Essay Introduction

Spruille Braden, former Ambassador to Argentina, argues that the decline of morality in public office is directly proportional to the growth of state interventionism. In this essay, Braden asserts that government meddling in the economy is an ancient and reactionary practice that has consistently destroyed civilizations, from Babylonia to the British Empire. He condemns the "do-gooders" and politicians who camouflage bad laws as welfare or defense measures, thereby leading the nation toward destruction. Braden calls for a "moral revolution" in which individuals reassume their personal responsibilities and re-implant the Decalogue and the Golden Rule as the ethical code of the American people to combat corruption and statism.

For a Moral Revolution

by Spruille Braden

So consistent is the record of history, that I dare say it could be stated as a natural law of societal behavior that: "The measure of morality in public office will be in inverse ratio to the amount of state interventionism which may exist."

There is nothing new in state interventionism. It is as old and reactionary as societal organization itself. Always, when it permeates the body politic, it kills the nation.

This assertion repeatedly is confirmed by history. The Hammurabi Code, promulgated earlier than 2000 B.C., by imposing controls over wages, prices, production, consumption, and all the rest of the economy, wrecked Babylonia. Governmental extravagance and a bloated bureaucracy killed individual initiative and led to the fall of ancient Greece. A planned economy of state maintenance for the slothful—plus excessive taxation—brought the collapse of the later Roman Empire and the regression of a civilized society into the Dark Ages. The welfare state of the Incas became so debilitated as to become easy prey for Pizarro and his "Conquistadores." In its turn, the great Spanish Empire broke when the throne so regimented every activity that no one could earn a living except by being a public employee, a priest, or a sailor. For the same reasons the British Empire is now dissolving before our eyes.

You are all too sadly acquainted with how low the ethical standards of a few public servants have sunk. Equally bad and even worse occurrences have been uncovered in many of our state and municipal governments.

Almost everywhere politicians and "do-gooders," by camouflaging ill-considered or bad enactments as welfare or defense measures, are enticing their peoples down the path of dalliance into systems of state interventionism. They are leading them to eventual destruction. They are concentrating power in Washington under a bureaucracy already expanded beyond manageable dimensions and which increasingly resorts to uncontrolled extravagance and extravagant controls. They are murdering the nation. Can there be greater treason?

Too many laws create confusion, unwise laws corruption. Together they nurture absolutism and criminality.

There are, for example, many enterprises which could not operate profitably were they to obey, to the letter, a complexity of laws and regulations, which sometimes almost seem to have been enacted with malice aforethought. As a result, these businessmen are easy prey for gangsters and crooked officials, both high and low, who exact tribute for what they call "protection." In these cases the quickest prophylactic would be to do away with the unwise laws and regulations.

Jefferson once remarked that a revolution every so often is a good thing. This country desperately needs a moral revolution right now. I pray that it comes soon, before it is too late. I pray that it will be brought on by an outraged public opinion, resulting from each individual reassuming his personal responsibilities and then joining with others to make their voices heard. I pray that it will re-implant the Decalogue and the Golden Rule as the ethical code of the American people. I pray that under its impact the love and old-fashioned discipline exercised within the families of this nation will again be exerted against immorality and crime, corruption and venality.

Such a revolution will return the United States to morality and straight thinking, and thereby resolve the crisis which now confronts us.

Then, we may hope the rest of the world may emulate the salutary results obtained here.

About the Author

Spruille Braden was formerly Ambassador to Argentina. "For a Moral Revolution" is extracted from a 1951 address.

Attribution

Braden, Spruille. "For a Moral Revolution." In Essays on Liberty, Vol. 1, 290-292. Irvington-on-Hudson, NY: The Foundation for Economic Education, Inc., 1952.