Good Bye mom and Dad hello Uncle Sam

Last Friday I was honored to speak at the University of Arkansas Constitution Day Celebration 2010 at the campus open air Greek Theater.

It proved to be a wonderful experience. Literally hundreds of students roamed amongst the tables, wolfed down free hot dogs, sipped lemonade, registered for a free Ipad and listened to a half-dozen speakers (well, hopefully they did).

My assigned subject was to discuss the 18th Amendment, which most might find uneventful and even obsolete since it was repealed just 13 years after its passage by the 21st Amendment. The ratification of this amendment is paramount to understanding what is transpiring today and is a vital reason new voters, ages 18 to 21 should be most interested in voting this year.

The 18th Amendment was National Prohibition, when the United States banned the transportation, sale and production of liquor. This was approved on January 16, 1919 but actual Prohibition didn’t start until 1920, still many Americans ignored the warning signs of what they had created. One of America’s greatest private industries was completely wiped out overnight, at least legally. But not really.

Bars kept operating during prohibition. This now-illegal industry achieved profits not possible until the banning. Organized crime grew rapidly by trafficking alcohol. Thugs like Al Capone (perhaps the most famous
gangster of all time) emerged during prohibition. Soon, mass killings
and gang wars were being fought over the trickling supply of liquor.

Police forces and court system across America were overwhelmed. In 1923 the U.S. District Attorney spent an astounding 44 percent of their time just on prohibition cases. Not to mention the financial burden to the taxpayer spent on this “noble experiment.” Some accounts estimate about $1,000,000,000 in excise taxes went to the national government, as well as several state and county governments each year just to fund prohibition enforcement.

So after 13 years of national torment and a lot of shame the federal government realized the error of its ways and repealed what had become an epic failure. But that didn’t happen without a deep and permanent scar being carved into the history of our nation.

So, why should you care, especially if you are 18 to 21? After all, you can’t drink anyway. Well, many of you in this age group are out in the world on your own for the very first time. You’re finally out from under those oppressive parents, eating what you want, staying out as late as you want and all the other various perks that come along with supposedly being independent.

But what if I told you that now, instead of mom and dad telling you what to
do, the federal (and likely state) government want to step in like controlling parents and begin “overseeing” your lives? Do you like cheeseburgers or pizza? Do you drive a car bigger than a smart car? Do want the freedom to choose your medical care, education, banking and your jobs? Or do you want a nanny following you and your children around for the rest of your lives? It is happening right now.

An article published in a 1922 Cosmopolitan magazine spoke about with what ease the 18th Amendment was passed. Americans wanted an answer to the problems caused by alcohol consumption and they were not willing to think deeply about restricting individual freedoms, or doing their due diligence.

“[I] read in the papers that the Legislature of Pennsylvania had
ratified the [18th]Amendment. I knew then that we were off on the wrong
foot, that we were going too fast. We had not done much educational
work in Pennsylvania, and yet Pennsylvania had voted dry. On the
morning that I read that the New York legislature had voted for the
amendment I felt sick about the news. I knew that the action hadn’t
come advisedly and with forethought and deliberation. It was a snap
action, it seemed to me. From that time on, I knew there would be
trouble in enforcing the amendment. Politics had entered into the
game, and we could see that it would make trouble for us. And it has;
unspeakable trouble.”

Today the federal government has nationalized, or is in the process of nationalizing healthcare, all student loans, residential real estate, automobile manufacturing, insurance and energy, our utilities all without any consideration if it is constitutional to even do so.

It seems clear that Washington is constitutionally inept and only a return of educated, informed and engaged citizens will restore the principles of individual liberties and prosperity that made America that “City on a hill” that the Rev. John Winthrop praised in his 1630 sermon: “A Model of Christian Charity.”
Will you get informed and engaged? It’s high time. And if not you, who? If not now, when?