There is a lot of squawking these days about the “nationalization of the banking system” and the “nationalization of the auto industry” and the “nationalization of the health care system.” I do not know quite how to break it to you: that ship has sailed. It left the dock a long, long time ago and it will not likely return in my lifetime.

There is a lot of squawking these days about the “nationalization of the banking system” and the “nationalization of the auto industry” and the “nationalization of the health care system.” I do not know quite how to break it to you: that ship has sailed. It left the dock a long, long time ago and it will not likely return in my lifetime.

To begin with, the banking system is guided by the Federal Reserve. Supposedly a central bank backed by the good faith of the USA but independent and free from the day-to-day wants of partisan politics. I will leave the argument over how “free” the Fed is to other bloggers but will say I support a federal system for printing money. My objection is the jackasses in Washington D.C. spending it and ordering more printed. That is another Internet full of blogs. Let’s just agree … with the tons of regulations and the Fed at the top of the system, it is fair to say our banking system is, and has been for a very long time, largely “nationalized.”

As for the auto industry, it is so highly regulated in this country that you can scarcely call it independent. Between the federal government and labor unions, I would say investors (like back when people owned securities that financed the automakers) and automobile buyers have less influence. The auto industry is significantly “nationalized” and has been since Ralph Nader wrote “Unsafe at Any Speed.” Not saying it is all bad … just recognizing the actual world of auto manufacturing.

As for health care, is that not already at least half nationalized with Medicare, the VA and Medicaid? Not trying to quote exact statistics here, but “half” is around the size of medical care that is directly paid for by way of the federal system. That’s pretty nationalized in my view.

This does not take into account the FDA and the tons of regulations promulgated by and enforced by the federal government.

And what about our educational system? People make a little noise about it, but not so much in many years. The educational system has been nationalized as long as this 58 year-old has been on the planet. Local government school boards must tow the line and stay within federal guidelines or risk losing the funding they think is needed to operate. The whole student loan program for higher education would not exist without the good grace and $$$ of the federal government. The reality is, our educational system is largely nationalized.

I am not making a value judgment (yet), but just the observation: We are all up in arms when it was the collective “we” who have sat back and let our federal government assume more and more power and authority over our very existence. How can we possibly complain? Because we are Americans, dammit!

So after years and years of the power moving from individuals to the government, are we going to stand up and do something about it? Could this be the one? Or will this just be another example of the government becoming yet stronger and more in control?

When you look at the results of large institutions (sorry big business, I include many of you here), why in the hell would you purposely give them more to do? Some government institutions (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines) and some business institutions (UPS, FedEx) manage to consistently deliver a good product over broad periods of time. But the typical result from big government is found at the Post Office or the IRS. And tell me how you rate the sterling performance of such fine mega-institutions such as Arthur Andersen, AIG, or Enron?

Speaking of big business and big government … I have always thought it curious that the federal government outlaws monopolies because they are bad for business, but would not think of breaking up any of their own monopolies. But maybe there is an idea: De-centralize the federal system at every opportunity and let the states get back to running things. As much as possible, let the cities and counties run things. As much as practical, leave individuals alone and let us run our own lives. Big government is uncaring of its constituents and inefficient. It is not practical to have so much power concentrated in such a small group of individuals (president, vice president, Congress and the Supreme Court … that is around 500 people running the whole thing). There are darn near 300 million of us; there is no excuse for us allowing these few to lord it over so many of us.

I do not predict the American people will rise up and order sweeping change. But those in power positions should be aware that there is precedent for such things in this country. After all, the very federal government about which I write began with kicking out the king.