixed, but it still could have been a mistake.
What say you?
Published in Domestic Policy
Wikard v. Filburn
FDR Signs Social Security Act
Direct Election of senators.
This too.
16th Amendment.
Letting the Left get away with killing our Constitution by calling it a living document.
This too.
I meant this.
John,
I agree on the 16th, but have issues regarding the 17th.
I submit that, once the 16th was ratified, the 17th may have slowed leviathan.
Here’s the thought process. Absent the 16th and 17th, the Senate, representing the state legislatures, has little interest in expanding the Federal government or in attempting to force mandates on the states.We likely agree on this.
As soon as you have the 16th, senators, representing state legislatures (rather than the people), may start to go on a feeding frenzy. They can give Federal money to the state legislatures to spend while the state legislatures avoid responsibility for the Federal taxes. Thus, the 17th amendment might not be government-expanding if the 16th were already in place.
A slightly different take on federal v. state. The federal government has usurped powers that belong to the states in several areas, not just commerce, such as education, health and human services, regulation of the environment, 2nd amendment–the list goes on. The feds should stay out of the business of the states.
I’d have to say it was the Living Constitution.
I think the fatal flaw was not explicitly prohibiting government redistribution by the feds. If we have another shot at this, I think we should keep most everything in the founding documents and add this as an article.
But the final nails in the coffin were automatic withholding and unionization of public employees.
Not just to the states, but to the people. Some of your listed powers do not belong to the states and the others shouldn’t.
I sometimes wonder if FDR might as well have been allowed to pack the court, since the New Dealers ultimately got their way anyway. Turning the commerce clause into a weapon against the 10th amendment was really bad.
Also “The Great Society”, in particular the combination of welfare and chain migration.
How about the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act of 1883? The system of checks and balances in the constitution presume only three branches of government, all of which are accountable to the voters for abuses of power. All too often the the Civil Service provides a screen for such abuses, allowing elected officials to evade accountability for policies that serve their own interests but would never win the approval of voters. If one were to try to date the birth of the American administrative state (as opposed to the original constitutional republic) the birthdate of the Civil Service would be seem like a likely choice.
Ratification of the Constitution. Some of the alternatives (modifications to the document as proposed) were good, but the anti’s were disunited and couldn’t get behind a single package.
The situation was not unlike that we now have with ObamaCare reform.
Recommended reading (or listening): Ratification: The People Debate the Constitution, 1787-1788 by Pauline Maier.
Is it the creation of the Commission that bothers you? It otherwise seems like a good reform to me.
I vote for this (the 17th Amendment), that it did more harm than the 16th. Though it’s close.
After that, Gingrich losing the budget battle with Clinton in the 90’s. I kid you not. That was the moment when spending authority was transferred from Congress to the president.
I endorse CTLaw in #10. I don’t share others concern over 17A.
Perhaps the end of the Lochner era.
This whole thread is disheartening. Apparently the 1980’s were a bump in the road and the US wants to return to the policies of 100 years ago.
I would go with America’s entry into WW1.
I am not sure what you mean, but if you your take away is that the majority on this thread wish to go back to the size and scope of the federal government of the early 20th century there is some truth in that.
Civil War. At that time the United States ceased to exist. It proved the founders vision to be flawed and showed that when political forces do not get their way they will war on their fellow citizens, their brothers even, to get it. What came together after the civil war was something different, but it was not the original United States.
Letting women vote.
[ducks!]
Interesting take. Do you think the post civil war U.S. is better or worse than as originally conceived?
Allowing slavery to exist as a condition for forming the more perfect union. Most of our evils flowed from there.
Giving women the vote.
And unlike BDB, I’m not ducking. Dead serious. It lead to “caring” on the part of the government.
Keeping up with the Kardashians.
Oh I agree that members on this site would like to see the scope of goverment reduced. Not sure the American public wants that anymore. Seems like WW1 sealed the deal on progressive policies at that time. And lets not mention when the people get all hot for an idea and we get the 18th around the same time period.