The Public Good: As It Appears to Ceasar

0:00There is much confusion in the minds of men on the nature of freedom. Many rulers have lived who felt that freedom was a divine prerogative reserved exclusively for kings, who in turn were called upon to provide a sort of security for their people. And many people confuse security with freedom. These kings, caesars, and presidents have sought to provide, through the means of taxation and due process of law, a standard of living for their lowest subjects which was higher than that to which they were entitled by virtue of their own efforts. To accomplish this, they judged that certain of their subjects had too high a standard, and so by use of force they lowered it accordingly.

0:52These kings, Caesars and presidents, have always been above and apart from such judgments. Nothing is ever too good for them. They are in a class by themselves. Their own salaries and benefits rise, for they view themselves as being part of the public good. The axiom seems to be that as Caesar dines well, the empire is fed. Turning the pages of history, we come to that period in the story of mankind when Romans were ruled by a man named Octavius. He is known to most of us as Augustus Caesar. Historians acclaim him as a great benefactor of his country.

1:38He was a man whose nature was kind and whose every waking hour was devoted to thoughts of welfare for his people. Through a bloody military coup, he seized control of the Roman government in 30 BC and then liquidated all his rivals. Prior to 30 BC, the Roman government had been republican in form. It had consisted of a Senate composed of the patrician nobility and an assembly elected by the people. But young Octavius, when he seized authority, thought that the bickering and discussion in the Senate and the assembly were rather tiresome and inefficient. He wanted to convert them into a tool which would reflect his own desires and reflect it rapidly.

2:27Further, Octavius realized that opposition could be dangerous. A group of senators had dispatched his forerunner, Julius, when Julius became too forcefully inclined to executive leadership. So, Augustus instituted a program of reform. It was a beautifully designed civic reorganization. It appeared to benefit, indeed, he professed that it was intended to benefit the entire Roman populace. It established a trend which brought about the ultimate fall of Rome. Augustus was concerned with solidifying political power behind him. To do so, he provided a system of benefits for various groups and categories of individuals.

3:12He established pensions for soldiers, pensions for the aged, and subsidies for young men who wished to study. He gave a grant of land and money to slaves who were suddenly freed. Parents of large families were paid a bonus for each additional child. This practice has frequently been adopted in many nations when large armies seem desirable. In addition, he launched any number of public works programs under the assumption that he He could provide parks and playgrounds, monuments and schools, baths and aqueducts, all of which were for the public good, no matter how the individual members of the public suffered in paying for the burden. Leading politicians invariably have difficulty in realizing that the only public good that is worth discussing is the good that attends an individual when he is left alone to purchase Augustus what he wants for himself as a result of his own efforts.

4:12Of course these pensions, subsidies, and benefits cost money. Augustus didn't have any. No government ever has. And since money is in direct relationship to the wealth produced by the people, the money, too, must come from the people. So Augustus, after the manner of all governments, levied taxes upon his subjects. Then before paying out these so-called benefits to his people, he was able first to extract the necessary money to run his government, a sort of a brokerage fee or commission, the size of which was determined by his needs of the moment. And since Augustus was an extremely efficient ruler, he became an extremely efficient tax collector. The extent of Augustus Caesar's ambition can be noted in the Bible where the statement and appears, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. You'll agree that this calls for an extensive taxing program. It is said that on his deathbed Augustus boasted, I found Rome a city of brick, I leave it a city of

5:20marble. And where did those marbles come from? They came from the toil and sweat of multitudes who were taxed and regulated so that Rome could look good politically, even though the people suffered. Besides wanting to be a great benefactor to his people, and besides desiring to be remembered as a great lawgiver of unquestioned impartiality, Augustus also dreamed of peace, and informed the Roman senators that he would establish a complete world federation, himself at the head, Augustus classified himself as a middle-of-the-roader. He catered to the upper classes by furnishing funds to certain of the elect so that they might purchase senatorial seats. And then to keep the masses content, he occasionally doled out large quantities of free corn and invited them to public games and spectacles in the Circus Maximus.

6:22He passed laws to limit competition, so that price wars were unheard of, and thereby he protected the businessmen. But then he turned about and stimulated the trade union movement, giving political sinecures to various labor bosses who found favor in his eyes. And, as was said before, all of these things cost money. So Octavius Caesar counted all the people in all the Federated Empire which he ruled and set up a system of tax collections. There was an ad valorem tax on all real estate and on all personal property. There was even a 5% tax on any slave who was freed. There was a direct sales tax added to the purchase of items bought in Rome, and there was a tax on death.

7:11So that the deceased, by means of his relatives, of course, was able to pay one last tribute to the great Roman government. At first, this complicated system of benefits and exactions seemed to work out fairly well. But, of course, flaws appeared. In order to remove the flaws, more government experts were hired, whose business it was, to help correct mistakes which might creep into this burgeoning bureaucracy. These extra government workers, too, had to to be paid, so of course the tax burden got heavier while they were figuring out how to make it lighter. And gradually with the passage of years, the sources of capital, of productive wealth upon which all taxation depends, dried up and disappeared.

7:58Though Augustus didn't live to see it, his successors found themselves attempting to provide benefits with the one hand, while they stole rapaciously with the other. They tried to maintain a world-federated peace by vast Roman armies, whose bloody exploits against savage tribes and whose ultimate repeated rebellions against the Roman state bled the nation white. With warfare on the increase in the name of peace, and with taxes on the increase in the name of benefits, a moral degeneracy swept over the Roman world. The stern and stoic character of the ancient Roman, which had preserved his self-discipline while he carved an empire, thawed and melted into the cauldron of sensual pleasure which Rome became. Crimes of violence increased. Juvenile delinquency took an upward surge.

8:53And with this background of mounting public debt, increased inflation, the confiscation of Property for Failure to Pay Taxes, and Interminable War, down came the Roman Empire. And when it fell, the only thing remaining were the marble monuments, the Colosseum, the public buildings, the politically inspired pomp and show. These became the tombstones, marking the grave of a buried civilization. Progress virtually ceased, and humanity descended Augustus Caesar, still considered by many historians as a great and kindly benefactor, who thought only of the welfare of his people, tried to establish a system where he could legislate both poverty and war out of existence.

9:47He set up a far-reaching system so that all could share the wealth. But he laid the foundation for one of the great catastrophes which have overtaken the human race. He did not know that a planned economy, however carefully planned, will always fail because a planned economy removes man's individual incentive and his personal liberty. And you cannot repeal human nature. The history of Roman civilization from approximately 44 B.C. to 300 A.D. is a fitting prologue to the history of the Republic of the United States. Rarely have two civilizations evidenced so many parallels. Americans would be well advised to study carefully the decline and fall of the Roman Empire and the causes of its ultimate dissolution, for certainly here Here is an object lesson for all of us at this crucial point in world history.