Synopsis:
Twight (a lawyer and professor of economics at Boise State University)
offers a libertarian account of the past 70 years of federal intervention in
the daily lives of American citizens. She argues that a growing dependency
of government-for education, health care, social security, and the
like-erodes the rule of law and increases the government's discretion to
regulate, manipulate, or prohibit virtually any activity. Oddly, while
emphasizing the nefarious aspects of public schooling and the use of the
bureaucracies to enhance government surveillance, she does not seem
interested in the federal role in prison expansion, or in the FBI's history
of interfering with Constitutionally protected political activity.
>From the Publisher:
Dependent on D.C. is a new book that raises serious concerns about the
future of liberty in America. Charlotte A. Twight proves beyond doubt that
the growth of dependence on government in the past seventy years has not
been accidental, that its creation has been bipartisan, and that it is
accelerating. Sbe reveals a universal tactic used by federal officials to
expand government authority over the lives of all Americans and exposes the
many forms this tactic has taken. Twight shows how growing federal power -
driven by legislation, validated by Supreme Court decisions, and accelerated
by presidential ambition - has eroded the rule of law in our nation, leaving
almost no activity that the central government cannot at its discretion
regulate, manipulate, or prohibit. A constitutional counterrevolution has
occurred in America--one so profound that few today can imagine Americans
free of dependence on government. Dependent on D.C. shows why Americans have
not resisted this expansion of federal power and reveals the daunting
magnitude of the changes needed to reverse our nation's spiral into
dependency. In these uncertain times, Dependent on D.C. is the book
Americans need to read when thinking about the future of their individual
liberty in a country long committed to the ideal of personal freedom.
>From the Critics:
>From Walter Williams - Orange County Register
Twight shows how Americans became a nation of sheep.
>From David Boaz
After years of combing through congressional debates, federal legislation,
and Supreme Court arguments, Charlotte Twight has developed an original and
striking indictment of how the federal government has made more and more
Americans dependent on it.
>From James M. Buchanan
This book is a wake-up call to those libertarians, conservatives, and
classical liberals, who, almost literally, went to sleep when the Cold War
ended, and socialist ideology collapsed.
>From Publisher's Weekly - Publishers Weekly
Americans have been seduced into surrendering their autonomy by an
ever-growing federal government, contends Twight, economics professor at
Boise State University. That refrain is hardly new, of course. Ronald Reagan
used it to great effect in his early presidential campaigns. Twight offers a
plausible explanation about why politicians like Reagan, who promise to
"shrink" big government, find it so hard to do once in power. In her view,
entrenched bureaucrats and politicians willfully manipulate "political
transaction costs" (or the costs of collective action) in an effort to
influence "people's perceptions of the costs and benefits of governmental
activities." Stripped of its academic window dressing, Twight's thesis is
straightforward: government insiders actively promote their own public
policy initiatives. In her view, this promotion often takes the form of
outright misrepresentation of costs and benefits to the individual citizen.
Reviewing the history of the social security program, she explains how the
Roosevelt administration won over an initially hostile public by
inaccurately portraying the program as akin to "insurance," which it
decidedly is not. The more citizens come to rely upon government programs,
the less likely they are to agitate for reform, even when such reform is
needed. In addition to social security, Twight discusses the federal
government's growing involvement in health care, education, taxation and
data collection. Her take on virtually all these programs is predictably
dour: they fail to deliver the social benefits that their proponents promise
while robbing Americans of autonomy. She also implies that those who promote
big government do so largely out of self-interest. In short, Twight is so
deeply distrustful of federal power that she invests no merit in the
contrary position. Still, she offers a spirited argument that will engage
readers who follow Washington politics. (Jan. 8) Copyright 2001 Cahners
Business Information.
>From Library Journal
Libertarians have a basic problem with government they don't believe it
should exist except to provide a police force and a military. Nor do they
appreciate the necessary role politicians perform in a democratic society.
Instead, they retreat into the worst romanticisms of Thomas Jefferson. This
first book by Twight reflects her specialty training outside political
science and history, which includes a Ph.D. in economics, a law degree, and
experience in programming computers. Like most libertarians, she espouses
unrealistic ideals and ideas unrelated to pragmatic solutions to social and
political issues. She fills this work with criticism of the expansion of
federal authority during the past 70 years, never mind which political party
governed. She also ignores lessons gathered over 2500 years of Western
political philosophy, except to acknowledge that politicians may lie to
cover up their misdeeds, which the author terms
"transaction-cost-augmentation" i.e., they spend public money. September 11
makes most of this seem like abstract economic argument. Not recommended for
general libraries; an optional purchase for large academic libraries.
William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ. in Shreveport Copyright 2001
Cahners Business Information.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Ch. 1 The Evolution of Dependence 1
Ch. 2 The Universal Tactic 19
Ch. 3 Social Security: Guaranteeing Dependence of the Elderly 55
Ch. 4 Income Tax Withholding: The Infrastructure of Dependence 87
Ch. 5 Public Education: Imprinting the Next Generation 133
Ch. 6 Health Care Controls: Exploiting Human Vulnerability 185
Ch. 7 Systematic Federal Surveillance of Ordinary Americans 235
Ch. 8 Evisceration of the Rule of Law 277
Ch. 9 Designing Dependence, Acquiring Control 311
Notes 339
Index 409
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