The Freeman 1989 - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

46 THE FREEMAN. JANUARY 1989themselves largess out of the public treasury.From that moment on, the majority alwaysvotes for the candidate who promises themthe most benefits from the public treasury,with the result being that democracy alwayscollapses over a loose fiscal policy.While government is not supposed to takeproperty for public use without just compensation,it now "takes" as a matter of course, forboth public and private use, seldom thinking ofcompensating the individuals whose propertyhas been taken. Rent control laws are but oneof many examples given. One of the most outrageousinstances is the 1984 Supreme Courtcase of Hawaii Housing Authority v. Midkiff,wherein the court permitted the State of Hawaiito use eminent domain to take land and apartmentsfrom their owners and sell them to theprevious tenants. This action not only was ataking, but a taking for private rather thanpublic use. Yet the action was declared constitutional,even though the Constitution grantsauthority to government to take only for"public" use. The definition of "public" hasbecome so twisted over the years that it hascome to the point where just about anythinggovernment does is for the "public."Federal spending is supposedly limited tocommon defense and the "general welfare."Yet many Federal expenditures go to benefitvery small groups, such as sugar farmers,artists at state universities, or any other groupthat can line up at the Federal trough. But governmentcontrol over our lives isn't limited togovernment spending. Government can takeour tax dollars and give them to others, althoughtax rates can be raised only to a certainpoint without generating a backlash. Ourelected representatives get around this by regulatingbusinesses and forcing them to pay forthings that otherwise would be paid for with taxdollars.Other constitutional protections of economicrights have been seriously eroded over theyears. The contract clause has withered anddied on the vine. Parties no longer can enterinto a contract without worrying about violatinga minimum wage law, antitrust law, civil rightslaw, labor law, or numerous other statutes andregulations. The equal protection clause hasbeen massaged to the point where it now meanswhatever the court says it means. None of theclauses in the Constitution still can be taken atface value. To learn what each sentence means,we now must look to case law rather than theoriginal wording. It is almost as though theConstitution is void where prohibited by law.Government is no longer restrained by thechains of the Constitution. The only limits arethose in the eyes of our elected and unelectedofficials. People are now using government todo what they would be prohibited from doingas private citizens.How did we get into this position? Several ofthe authors provide answers. As I read eachchapter I could see a multi-layered mosaicbeing woven before my eyes that, on thewhole, gives a good, detailed, and scholarlyexplanation. One of the most interesting interpretationsis given by Robert Higgs. Governmentpower (and abuse of individual rights) expandsduring times of crisis, and never fully retreatsafter the crisis has passed. Our variouswars, as well as the Great Depression, havegiven rise to new governmental powers. Overthe centuries, the power of government has expandedto the point where it now permeatesevery aspect of our lives.How can we get out of this mess? Higgs isnot optimistic. Electing better public officials isnot enough. Neither is appointing better judges.Things will start to tum around when publicsentiment demands that things be turnedaround. In the words of Abraham Lincoln,"With public sentiment nothing can fail;without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently,he who molds public sentiment goes deeperthan he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.".This book is one of the better ones on publicchoice theory. Its scholarly approach, detailedfootnotes, and case, name, and topical indexesprovide a wealth of references for furtherstudy. The fact that it was written by numerousauthors does not detract much from the unity ofthe presentation because the editors did a goodjob in selecting the articles to be included. DProfessor McGee, who holds doctorates in bothaccounting and law, teaches accounting at SetonHall University.