A few years ago, in a used book store in Phoenix, I bought an old book titled “Barnes Federal Code,” published by Bobbs-Merrill Co in 1919. A sub heading of the title says, “Containing all federal statutes of general and public nature now in force.” It’s a wonderful book! Bound in leather, and it has every single federal law in existence in 1919. It has 2512 pages, and covers everything from “white slavery,” to “National Defense,” and even the complete Internal Revenue Code. That code alone today, has more words than the Bible.
Just imagine it. 2512 pages contained ALL federal laws in existence in 1919, a mere 93 years ago. That’s it. 2512 pages. Today, there must be millions of laws in hundreds of books or more. I tried to find out how many federal laws there are, but was unable to do so, there are obviously so many, that they are impossible to index. The yearly changes in the IRS code occupies more than 2512 pages, I am certain.
Think about 1919. The 1st World War was over, and America was unbelievably prosperous. Prosperity was everywhere. Americans were buying and building hundreds of thousands of new homes each year, and unemployment was microscopic. Manufacturing, inventing, farming, building and selling were in full stride. There were microscopic amounts of bureaucracy, laws, or other obstacles to our prosperity. Henry Ford was making cars which sold for $275, and you could have any color you wished, as long as it was black. A new row house was priced at about $2500. Made of brick with three bedrooms, a basement and garage. The dollar was 95 times more valuable than it is now, fully backed by gold, and the coinage was 90%s silver. America was respected everywhere in the world, and our national debt was virtually zero. Income taxes were new, but were only 1% if you made $20,000 or more, which would be several million today.
America was virtually free from government, and loving every minute of it. We were prosperous, happy, taxed barely at all, and the envy of the entire world. We are now taxed at about 90% if all taxes on all things are considered, including the taxes paid by the entire chain of growing, manufacturing, distributing, warehousing and retailing. Government continues to grow, and prosperity, self esteem, and education are shrinking along with the value of the dollar. There are millions of rules, regulations and laws, with bureaucrats enforcing them, acting as lawmaker and judge as well, with no Constitutional authority to do so.
European nations such as Spain, Greece, Portugal, and Italy are all on the verge of total bankruptcy, with their banks failing. America has been bankrupt for decades, but refuses to admit it. Are we any better than the euro nations who are going bust? Maybe slightly, but only a little. America now has little spy planes called ’drones’ flying over us, spying on us. How much closer can we get to total control and loss of freedom and privacy before there is a mass revolt? I have no idea, but the Tea Party is a non-violent type of revolt, which needs everyone’s support. Send ’m a few bucks at Tea Party Express, P.O. Box 96599, Washington D.C. 20090-6599. We need to take back America!