Power

If we look back at the threads running through out history we can see that man is only interested in one thing . . . Power!

One thread is the continual fight between State rights vs. Federal rights.  This can be seen as far back as the Civil War fighting over the 10th Amendment.  The north was commercially Industrial and the south Agricultural.  The north was for government regulations; the south wanted the Federal Government to stay out of commerce.  The north relied on others commercially, whereas the south were independent.

The Laissez~faire age began in 1865 pushing for the Federal Government to stay out of commerce.  Article 1, sec. 8 gave the Federal Government the right to tax commerce.  Later the case of Munn vs. Illinois was fought in court because the State was breaking laws storing grain in ware houses.  The Wabash case overturned the decision of Munn vs. Illinois which led to the Interstate Commerce Commission giving the Federal Government the right to regulated taxes over commerce.

The next thread is Presidential Power.  Lincoln began with the Emancipation Proclamation.  A guise set up to make society fight for the 10th Amendment believing they were fighting to free the slaves.  Lincoln was only concerned with saving the Union.

Theodore Roosevelt brought in “New Federalism”.  He was concerned with the capital and labor, and secondly with the lingering division of the North and South.  Lincoln’s biggest concern was the division of the North and South and doing whatever it took to save the Union.

During Woodrow Wilson’s term he discovered that armament was being transported to Vera Cruz by a German ship.  He started a war with a nation the United States was at peace with.  Diplomatic Alliances were regained, but the Mexican People never got over their hostility of the Mexican Revolution.  They felt the United States had no right to step in.

Lyndon Johnson took us into the Vietnam War because he saw communism as a threat.  He believed he could set up a government that the South Vietnamese would be willing to fight and die for.  Those in power have no problem lying to society to accomplish their goals and our nation has no right to force our way of life on other nations.

Another thread in history deals with Government Security leaks.  During Hoover’s time it was believed he used the secret service to stop the leaks of government information.  He was accused of conspiring against the newspapers to have certain newspaper men fired.

Charlie Beckwith also dealt with the leaking of military plans.  It was discovered that a woman hired as a maid was stealing the information.

Nixon became furious when it was discovered that “The Pentagon Papers” had been stolen and were being published in “The New York Times.”  Nixon and his associates put together a group known as “The Plumbers” to stop these leaks.   This action eventually led to accusations that Nixon was covering up information the United States citizens had a right to know.  This shows how much distrust there is between society and the government.  Some will do anything to fight for what they believe in ~ even break laws.

Racism is a common thread seen throughout history over and over again.  The civil war was supposed to free the slaves and make them equal to other citizens.  The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People began in 1909 to fight against racism because racism against blacks was not a priority in the United States.

During World War II the blacks were discriminated against again.  The enlisted men were only allowed to do menial work and not allowed to serve as officers.  They were seen as too undisciplined.

Franklin Roosevelt created the “New Deal” in hopes to end racism.  The “New Deal” provided better health care for the blacks because they were often discriminated against by other plans meant to help minorities.  This plan also provided housing and taught over one million blacks to read and write.  With all these groups and wars against racism the black man is still considered a lower class citizen.  They are still fighting for equality.

Looking back over history and weaving through these threads shows us that to man power is everything.  Men will fight to get it.  They will fight to have it.  Some men will even break the laws tor try and keep it.

Joy Elaine