America ... to follow Europe or India? Ask President Lincoln.

America’s founding fathers carefully developed a constitution that respected individual and States’ rights by strictly limiting the powers of central government. They knew, in fleeing King George’s rule over England, exactly the horrors that come from centralized power. It was the motivation behind America’s fight for Independence.

Now think back to the American civil war. It was a war to free the slaves, right? Wrong.

Abraham Lincoln and his war between the states set a precedent of centralization in the United States that to this day has not been reversed. There are plenty of examples, but Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson are among the most notorious central planners to follow in the footsteps of Lincoln.

Apart from varying levels of collectivism, money is the common denominator in the policies of America’s most dedicated central planners.


Currency Currents 30 October 2012