Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 51
own growth changed the nation. Future massive actions required to face the common
defense (wars) would again provide the impetus for most government growth and
consequent social change.
As America began to develop, it had to establish a stronger central government to face
events greater than any individual’s power to resolve. The first push for growth was
provided by demands for territorial expansion known as Manifest Destiny. No great
army or navy was needed. Motivated by their own self-sufficiency and personal benefit,
pioneers did all the work. However, following Andrew Jackson’s defeat of the British in
New Orleans in 1793, some in the federal government gave more attention to national
defense. Since no international armed conflagrations occurred until the war of 1812,
again against the British, the impetus for a great army was not yet apparent. As
measured by almost any yardstick, the mid years of the 18 th Century had similar rates of
growth for the country and for its government.
The war against Mexico following Texas’ annexation spurred significant expenses in
armed forces procurement, but caused no tidal-wave changes on the apparatus of
government. Then, during the Civil War, the federal government grew at an exponential
rate, not only in cost but also in a socio-political dimension. The resolution of our
crippling social bipolarity demanded totally new views and understandings of humanity.
The principles of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence had to be made
applicable to every new American citizen created by the 14 th Amendment. The 15 th
Amendment completed this process by giving emancipated slaves the right to vote and
to hold office. In view of entrenched opposition in southern society, a bigger government
was inevitably necessary for this purpose.
The next period of rapid growth was seeded in the period preceding World War I. It
came with the winds that swept Woodrow Wilson to the presidency. However, cognizant
of the fact that most of those new initiatives did not have constitutional groundings, the
country’s leaders at the time submitted them to the people. With the peoples’ approval,
the Constitution was amended radically. Through the 16 th Amendment the people
granted the federal government the right to tax the product of their industry. Through the
17 th Amendment, the states’ ruling bodies surrendered their privilege to name senators
in favor of letting the people in their states elect them. Both represented great gains in
power by the federal government at the expense of state politicians.
The full impact of these changes toward bigger federal government didn’t become
apparent until Franklin D. Roosevelt’s (FDR) presidency. His adherents credit the New
Deal as saving America from economic disaster but the long-term evidence could be
just the opposite. The New Deal not only enlarged government exponentially at a time
when the private economy was contracting, it reordered the private sector in a way
similar to Mussolini’s or Hitler’s economies. Production was planned mostly by the
government, or at least in response to government requirements. However, at least
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