tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3395111825224617694.post8884810631285236103..comments2023-12-18T16:32:44.437-08:00Comments on Caveat Emptor: The "supercommittee": The mouse that didn't roarH.A. Blackhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09028988783310116580noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3395111825224617694.post-81016946336973851562011-11-25T07:18:55.110-08:002011-11-25T07:18:55.110-08:00"Actually I thought that the supercommittee w..."Actually I thought that the supercommittee was anti-constitutional in the first place..."<br /><br />Yeah. It is an attempt to concentrate power in fewer hands. If successful, it sets a precedent. If it fails, people may come to believe that even fewer hands are needed. This is how Caesars and Hitlers arise.<br /><br />In William E. Leuchtenburg's <i>Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal</i> one reads:<br /><b>Many argued that the country could get out of the morass of indecision only by finding a leader and vesting in him dictatorial powers. Some favored an economic supercouncil which would ignore Congress and issue edicts; Henry Hazlitt proposed abandoning Congress for a directorate of twelve men. Others wished to confer on the new president the same arbitrary war powers Woodrow Wilson had been granted. Even businessmen favored granting Roosevelt dictatorial powers when he took office. Distressed by the chaotic competition in industries such as oil and textiles, alarmed by the outbursts of violence, convinced of the need for drastic budget slashing, they despaired of any leadership from Congress. "Of course we all realize that dictatorships and even semi-dictatorships in peace time are quite contrary to the spirit of American institutions and all that," remarked <i>Barron's</i>. "And yet -- well, a genial and lighthearted dictator might be a relief from the pompous futility of such a Congress as we have recently had. ... So we return repeatedly to the thought that a mild species of dictatorship will help us over the roughest spots in the road ahead."</b>The Arthurianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16501331051089400601noreply@blogger.com