. . . as post-Revolutionary War America descends into a state of chaotic anarchy beyond the wildest fantasies of even a Libertarian such as Rand Paul. Why not "privatize" money? Obviously, doing legal tender state-by-state or city-by-city makes the whole ball of wax respecting commerce and business dependent upon the weakest link among government flunkies, as illustrated at the beginning of this 21-minute short. But if Thomas Jefferson were not so busy in his dalliance with Sally Hemmings, surely he could have invented something such as Bitcoins. The final 75% of this piece is devoted to a herd of elderly white male codgers chewing the fat about how to create the maximum number possible of new divisions and subdivisions of government. No one can see the baby for the bathwater; the Second Amendment never crosses anyone's mind. This was the best chance ever to create a job description for American Emporer; George Washington looks the part here, and he could have played it in real life, too. Napoleon never had endangered species monitors, national parks, or clean water encoders. One can just imagine the TRILLIONS of dollars that could be earned today in the private sector if EVERY swallow of water were bottled (or, better yet, breath of fresh air); if entrepreneurs could charge $100 daily entrance fees for Yosemite, Mammoth Caves, and the Everglades (like they do at Disneyland); and if Mike the Meat Man could be auctioning off the LAST buffalo steak or bald eagle omelet on Ebay. The chance to nip government waste and creeping socialism in the bud is shown on the screen right here in SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE, and these geezers blew it!
2 Reviews
Propaganda for a centralized government, and not necessarily good history, but interesting perspective
morrisonhimself3 August 2022
Some excellent but unknown actors gave us an interesting but distorted -- on purpose -- history of the creation of the Constitution.
In both the Declaration and the Treaty of Paris, that ended the War for Independence, the 13 seceding colonies were termed "sovereign" and "independent."
Unfortunately, politicians -- yes, even back then -- created so many problems for the confederated states, including trying to place tariffs on products from other states, debts, taxes, trade itself, were made onerous and difficult.
The War had created obscene debts, even though the military forces stole everything they could from the people they were supposedly trying to serve (stole, mind you, at the orders of their officers, including Gen'l. George Washington). How to levy taxes for the national debt was one problem. They said.
Anyway, this short film propagandizes for repealing the Articles of Confederation and establishing the Constitution.
As history, an awful lot is missing, including Benjamin Franklin, but it can be used as an introduction and maybe an invitation for people to try to find out more.
That Constitution, flawed as it was, is still better than any similar such document in the world. Too bad that the federal government generally ignores it today.
It's probably difficult to find a copy of this film, but it was shown on Tuesday night, 2 August 2022, on TCM.
In both the Declaration and the Treaty of Paris, that ended the War for Independence, the 13 seceding colonies were termed "sovereign" and "independent."
Unfortunately, politicians -- yes, even back then -- created so many problems for the confederated states, including trying to place tariffs on products from other states, debts, taxes, trade itself, were made onerous and difficult.
The War had created obscene debts, even though the military forces stole everything they could from the people they were supposedly trying to serve (stole, mind you, at the orders of their officers, including Gen'l. George Washington). How to levy taxes for the national debt was one problem. They said.
Anyway, this short film propagandizes for repealing the Articles of Confederation and establishing the Constitution.
As history, an awful lot is missing, including Benjamin Franklin, but it can be used as an introduction and maybe an invitation for people to try to find out more.
That Constitution, flawed as it was, is still better than any similar such document in the world. Too bad that the federal government generally ignores it today.
It's probably difficult to find a copy of this film, but it was shown on Tuesday night, 2 August 2022, on TCM.
See also
Awards | FAQ | User Ratings | External Reviews | Metacritic Reviews
