Restoring the US Capitalist Meritocracy

The United States of America was founded as a Republic in 1789 to support a Free Market Economy and Meritocracy based on very limited government and strong private property rights for citizens. Citizens were free to pursue their own chosen occupations and keep the money they earned. Prices were controlled by consumers with a “free market” economy, where consumers could control prices by the law of supply and demand. The Family was the basic economic unit and had rights to inherit family property. There were no permanent taxes on corporations, family businesses or individual incomes. Tax revenues came from Tariffs and Fees. Wealth was accumulated by families through savings and investments. Improvements in individual family standards of living required individual ability to accumulate wealth. Banks provided loans to qualified buyers based on their assets. Titles to land and property were kept and courts protected property rights. The US Constitution and its Amendments including the Bill of Rights were the “law of the land”.

The US operated in strict compliance to the US Constitution from 1789 until 1872, when Congress and President Grant violated the Constitution by establishing Yellowstone National Park. The Constitution restricted government ownership of land to ‘needful buildings and military bases’. The Supreme Court did not challenge this unconstitutional federal land grab from the States that required an Amendment and ratification by the States.

The secession of the Confederate States was allowed in 1860, but the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter established the Confederacy as a foreign country. The Northern victory over the Confederacy reincorporated the Southern States back into the Union. 

The next unconstitutional act occurred in 1913 when Congress and President Wilson established the Federal Reserve Bank to “coin money”. This should have required an Amendment to the “enumerated powers”. 

Since 1913, the US Federal government has ignored the US Constitution as it assumed more powers that should have been retained by the “States and the People” according to the 10^th Amendment.

Approaching 2020, the US Federal Government spends $4 trillion a year and State and Local governments spend $3.5 trillion a year.  US Nominal GDP is $21.5 trillion a year. Government spends 40% of US GDP. Government subsidies have made the cost of healthcare and education unsustainable. The US needs to cut government spending in half and eliminate most of its departments, agencies and programs.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader