For a Moral Revolution

A Page on Freedom Number 25 Fora MoralRevolution ALMOST everywhere politicians and "do-gooders," by camouflaging ill-con sidered or bad enactments as welfare or defense measures, are enticing their peoples down the path of dalliance into systems of state interventionism. They are leading them to eventual destruction. They are concentrating power in Washington under a bureaucracy already expanded beyond manageable dimensions and which increasingly resorts to uncontrolled extravagance and extravagant controls. They are murdering the nation. Can there be greater treason? Too many laws create confusion, unwise laws corruption. Together they nurture absolutism and criminality. There are, for example, many enterprises which could not operate prof itably were they to obey, to the letter, a complexity of laws and regulations, which sometimes almost seem to have been enacted with malice afore thought. As a result, these businessmen are easy prey for gangsters and crooked officials, both high and low, who exact tribute for what they call "protection." In these cases the quickest prophylactic would be to do away with the unwise laws and regulations.

Jefferson once remarked that a revolution every so often is a good thing. This country desperately needs a moral revolution right now. I pray that it comes soon, before it is too late. I pray that it will be brought on by an outraged public opinion, resulting from each individual reassuming his per sonal responsibilities and then joining with others to make their voices heard. Such a revolution will return the United States to morality and straight thinking, and thereby resolve the crisis which now confronts us. @ -Spruille Braden THE FOUNDATION FOR ECONOMIC EDUCATION, INC. IRVINGTON-ON-HUDSON, NEW YORK 10533 643 Kenneth McDonald IN a recent survey, Freeman readers were asked whether they were op timistic or pessimistic about the fu ture of freedom in America. The fact that the question should have been asked is disturbing. Yet the seeds of doubt are being sown. A casual reader of Canadian news papers, in which the United States is often portrayed as bellicose and predatory, might conclude that free dom there was selective: plentiful for the rich; scarce for the poor. A reg ular listener to and watcher of the Canadian Broadcasting Corpora tion's radio and television programs would be left with a stronger impresKenneth McDonald is a freelance writer and editor, living in Toronto.