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Reassessing the
Presidency
A
review: by Claude A. Bohn
*****
Fretting over what to get that special someone for Christmas this
year? Here’s a suggestion! The good folks at the Ludwig
von Mises Institute
have recently published a most remarkable, informative, and timely
new book, the full title of which is: “Reassessing the Presidency: The Rise of the Executive State and the
Decline of Freedom.”
It is edited by John V. Denson, who also edited “The Cost of War: America’s Pyrrhic Victories.”
In years past, a wide assortment of “court historians,” both modern
“liberals” - that is to say, democratic
socialists - and conservatives, or, rather, neo-conservatives
- that is to say, national
fascists, State apologists and authoritarians one and all – have been
“polled” and have “ranked” the presidents, based upon their
performance in office. In nearly every one of these “polls,”
presidents like Lincoln, Wilson and FDR, who held office during times of
national “crisis,” were always ranked at the top of the list as
“great” presidents. In a series of delightfully informative essays,
each averaging approximately 30
pages, the presidency and the presidents are “reassessed,” using the
twin yardsticks of Classical
Liberalism (libertarianism) and the Constitution (as originally intended);
needless to say, judged by those
demanding standards, the placement of “great” and “near-great”
alike (by the assessment of the “court historians”), slipped to
“worst”.
***
“War is the health of the
state. It automatically sets in motion throughout society those
irresistible forces for uniformity, for passionate cooperation with the
Government in coercing into obedience the minority groups and individuals
which lack the larger herd sense.” – Randolph Bourne, “The
State,” 1918
***
Bourne is absolutely correct! War is,
indeed, the great unifier and State builder; and Reassessing
the Presidency
will convince all but the most delusional reader that, war is the single
worst thing that can befall a free Republic! During war, or other times of
national emergency or
“crisis,” Government has assumed vast amounts of new
power, and stifled the liberties of its people – all in the name of
“necessity,” the tyrant’s plea. Furthermore, these new
powers have accrued solely to
the executive branch - at the expense of the legislative and judicial
branches, and to the detriment of individual liberty; and, historically,
once the war is over or the “crisis” has past, although the country
returns to some semblance of “normalcy,” Government never fully
returns to its pre-war or pre-“crisis” size – or its constitutional
limits. Over time, “emergency” Executive Orders, presidential
directives, and executive level bureaucrats have usurped and rendered
impotent both the Legislative branch and the Supreme Court, and have given
us, in place of the Republic, an “executive State” in a permanent
condition of “national emergency”! Perhaps, this fact explains why,
as you will learn from this book, many of the so-called “great” presidents have manipulated, provoked, and out
right lied
the country into war after war!
***
“A
majority of the people of the United States have lived all their lives
under emergency rule. For 40 years, freedoms and governmental procedures
guaranteed by the Constitution have, in varying degrees, been abridged by
laws brought into force by states of national emergency. And, in the
United States, actions taken by the government in times of great crisis
have – from, at least, the Civil War – in important ways shaped the
present phenomenon of a permanent
state of national emergency.”
– Senate Report 93-549 [1973]
***
At
nearly 750 pages (excluding the index), the book might seem, on first
glance, to be one of those imposing and mind-numbing tomes that only a
pedant could love; but don’t be intimidated by its size. The book’s 23
essays and two appendix items are both easy to read and impossible to put
down. The introduction alone, written by Mr. Denson, is well worth the
price of the book - $35. And the essays on presidents Lincoln, Wilson and
FDR read like a true crime novel. Perhaps, if you’re very good, Santa
will stick a copy in YOUR
stocking!
***
Read
more and order here: http://www.mises.org/product.asp?sk
u=B284
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