Our Threatened Freedom

Is Federal Aid Destroying America? (03:04)

R.J. Rushdoony

Transcript:

R.J. Rushdoony: 00:01 Is federal aid destroying America? This is RJ Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom. About an hour ago a friend was here who has an all too common problem. He lives in hill country on a minor country road. There is only light traffic over that road, mostly by people who live there and summer times by people going through to fish or hunt in higher country. The county has decided to widen the road considerably and make a highway out of it. My friend has two and a half acres. He will lose one acre to the highway, and about three fourths of an acre will be rendered useless. Some of the residents did more than a little investigating, and they found that the only authenticated need on that road was that an old and very narrow bridge be widened. At the board of supervisors meeting, they asked that the construction be limited to widening the bridge and their homes and land be left untouched.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:06 The supervisor who answered them agreed that the only need was a wider bridge, but he said, “We can only qualify for a federal grant for this road widening project.” In the process, the bridge will be widened, but all of us will pay for an unneeded and costly road project.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:29 Incidents like this are commonplace all over the United States. All too many federal grants in aid are an invitation to unnecessary and costly projects. In the process, all of us are overtaxed. Local officials are seduced into new and costly projects, and we are pushed further into national bankruptcy. Moreover, the bankruptcy we are drifting into is both moral and financial.

R.J. Rushdoony: 01:59 I said that my friend’s problem is not an unusual one. Everywhere I go, I find people with like difficulties. If you knew the truth about many of the public works projects in your own neighborhood, you would probably find similar examples of unnecessary work and spending.

R.J. Rushdoony: 02:20 Is federally destroying America? Not exactly. For our people to be ready to go along with such useless and wasteful projects means that there is already something morally wrong with them. The federal government is simply aiding an already corrupt political system to increase the scope of their corruption. It’s a racket in which all hands are cooperating and guilty. Meanwhile, there are casualties, the financial stability of the country and the moral foundations of freedom. This has been RJ Rushdoony with a report on our threatened freedom.