How Government Grows; W. C. Mullendore

Seldom does the particular problem or situation apply to each of the 156 million American citizens. But the law that deals with the problem does apply equally to all. The results which flow from this fact are not always what the authors and proponents of. the particular law had in mind. In the hands of its interpreters and administrators, a new Iaw-a grant of power to government-becomes an invitation to expand. As soon as the law is passed, the question arises as to whether or not it applies in this or that particular situation. Some of these may be like the original case, and others may not. But decisions must be made. The executive-or, more likely, an administrative clerk or junior legal counsel-generally decides that it does apply. This is understandable; not only is he a "'hard-work ing and patriotic pu~lic servant upholding law and order," [294 ] but also the scope of his bureau, branch, or department of government is thereby increased. It is the accepted po litical way "to get ahead." Liberal interpretations of new grants of power mean more work and more jobs for more administrators-at the expense of the freedom and the in come of the forgotten taxpayers.

If the law happens to be one under which certain citizens can qualify for some "benefit," these citizens are all too willing to help the administrator expand his job and power. And the minds and imaginations of many hundreds of thousands of other citizens are stimulated to invent ways and means of also "qualifying for the benefits"-and then increasing them. Thus the force arising from the creative imaginations of millions of citizens is added to the force that is created by the natural desire of government ad ministrators to increase their power. All join in seeking to enlarge the scope of the law because each sees a way of gaining from it. This hope of gain is the most powerful expansive force on earth. It is this force that can conquer a wilderness and create the greatest industrial society ever known. But if this natural hope of gain is turned by law in another direction, it can-and will-create the largest and most powerfully concentrated government ever de vised by man. In fact, it has-in our own country as well as abroad.

The maximum flow of creative human energy and the utmost in voluntary cooperation among individual free men are called forth only when government is limited to the equal protection of the inherent rights of free and re sponsible human beings. To the extent that this basic life [295 ] principle of a free society is implemented and safeguarded within a nation, the people of that nation will achieve bal anced development and growth. Most of our reform laws violate this basic principle in that they penalize the pro ducer and reward the "free rider" who consumes more than he produces. Thus the flow of creative human energy is increasingly inhibited as "liberal" laws authorize more and more unearned withdrawals from the stream of goods and services provided by the producers. The citizens of America are now entrapped in a vicious circle. The administrators must necessarily have more and more tax money If they are to enlarge the scope of their activities under new laws to "help the people." The increase of taxes causes the citizens to try even harder to qualify for the benefits, in order to regain some of the money that was taken from them to finance previous laws.

Hence it is that additional problems initiated and inten sified by each new law almost always exceed the problem which the law was designed to alleviate in the first place. This could continue until the taxpayer is extinguished and the government is in complete control. It has happened several times before in history. The only way to avoid this end result is to avoid passing the law that starts it on its way or-if it is already in exist ence-to get rid of it. We must 'remember that the princi pal instrument of government is coercion and that our government officials are no more moral, omnipotent, nor omniscient than are any of the rest of us. Once we under stand the basic principles which must be observed if free dom is to be safeguarded against government, we may [296 ] become more hesitant in turning our personal problems and responsibilities over to that agency of coercion, with its insatiable appetite for power. The hour is late, and we have much to learn.

[297 ] HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE UNITED NATIONS tlj RUddellJ ehnchlj ~ FOR many months the United Nations organization has been trying to enforce its decision in Korea. The results would seem to show quite' clearly that this organization of national governments is incapable of forcing its ideas upon any unwilling nation-even a small one or a "backward" one. And any attempt of the United Nations to use coercion upon us in this country to accept a form and concept of government that are completely alien to our experience and tradition would also be readily resisted. Yet such a change is being undertaken through the indirect and little understood method of domestic legislation by international treaties, and through the questionable manipulation of public opinion by those who fear an adverse decision on the part of the people. This fact can be seen most clearly in an examination of the International Covenant on Human Rights which the United Nations will submit to the various member nations for ratification. If adopted, it will become the "over law"