History of Constitutional Decline

>> October 14, 2009

The U.S. Treasury building, Washington D.C.Image via Wikipedia
I've been working on an American history time line this week. A work sheet for myself really.  I thought it would be interesting to see the evolution of the constitution, in a format that puts the changes in context with historical events. Along the way, I've noticed the ebb and flow of freedoms and rights given and taken away. What follows is my top twenty list of losses of liberty. (Sorry to say, I couldn't keep it to ten).
In chronological order...
  • Early 1900's - Karl Marx's "Capital" taught in college in lieu of Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" - The only one on the list that doesn't involve government. It is on the list to mark a beginning of a train of thought.
  • 4/8/1913 - Amendment 17 - Senators Elected by Popular Vote, States lose representation
  • 1917 - Wilson creates Food Administration, Grain Corporation, War Trade Board & Committee on Public Information by Executive Order begins World War 1 phase of extending government into virtually every phase of American life
  • 1933 - US ends Gold Standard
  • 1933 - FDR Launches New Deal - collectivism in full swing (One Generation)
  • 1934 - National Firearms Act
  • 1935 - Social Security enacted (Wrongly upheld by Supreme Court in 1937 misinterpreting "General Welfare")
  • 1938 - Federal Firearms Act greatly expands firearms restrictions.
  • 1965 - Social Security Act of 1935 amended to create Medicare
  • 1973 - Abortion legalized - giving way to more Social engineering
  • 1991 - Civil Rights Act of 1991 further expanding affirmative action
  • 1994 - Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act and Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act (Assault Weapons Ban)
  • 2001 - Patriot Act - encroaching on privacy issues galore
  • 2006 - AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon / National Security Agency - possible illegal wiretapping scandal - still no investigation
  • 2007 - The official number of illegal immigrants in the U.S. reaches 11 million
  • 2008 - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship for $300 billion taxpayer  dollars.
  • 2008 - ACORN - politically biased community activist organization given $500 million in earmarks with FNMA bailout
  • 2008 - Bush signs TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program) $700 billion bank bailout bill
  • 2008 - General Motors becomes Government Motors for $40 billion taxpayer dollars
  • 2008 - Chrysler bailout costs $30 billion taxpayer dollars
If you would like to see the whole spreadsheet, it's here. (just click free user.)
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2 comments:

Anonymous August 29, 2010 at 12:31 PM  

Is there another way to get your spreadsheet? RS has disabled your DL>

robot August 29, 2010 at 12:41 PM  

Sure. I've reposted this at the new site under US Timeline.
http://mindnumbedrobot.com/timeline

I've also converted the spreadsheet into a web page and the link can be found there or you can go here:
http://mindnumbedrobot.com/files/US-Timeline.htm

Cheers!

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