Four simple policies that would renew America

By Sean Parr

Some years ago, borrowing from Benjamin Franklin's "Rules by Which a Great Empire May Be Reduced to a Small One," I penned an essay, one of my best (if I do say so myself), that outlined ten steps that America's "leaders" might adopt if they wished to dismantle the republic. The essay, of course, was a parody; the proposed recommendations were already in effect.

Presently, I offer, without satire, four suggestions to salvage the remains of what the American Framers wrought.

Why only four?

Because I'd like this message to be received by at least some Millennials, a silly cohort of folks who cursorily scan social media headlines and call it news (they also hear sounds coming from a radio and call it music, but that's a different story). Members of this generation cannot be bothered to commit to perusing an article unless there is, at the very first, a disclaimer approximating the number of minutes it will take to read. So, the requisite brevity demands that only four measures to renew America, briefly outlined with further detail and argument in the hyperlinks, will follow.

1) Bring Home the Troops

Currently, due to Trump's recent foreign policy decisions (or, more accurately, the predictable and kneejerk reaction to them by neo-cons on the Left and Right), the notion of perpetual American meddling and involvement in seemingly any and every global conflict seems less agreeable to so-called modern conservatives. And rightly so. Such intervention is costly, oftentimes unconstitutional, and anathema to conservative and American Founding principles. I was once among the pitiable neo-con Right who supported efforts to make the world "safe for democracy." Things are no longer thus. And it wasn't any new and powerful argument that made me see the light.

Time makes more converts than reason.

2) End the Fed

The Federal Reserve extends bank credit to create an artificial inflation of the money supply which permits a means for limitless government spending and growth (uh, which is bad). Further, Austrian Business Cycle Theory informs us that the Fed – by cultivating an interest rate that can no longer be depended upon to reflect real, loanable funds – is responsible for the "boom-bust cycle." Now there are some among the intelligentsia who outwardly refuse to acknowledge the discoordination of market processes and rampant malinvestment that the central bank breeds. There are still others who claim that these damaging effects owe to too little or improper market intervention.

It's not that such people are ignorant. It's just that they know so much that isn't so.

3) Abolish the IRS

In the same way that society precedes the state, America, for several decades, preceded the Internal Revenue Service. How ever did we manage without a federal bureau to oversee the coercive collection of citizen funds? The actions of the IRS became uniquely pernicious with the institution of federal income withholding; the forceful divestment of money from the productive classes before they have even the opportunity to feed themselves or put a stitch of clothing on their children's backs. If you'll notice, I've settled for "collection" and "divestment," and avoided a certain word while discussing taxation, for its inclusion might serve to incite certain big-government types. Upon reflection, however, this word must nonetheless be broached, for, as it has been stated, "a burst of plain speaking has more effect frequently than the most polished circumlocution."

Taxation is theft. This is speaking bluntly, but the thing is very evident. It is crude, but clear.

4) Protect Womb-Aged Children

There is an injustice occurring, one to which the American government has long turned a blind eye. The institution of abortion is one that ought to be viewed by moral people as a historical stain; a terrible and brutal act not suitable for a civil society. Instead it is protected by the backwards Left and permitted by the federal government. The fact that the law will not stand up for womb-aged children is made all the more horrible due to the reality that these very young persons are not developed enough to stand up for themselves. It's my contention that the abortionist position is the slave-holder's position. The main difference, of course, is that the sub-human treatment afforded slaves meant that they could be bought and sold like cattle; for babes in the womb it means that they can be killed at will. There is a certain term which the abortionist savages find problematic. These bullies balk when the exercise of "reproductive rights" is correctly described as murder.

To these deplorables, I ask: Is it the word or the thing that frightens you?

Much more could be offered with respect to restoring American promise, but I lost the Millennials like three paragraphs ago. Cardi B or whoever just dropped a new beat on iTunes and posted a pic on the Instagram. Me and my ways to save society can't compete with that.

© Sean Parr