I. The Tragic Retreat
Chapter I
THE TRAGIC RETREAT
Whatever the political differences among Americans, there is one point on which all must agree. In this year 1955 we seem to be prosperous, with more people at work at higher wages than at any time in our history. Yet the nation, it must be conceded, is in profound trouble.
II. Government and Freedom
Chapter II
GOVERNMENT AND FREEDOM
As this thing—the State—is the monster we have to contend with in these pages, it is important that we understand clearly its essential meaning. We speak of the State or perhaps the government or the nation without defining too sharply these several terms. Randolph Bourne, who had a flare for illuminating such ideas with a gleam of fancy, has written the following revealing paragraph:
III. Republics in History
Chapter III
REPUBLICS IN HISTORY
During the last 20 years America has suffered a succession of social and economic dislocations, including a great depression and a great war. We have been so absorbed in these difficulties that we have lost sight of a few simple, elementary principles upon which the free society of America was based. These principles mark the difference between our government and all others in history.
IV. The American Republic
Chapter IV
THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC
Before we can move further into this study, we must have a clear understanding of the device by which the dangerous power of Big Government was solved in the United States. I stress once more the proposition that the young men and women of America under the age of 40 have never, in their adult years, lived under the American Republic in its original form as it existed from 1789 to 1937. Our first care, therefore, must be to recapture for them a realistic picture of our traditional form of government.
V. The Great Depression
Chapter V
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
The American Republic we have described existed for 144 years. In the 22 years since 1933 it has been subjected to a profound change, accomplished without any change in the actual words of the Constitution. It has been done by a sheer usurpation of power by the federal government. This could not, of course, have been brought about without certain favoring circumstances. The chief influence was what has come to be known as the Great Depression of 1929.
VI. A New Name for Socialism
Chapter VI
A NEW NAME FOR SOCIALISM
By 1936 Mr. Roosevelt’s New Deal had completely collapsed. All his fantastic plans had made no serious impression on unemployment. There were practically as many unemployed in 1936 as in 1933 and far more on relief. The President complained bitterly and justly to his cabinet that “everybody tells me what is the matter, but no one tells me what to do.” The politicians were in a state of frustration and ceased to exercise any important influence on events.
VII. Revolution and the Intellectuals
Chapter VII
REVOLUTION AND THE INTELLECTUALS
This idea has an immense and explosive appeal to a certain type of intellectual. I do not, of course, imply that all persons of large intellectual calibre are seduced by this fuzzy philosophy. I do say that it is an occupational disease of intellectualism. Silicosis is an occupational disease of coal miners, but only a fraction of them succumb.
VIII. The Gospel According to Marx
Chapter VIII
THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO MARX
The Fourierist adventure was the last of those gaudy Utopian dreams to flourish in America. While the philosophers, professors, poets and other literati dallied with this nonsense, a much more formidable philosophy was being kindled in Europe. The machine age created a new landscape which was enticing hordes of peasants into the cities and their slums. Long hours, grimy mills, the hazards of cumbersome machinery and the intervals of depressions and booms all created a variety of human problems for a new school of social reformers.
IX. Socialism and the Constitution
Chapter IX
SOCIALISM AND THE CONSTITUTION
This brings us to the central point of this study. It must be obvious to any honest mind that a socialist society cannot be organized and conducted by the federal government under our Constitution. The powers of the central government are all derived from the Constitution and these are set out with the greatest particularity. The extent and meaning of these several powers had been defined over and over by the Supreme Court.
X. The Dark Alliance
Chapter X
THE DARK ALLIANCE
Despite all the endless care exercised by the framers of the Constitution, and the judgments of the Courts for over 148 years, these revolutionary elements in the United States found a way in which to complete their perversion and subversion of the Constitution without submitting these radical changes to the states—the only authority empowered to make changes in the Constitution.
