"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it,.."
Famous words from our Declaration of Independence. These were then followed by a list of grievances toward the governance of the King of England. All of them, destructive to Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
Our founders did not see government as giving us things, but in protecting the things most valuable to us, our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. Government was a steward, not an overseer.
But overtime, government has increasingly seen itself as the custodian of our labor in order to impose on us what it sees as necessary to our happiness. In the early 1900s, federal, state and local government took in revenue equal to about 6 to 7 percent of GNP(Gross National Product). And then the 16th amendment to the constitution, ratified in 1913, allowed government to create an income tax. The flood gates of confiscation were open. By 1950 this number had grown to 24 percent, and by the end of the century it had grown to 32 percent. Since just 2000 it has risen to almost 45%. Unimaginable to our founders.
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