WEBVTT NOTE The Public Good: As It Appears to Ceasar 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.000 There is much confusion in the minds of men on the nature of freedom. 2 00:00:06.000 --> 00:00:14.000 Many rulers have lived who felt that freedom was a divine prerogative reserved exclusively for kings, 3 00:00:14.000 --> 00:00:20.000 who in turn were called upon to provide a sort of security for their people. 4 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.000 And many people confuse security with freedom. 5 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:42.000 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. 6 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:52.000 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. 7 00:00:52.000 --> 00:01:00.000 These kings, Caesars and presidents, have always been above and apart from such judgments. 8 00:01:00.000 --> 00:01:05.000 Nothing is ever too good for them. They are in a class by themselves. 9 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:12.000 Their own salaries and benefits rise, for they view themselves as being part of the public good. 10 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:20.000 The axiom seems to be that as Caesar dines well, the empire is fed. 11 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:29.000 Turning the pages of history, we come to that period in the story of mankind when Romans were ruled by a man named Octavius. 12 00:01:29.000 --> 00:01:38.000 He is known to most of us as Augustus Caesar. Historians acclaim him as a great benefactor of his country. 13 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:47.000 He was a man whose nature was kind and whose every waking hour was devoted to thoughts of welfare for his people. 14 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:56.000 Through a bloody military coup, he seized control of the Roman government in 30 BC and then liquidated all his rivals. 15 00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.000 Prior to 30 BC, the Roman government had been republican in form. 16 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:08.000 It had consisted of a Senate composed of the patrician nobility and an assembly elected by the people. 17 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:15.000 But young Octavius, when he seized authority, thought that the bickering and discussion in the Senate 18 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:19.400 and the assembly were rather tiresome and inefficient. 19 00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:27.100 He wanted to convert them into a tool which would reflect his own desires and reflect it rapidly. 20 00:02:27.100 --> 00:02:31.400 Further, Octavius realized that opposition could be dangerous. 21 00:02:31.400 --> 00:02:34.700 A group of senators had dispatched his forerunner, Julius, 22 00:02:34.700 --> 00:02:40.500 when Julius became too forcefully inclined to executive leadership. 23 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:44.800 So, Augustus instituted a program of reform. 24 00:02:44.800 --> 00:02:56.800 It was a beautifully designed civic reorganization. It appeared to benefit, indeed, he professed that it was intended to benefit the entire Roman populace. 25 00:02:56.800 --> 00:03:01.800 It established a trend which brought about the ultimate fall of Rome. 26 00:03:01.800 --> 00:03:12.800 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. 27 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:18.680 He established pensions for soldiers, pensions for the aged, and subsidies for young men 28 00:03:18.680 --> 00:03:20.360 who wished to study. 29 00:03:20.360 --> 00:03:25.160 He gave a grant of land and money to slaves who were suddenly freed. 30 00:03:25.160 --> 00:03:28.760 Parents of large families were paid a bonus for each additional child. 31 00:03:28.760 --> 00:03:35.620 This practice has frequently been adopted in many nations when large armies seem desirable. 32 00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:40.600 In addition, he launched any number of public works programs under the assumption that he 33 00:03:40.600 --> 00:03:48.040 He could provide parks and playgrounds, monuments and schools, baths and aqueducts, all of which 34 00:03:48.040 --> 00:03:54.320 were for the public good, no matter how the individual members of the public suffered 35 00:03:54.320 --> 00:03:57.520 in paying for the burden. 36 00:03:57.520 --> 00:04:02.440 Leading politicians invariably have difficulty in realizing that the only public good that 37 00:04:02.440 --> 00:04:08.300 is worth discussing is the good that attends an individual when he is left alone to purchase 38 00:04:08.300 --> 00:04:12.980 Augustus what he wants for himself as a result of his own efforts. 39 00:04:12.980 --> 00:04:17.820 Of course these pensions, subsidies, and benefits cost money. 40 00:04:17.820 --> 00:04:19.240 Augustus didn't have any. 41 00:04:19.240 --> 00:04:21.400 No government ever has. 42 00:04:21.400 --> 00:04:25.940 And since money is in direct relationship to the wealth produced by the people, the 43 00:04:25.940 --> 00:04:28.600 money, too, must come from the people. 44 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:34.620 So Augustus, after the manner of all governments, levied taxes upon his subjects. 45 00:04:34.620 --> 00:04:40.740 Then before paying out these so-called benefits to his people, he was able first to extract 46 00:04:40.740 --> 00:04:46.220 the necessary money to run his government, a sort of a brokerage fee or commission, the 47 00:04:46.220 --> 00:04:49.960 size of which was determined by his needs of the moment. 48 00:04:49.960 --> 00:04:56.140 And since Augustus was an extremely efficient ruler, he became an extremely efficient tax 49 00:04:56.140 --> 00:04:57.140 collector. 