Posted by
VBushmills on Saturday, November 22, 2008 8:33:28 AM
Moses Sands dictated a long
piece to me three years ago about the special role of the Constitution's "protectors" as he called them. (Click the link to read it.)
It all came home to me last week at a black tie affair with businessmen I'd known for a few years; all self-made men, all believers in American exceptionalism, all wearing flag pins, and all hugging the Constitution as if they were personal friends.
It began with a talk with a construction executive, the kind of fellow you just want to stand up and yell "Hoorah for America" when you hear his story; high school grad, common laborer, saved his nickles and dimes, promoted to foreman, then at age 38, bought the company. Knows his business inside and out. Millionaire by 45.
Everyone was commiserating over the election. But he had set his nose into the wind, scenting opportunity. I hear this a lot from the cup-is-half-full crowd; there's money to be made in them thar coming bad times. It will all rebound in about two years, he said. Yeah, I said, but "they" will still be in power. How will a better economy get them out of power? No answer.
What if the new government doesn't want the economy to rebound? After all, they'd caused this mess in the first place. Was it intentional? Could be. What if they want to shuffle 20%-30% of the private sector labor force over to public sector work projects, then keep them there once the work runs out. (Even in the USSR, the work eventually did run out.) Again, no answer, just a quizzical look. Maybe my voice was beginning to crack.
It didn't get heated, there were no fingers thrust into the chest, but it did draw a crowd. He went on about how when the economy turns around there will just naturally be a move back away from socialism. Our watchers nodded in agreement. They weren't worried. So, I argued, will we just as quickly get rid of national health care as we established it in the first place? We'll have it before the next mid-terms, most likely. In by 2010, out by 2012, is that the plan? That's one peg of free markets gone for a generation or more. The crowd groaned. Hadn't thought of that.
What if government decides to move into management of the banks and next year, the auto industry once they bail them out? Is Big Oil far behind? Who's to stop them? What if, instead of telling corporations what to do government decides to go ahead and own them outright? That could easily happen within eight years if all the votes are in Congress. We no longer have any say in the matter.
And finally, what happens to small business, your construction business say, when government controls your clients? Just who's feet do you have to kiss in order to get contracts? Just what sort of lapel pin do you have to wear to get work?
Yes, we all know what happens eventually. But "eventually" can mean forty years.
After a few more give and takes, I went to the meat of the issue. What about the little guy? Blank stare.
I followed, have you ever considered what the real purposes of socialism is? It is to take the dream away from the little guy. They can deal with you in due course, any way they want. They can shut you down, put you in jail, confiscate your property, or just let you attrit yourself out of business slowly. What they care about is that no one step up to replace you, and that takes time...a generation or so.
Hushed silence.
We failed the Constitution, and we've failed all those little guys out there because we forgot that the Constitution was written for them, the common man...and not us, the un-common men who benefited from it. It is us, un-common men of achievement and understanding about the free market, who the Constitution relied on to protect both it and the common man, by reaching around with a handshake to those at the bottom of the hill. After all...every single one of us arose from the bottom of that very same hill.
We failed. Instead we basked in the glow of our achievements and neglected the shoulders we're standing on. Now we're standing naked and alone, just like Kruschchev said, like over-ripe fruit waiting to be plucked.
Blank stares. In fact, embarrassed silence.
I hope they're right and I'm wrong. I just don't see how, not with protectors of the Constitution believing it was all written for them ...post-success instead of pre-success.
Next day I donated my tux to Goodwill. I don't suppose I'll be invited back.
VB