Promises a Republic Can Keep
Our post on Hoover's Freedom Frequency analyzes what Madison’s views on public assistance, the limits of taxation, and pensions say about today’s fiscal challenges.
Happy 4th of July, Fiscal Reality Checkers, and happy 250th birthday to our republic. A milestone worth celebrating, and worth thinking hard about.
James Madison spent a lot of time thinking about property, debt, and the limits of majority rule — but he also had to grapple with a very practical fiscal problem: what happens when a government makes a promise it can no longer afford to keep? In 1783, that meant pension promises to the Revolutionary War veterans and a bankrupt Continental Congress. Today, it means Social Security, Medicare, and mountains of unfunded state pension liabilities.
In a piece for Hoover’s Freedom Frequency, Gregory Kearney and I dig into what Madison’s writings on property rights, taxation, and the 1783 pension “commutation” crisis can teach us about the choices ahead — including the current push for wealth taxation in California and nationwide.
As we put it: today’s scenario would present Madison’s wartime pension dilemma on a vast scale.
Read the whole piece below.
