Freedom, Society, and State - Ludwig von Mises Institute

question then becomes "why the majorities pay the expenses
and fight the wars necessitated by imperial
expansion."(31)
One reason would seem to be that while the majority
might lose in the long run the reduction in unemployment
does give it an immediate gain (rom imperialism.
And there is little doubt that the short run is
felt more keenly than the long run. Second, and perhaps
more important, is what may be termed the "1984
ploy. " The 1984 ploy is seen as a me t hod used by the
eli t e togen era t e po pu I a r supportf0 r its po 1ic i e s by
means of conscious deception. The interventionist syst
em, say s F I,Yn n, " des pit e its prom i e s 0 f a bundan c e ,
nee e s sitate s g rea t per sona I and financia I sac r i fiee s ,
whie h p e 0 pie cannot be i ndueedt0 rna ke i nthe i n t eres t
ofor din a r y 0 b j e c t i ve s 0 f c i villi f e and wh i c h they
wi 11 submi t to only when they are presented with some
national crusade or adventure on the heroic model
touch ing deeply the spr ings of chauvinistic pride,
interest and feeling," or, he says elsewere, with "the
fears of. the aggressive ambitions of other
countries."(32)
The classic example of this, according to the anarchist,
is in the Roosevelt Administration's policy
pri'or to America's entry into World War II. For the
short-run reason of lifting the country out of the
depress ion and for the long-run reason of preserving
and promoting an internaitonal economic order conducive
to American dominance, the Roosevelt Administration
ado pte d a pol icy 0 f impe ria 1 ism and wa r • But a d iff i ­
cult problem faced by Roosevelt was that throughout the
1930's opinion polls consistently indicated that eighty
per c en t of the Arne r i can People opposed enter i nga Eur 0pean
war. Even as late as July, 1941, the figure remained
as high as seventy-seven percent. Consequently,
Roosevelt adopted a policy consciously designed to "lie
us into war." Roosevelt's policy of increasing truculence
toward Germany, manifested by such programs as
the destroyer deal with England, Lend-Lease, and conv
0 yin g, wasintendedt0 prod Ge r rna nyin t 0 a t t a c king the
U.S. But it was officially justified on the grounds
t hat sue h a po liey 0 f "s t r eng t h" wa s neee s sa r y to ke e p
us out of war. Roosevelt not only promised "again and
again and again" that he would not send American boys
into any foreign war, but characterized his policy as
one des i g ned 11 t 0 i sol ate 0 u r s e 1 ve s from wa r . nTh i s
same pol.icy was followed toward Japan. Since an incident
was required to swing public opinion behind him,
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