Creeping Socialism?

During the Roosevelt and Truman Years, Republican Candidates used to hold forth on a subject called “Creeping Socialism.” This was defined as the growth of big government, taxes, debt, bureaucrats, and controls – all leading to the ultimate horror of Socialism like in England. I doubt that many votes were swayed by this oratory. The result sounded too remote and the semantics too extravagant.

But it’s now time for all those tiresome Cassandras to loudly proclaim, “I told you so.” The lesson of England is indeed a spectre to make us shudder. But the growth of our own government has been greater than even the most pessimistic prophecies of the 1940s. It took 173 years for the U.S. Federal budget to reach $100 billion in 1962. In 2015 – fifty-three years later – the U.S. budget clocked in at an unfathomable $3.8 trillion. These leaps since 1962 represent a more than 3,700% increase in just 28% of our country’s existence.

Phyllis Schlafly addressed this subject in 1975, and said then that: “The Government bureaucracy has grown so vast that today one out of every six working persons is employed directly by some governmental unit. One of the reasons for the growth of this bureaucracy is the phenomenon that can be called “regulatory reflex.” When anyone sees something he thinks is undesirable, the suggestion immediately follows that the government substitute its decision-making power for the free market. This often results in one group of zealots determining what they think is good for us, and then making the rest of us pay for it.”

She continued: “President Ford stated recently that, ‘by the year 2000, 50 percent of our people will be living off the other 50 percent.’ This means that ever taxpayer will be carrying on his back not only his own family dependents, but another citizen drawing unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicare, or general welfare payments.”

Time has marched on since 1975, and we can see now, more clearly than ever, that Phyllis Schlafly was absolutely right. We may not be “over the cliff,” But as Phyllis said: “The question is – as we head for a cliff, are we creeping or galloping?”