What Happened to Government Neutrality?

I ran across this statement of principle in Alfred Owen Crozier’s 1912 book U.S. Money vs. Corporation Currency “Aldrich Plan.” He wrote (p. 45)

“The Government should not go into partnership with, or loan its credit or influence to, any private individual or corporation.”

If this principle actually were followed, huge swaths of the federal government would disappear. The Federal Reserve would go, because its  notes are legally obligations of the United States. The TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) for banks would never have occurred. Any and all government loan guarantee programs would go. Federal energy subsidies to businesses would be closed down. Education and research subsidies to universities and educational institutions would disappear. Student loan programs would go. Any program with a government credit assistance or guarantee would go.

You get the idea, and the principle as stated is not even as broad as one could make it in favor of government neutrality. This principle is really saying “Government should not be corrupt,” or that government should not play favorites, or that government should be neutral, or that just laws do not extend privileges to specific persons by which they gain at the expense of others. Today’s government is simply a huge swamp of injustice that needs to be drained.

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9:45 am on August 29, 2012