The Executive State

[Robert Hettinga]

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Date: Tue, 6 May 1997 10:46:19 -0700
From: thomasu at mail.auburn.edu
To: misesmail at colossus.net
Subject: The Executive State
Sender: owner-misesmail at colossus.net
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The Executive State:
The U.S. Presidency vs. American Liberty

	When President Clinton asked golfer Tiger Woods to join him at an official
propaganda event, and even offered to send Air Force One, Tiger answered as
every freedom-loving American should: he had something better to do. He was
going on a vacation with some college chums.

	Tiger has his priorities straight, but his turndown is another indication
that the presidency is shrinking as an institution. It still commands, but
no longer compels, our undying (or dying) obedience, no matter how many
monuments are erected to despots on the Washington Mall. This trend is all
to the good.

	The legacy of presidential autocracy from the earliest days of the
republic to the present survives in the form of the executive state. But
where can you go in the library to find the truth about the havoc U.S.
presidents have wrecked on the American promise of freedom? Virtually
nowhere. The official history of the presidency reads like the Lives of the
Saints.

	The Mises Institute intends to do something about this. In the Fall of
1998, we're holding a major academic conference on the American presidency.
Our purpose is to debunk the conventional view that the more power he's
usurped, the better off the American people are.

	All the presidents qualify for study, but we are especially interested in
the checkered careers and dictates of Polk, Lincoln, McKinley, Roosevelt I,
Wilson, Roosevelt II, Truman, Johnson, Nixon, and Reagan.

	If you're a scholar and would like to participate with a paper on some
aspect of a presidential power grab (or one of those few occasions when a
president did some good) let us know. An abstract is all that's necessary
to be considered now.

The Ludwig von Mises Institute
Auburn, Alabama 36849-5301
334-844-2500; fax: 334-844-2583

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