50 00:04:57.140 --> 00:05:01.580 The extent of Augustus Caesar's ambition can be noted in the Bible where the statement 51 00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:07.100 and appears, there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should 52 00:05:07.100 --> 00:05:13.460 be taxed. You'll agree that this calls for an extensive taxing program. It is said that 53 00:05:13.460 --> 00:05:20.460 on his deathbed Augustus boasted, I found Rome a city of brick, I leave it a city of 54 00:05:20.460 --> 00:05:27.740 marble. And where did those marbles come from? They came from the toil and sweat of multitudes 55 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:35.580 who were taxed and regulated so that Rome could look good politically, even though the people suffered. 56 00:05:36.540 --> 00:05:42.540 Besides wanting to be a great benefactor to his people, and besides desiring to be remembered as 57 00:05:42.540 --> 00:05:48.780 a great lawgiver of unquestioned impartiality, Augustus also dreamed of peace, and informed 58 00:05:48.780 --> 00:05:54.940 the Roman senators that he would establish a complete world federation, himself at the head, 59 00:05:54.940 --> 00:06:22.940 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. 60 00:06:22.940 --> 00:06:31.940 He passed laws to limit competition, so that price wars were unheard of, and thereby he protected the businessmen. 61 00:06:31.940 --> 00:06:40.940 But then he turned about and stimulated the trade union movement, giving political sinecures to various labor bosses who found favor in his eyes. 62 00:06:40.940 --> 00:06:45.940 And, as was said before, all of these things cost money. 63 00:06:45.940 --> 00:06:54.940 So Octavius Caesar counted all the people in all the Federated Empire which he ruled and set up a system of tax collections. 64 00:06:54.940 --> 00:07:00.940 There was an ad valorem tax on all real estate and on all personal property. 65 00:07:00.940 --> 00:07:04.940 There was even a 5% tax on any slave who was freed. 66 00:07:04.940 --> 00:07:11.940 There was a direct sales tax added to the purchase of items bought in Rome, and there was a tax on death. 67 00:07:11.940 --> 00:07:17.740 So that the deceased, by means of his relatives, of course, was able to pay one last tribute 68 00:07:17.740 --> 00:07:23.860 to the great Roman government. At first, this complicated system of benefits and exactions 69 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:31.200 seemed to work out fairly well. But, of course, flaws appeared. In order to remove the flaws, 70 00:07:31.200 --> 00:07:35.520 more government experts were hired, whose business it was, to help correct mistakes 71 00:07:35.520 --> 00:07:41.460 which might creep into this burgeoning bureaucracy. These extra government workers, too, had to 72 00:07:41.460 --> 00:07:47.140 to be paid, so of course the tax burden got heavier while they were figuring out how to 73 00:07:47.140 --> 00:07:48.860 make it lighter. 74 00:07:48.860 --> 00:07:53.940 And gradually with the passage of years, the sources of capital, of productive wealth upon 75 00:07:53.940 --> 00:07:58.500 which all taxation depends, dried up and disappeared. 76 00:07:58.500 --> 00:08:03.160 Though Augustus didn't live to see it, his successors found themselves attempting to 77 00:08:03.160 --> 00:08:09.060 provide benefits with the one hand, while they stole rapaciously with the other. 78 00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:15.320 They tried to maintain a world-federated peace by vast Roman armies, whose bloody exploits 79 00:08:15.320 --> 00:08:21.180 against savage tribes and whose ultimate repeated rebellions against the Roman state bled the 80 00:08:21.180 --> 00:08:23.220 nation white. 81 00:08:23.220 --> 00:08:28.900 With warfare on the increase in the name of peace, and with taxes on the increase in the 82 00:08:28.900 --> 00:08:34.460 name of benefits, a moral degeneracy swept over the Roman world. 83 00:08:34.460 --> 00:08:39.780 The stern and stoic character of the ancient Roman, which had preserved his self-discipline 84 00:08:39.780 --> 00:08:46.180 while he carved an empire, thawed and melted into the cauldron of sensual pleasure which 85 00:08:46.180 --> 00:08:53.860 Rome became. Crimes of violence increased. Juvenile delinquency took an upward surge. 86 00:08:53.860 --> 00:08:58.900 And with this background of mounting public debt, increased inflation, the confiscation 87 00:08:58.900 --> 00:09:06.860 of Property for Failure to Pay Taxes, and Interminable War, down came the Roman Empire. 88 00:09:06.860 --> 00:09:11.460 And when it fell, the only thing remaining were the marble monuments, the Colosseum, 89 00:09:11.460 --> 00:09:19.180 the public buildings, the politically inspired pomp and show. These became the tombstones, 90 00:09:19.180 --> 00:09:26.340 marking the grave of a buried civilization. Progress virtually ceased, and humanity descended 91 00:09:26.340 --> 00:09:36.720 Augustus Caesar, still considered by many historians as a great and kindly benefactor, 92 00:09:36.720 --> 00:09:42.300 who thought only of the welfare of his people, tried to establish a system where he could 93 00:09:42.300 --> 00:09:47.500 legislate both poverty and war out of existence. 94 00:09:47.500 --> 00:09:52.020 He set up a far-reaching system so that all could share the wealth. 95 00:09:52.020 --> 00:09:57.860 But he laid the foundation for one of the great catastrophes which have overtaken the 96 00:09:57.860 --> 00:10:05.020 human race. He did not know that a planned economy, however carefully planned, will always 97 00:10:05.020 --> 00:10:13.380 fail because a planned economy removes man's individual incentive and his personal liberty. 98 00:10:13.380 --> 00:10:17.580 And you cannot repeal human nature. 99 00:10:17.580 --> 00:10:26.680 The history of Roman civilization from approximately 44 B.C. to 300 A.D. is a fitting prologue 100 00:10:26.680 --> 00:10:33.120 to the history of the Republic of the United States. Rarely have two civilizations evidenced 101 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:39.260 so many parallels. Americans would be well advised to study carefully the decline and 102 00:10:39.260 --> 00:10:45.720 fall of the Roman Empire and the causes of its ultimate dissolution, for certainly here 103 00:10:45.720 --> 00:10:51.240 Here is an object lesson for all of us at this crucial point in world history.