Lies the government told you by Andrew Napolitano (best e reader for epub TXT) 📗

chemotherapy have been associated with health problems that show up later in life, like infertility or cardiovascular damage.27 The government has no authority from any source to force an adult to take any medicine, no matter the personal health risk. Through policies like this, the Natural Law is once again violated and we lose control over our physical selves.

As long as individuals know the relevant information regarding cancer treatment, it should be up to the sick person or his next of kin to decide whether he subjects himself to it. Technology is always changing—what is medically accepted one day may later be regarded as a bad treatment option. But one aspect of this never changes: the Natural Law. The Natural Law gives us control over our own bodies and keeps the government away. Given the fact that nothing is really conclusive in medical care, shouldn’t we be able to weigh the options regarding health care for ourselves?

Why would the government even care about the choices we make regarding personal health? Radley Balko, a senior editor at Reason magazine, explains:

[P]olicies governing how and when we give sick people access to the medication that could mitigate their pain, ameliorate the side effects of their treatment, or even save their lives, aren’t based on compassion, individual rights, or even an honest assessment of science and risk. Instead, we have a patchwork of laws and enforcement policies driven by decades-old drug war hysteria, pharmaceutical paranoia, irrational aversion to risk, bureaucratic turf wars, and of course, politics.28

And all the while, the government-knows-best crowd is still telling us we have control over our own bodies.

As adults, our bodies belong to us. They don’t belong to anyone else, let alone the government. The purpose of the federal government is to protect our constitutional and natural rights, not to restrict them. As children, our mothers and fathers know better than the government does how to raise us, and it is their job as parents to educate and groom us to make important decisions in life. Some of us will make conservative decisions, and others will make risky ones. Some of us will lead healthy lives, while others will pollute their bodies. Contrary to the government’s belief, however, we have the right to make poor decisions and go against “mainstream” ideas. We’re allowed to be individuals. We have the natural right to control our bodies. The government has no right to make decisions for us and thus infringe upon this sacred right.

Lie #8

“The Federal Reserve Shall Be

Controlled by Congress”

On the foggy evening of November 22nd 1910, a train pulled out of the Lackawanna Railroad Station in Hoboken, New Jersey, and began its winding path to Jekyll Island, Georgia.1 At the time, no one paid much attention to its departure, unaware that it carried some of the most powerful people in the United States on a course for the greatest fraud ever perpetrated on the American people. The train carried its passengers to a secret conference, where they would forge together the first draft of the Federal Reserve Act of 1913.2 Amazingly enough, the Act essentially called for Congress to hand over its constitutionally granted power to issue and regulate money to a group of private bankers. It sounds unbelievable, as usually the federal government will fight tooth and nail to expand, not shrink, its constitutional powers; but the federal government voluntarily and gladly gave away this express power.

The years 1910 to 1913 were the height of the Progressive Era in American history. Congress, which would soon spearhead radical changes in the manner of the election of senators and federal taxation of personal income, authorized a privately held corporation to decide the monetary policy of the United States without oversight or accountability. And it justified its actions by two great lies: (1) the Federal Reserve will be controlled by Congress; and (2) it will bring about economic stability and prosperity for the American people.

The federal government not only claimed, with a straight face, that it could exert control over a private corporation in which it was not even to be a stockholder but also claimed that such an uncontrolled private corporation would be working for the benefit of the American people rather than to enrich itself. It was to be the “lender of last resort” that would keep all Americans prosperous. As absurd as they sound, these myths continue to be believed and perpetuated even today.

From Gold to Toilet Paper

America’s Founding Fathers recognized that the federal government would need to issue currency and regulate money, yet they also recognized a need for this currency to be backed by gold or silver or a stable commodity. Otherwise, they knew the government could simply print as much paper as it wanted, without thought to the consequences. Prior to the ratification of the Constitution, the Founding Fathers witnessed for themselves the disaster that awaits any currency not backed by gold or silver.

From the time of the Revolution to the time of the Civil War, a common phrase expressing worthlessness was “not worth a Continental”; but how many of us realize its derivation from the monetary system envisioned by the Constitution? At the time of the Revolutionary War, when this country was fighting for its independence from England, the Continental Congress was in dire need of money, and because it was low on gold (or hard money), it issued fiat money called the Continental. Fiat money is currency that the government has declared to be legal tender, thereby making it legally acceptable as payment for all debts, whether a creditor wants it or not, and whether it has inherent value or not. Unlike other forms of currency, fiat money is not representative, and therefore cannot be exchanged for a predetermined amount of an actual commodity, like gold or silver. In essence then, fiat money is just a piece of paper, worth only the amount that the economy will bear, no matter how much the government attempts to scam