Amidst all the hoopla of the presidential race, those of us who want to experience what it’s like to live in a genuinely free society must continue focusing on what needs to be done to fulfill that objective. One thing is certain: whether Americans elect Donald Trump or Kamala Harris won’t matter one whit in terms of achieving the free society. That’s because both of them will continue the welfare-warfare state, regulated-managed economy way of life that needs to be dismantled if we are going to achieve a genuinely free society.
When it come to freedom, my favorite period in history is 1880-1910 America. Sure, the standard of living was lower than it is today. That’s to be expected given that they were building on what had been a relatively poor country — that is, one without a large capital base. But when it comes to the principles of a genuinely free society, there is no question but that the American people who lived during that 30-year period experienced a society that was closer to the libertarian ideal than anyone else has ever gotten. If they could do it, then why can’t we?
Fifth Avenue in 1900 New York City.
No, it wasn’t a perfect libertarian panacea, and so let’s set that point aside right away. There were tariffs. There were violations of women’s rights. There was the Chinese Exclusion Act, the first immigration-control act in U.S. history. There was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. There were subsidies to railroads. There were economic regulations at the state level. There was compulsory school attendance in Massachusetts. There was the Spanish-American War in 1898.
Now, let’s look at the positive, which is what is incredible:
No income tax or IRS. Americans were free to keep everything they earned — 100 percent — and there was nothing the federal government could do about it.
No Social Security.
No Medicare or Medicaid.
No welfare or other mandatory “charity.”
No minimum-wage laws.
No Pentagon, CIA, or NSA. No state-sponsored assassinations, torture, indefinite detention, or extra-judicial executions.
No foreign military bases.
No foreign wars (except the Spanish-American War).
No paper money. The Constitution established gold coins and silver coins as the nation’s official money.
No Federal Reserve System.
No public (i.e., government) schooling systems (except in Massachusetts).
No drug laws or drug war.
No gun control.
Few economic regulations.
Minimal government control over immigration.
Regardless of what one might say about that period of time, everyone would have to agree that it was the most unusual — and the freest — society in history. It’s also worth pointing out that it was the most prosperous society in history; real wage rates more than doubled during that period and many people went from rags to riches during that period of time. It’s also worth mentioning that it was the most charitable nation in history. When people were free to accumulate unlimited amounts of wealth, they gave lots of it away, on a purely voluntary basis. That’s how many hospitals, libraries, museums, opera houses, and other such things got built.
Ever since The Future of Freedom Foundation was founded in 1989, there have been those who have said to me, “Jacob, you’re tilting at windmills with your principled, uncompromising case for liberty. The welfare-warfare state has become a permanent part of American life. You need to accept that, as many other libertarians have. Just resign yourself to helping us reform and improve the system. Just call it “advancing freedom.”
Pure nonsense. After all, if Americans could achieve all those things in 1880-1910, why can’t we? Why shouldn’t that be a starting benchmark for libertarians living today? Why should we settle for a warmed-over, improved, reformed welfare-warfare state serfdom that we label “advancing freedom”?
I have no interest in living my life under an improved and reformed serfdom. I want to live my life as a genuinely free individual. And that necessarily means the dismantling, not the reform, of every single infringement on freedom.
Can the genuinely free society be achieved? Of course it can! That’s what those Americans in 1880-1910 proved by coming closer to achieving the genuinely free society than anyone else in history. If they could do it, so can we. And we can then build on what they showed is possible.
Moreover, if later generations of Americans could abandon those principles in favor of a welfare-warfare state, regulated-managed economy way of life, then why can’t we move America in the direction of freedom?
One thing is certain: people who give up on freedom and resign themselves to advocating welfare-warfare state reform will never achieve freedom, even if they convince themselves that they are “advancing freedom.” Only by dismantling infringements on freedom can we win our freedom. And that necessarily means making the case for genuine freedom, not the case for welfare-warfare state reform.