The content of these pages is developed and maintained by, and is the sole responsibility of, the individual senator's office and may not reflect the views of the Nebraska Legislature. Questions and comments about the content should be directed to the senator's office at serdman@leg.ne.gov
There is a necessary connection between economics and a republican form of government which gives rise to individual liberty. Whenever you alter either a constitutional republic or an economic system, the result is the loss of liberty. Milton Friedman understood this correlation very well when he said, “…a society which is socialist cannot also be democratic, in the sense of guaranteeing individual freedom.”
Capitalism is an economic system designed for a free people. Capitalism puts an individual in the driver’s seat of his or her own prosperity. This is true economic freedom. Consequently, personal wealth is earned through hard work, competency, and ingenuity. To the contrary, Communism and Socialism remove the incentives to work hard, to better oneself, and to innovate, leaving the individual dependent upon the government for a paycheck.
A constitutional republic is also specially designed for a free people. When properly framed the constitution restrains the actions of the government and protects the individual liberties of the people. This is true political freedom. The Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution guarantees those liberties which rightfully belong to the American people. To the contrary, Communism and Socialism are governed by a utopian ideology such as the Communist Manifesto which removes individual liberties and unleashes the powers of the State.
The United States of America has been slowly drifting towards Socialism. The great lie that is being fed to the American people today is that liberty is a governmental problem that is unrelated to economics. For instance, Democratic Socialism holds that economic policies can be changed without interfering with individual liberties. But, this is false.
The greatest shackles of liberty are taxes. Taxation is the government’s way of enslaving its citizens. The amount of money withheld from your paycheck, the amount of money you pay in property taxes, and the amount of money you pay sales taxes at the store comprise your level of enslavement to the State. Communism and Socialism have ways of tricking you into paying even more in taxes than you realize. Let me explain.
The Biden administration has stimulated the economy by dolling out large amounts of money through its paycheck protection program, its infrastructure spending program, and its child tax credit program. These Socialist programs have infused enormous amounts of cash into the American economy with adverse effects on the economy. In many cases, the handouts have been large enough to remove people’s incentives to work. The result is that many business owners cannot find the help they need to run their businesses today.
Printing money is bad for the economy. When the Federal Reserve prints money to pay for these Socialist programs, it causes inflation to go up, the dollar to go down, and the result is that the purchasing power of every American tanks. But, this is not the end of the story.
In order to stay afloat, the cycle must repeat itself. In order for the federal government to continue paying its bills, it has to somehow generate more money. But governments cannot generate revenue! So, how do they get more money? The federal government creates another stimulus program, then the Federal Reserve prints the money to fund the new stimulus program, then they dump more money back into the economy, which widens the tax base such that the IRS can collect more revenue in taxes, which are then used to pay the government’s bills. Rinse, lather, repeat – That’s how they do it!
Every time the government repeats this trick, it requires the taxpayers to pay more in taxes. But remember, the more you pay in taxes, the more enslaved you are to the federal government. Communism and Socialism have never worked, because it always results in widespread poverty.
Streaming video provided by Nebraska Public Media