This article was published by The McAlvany Intelligence Advisor on Wednesday, November 4, 2015:
Looking east across 42nd Street at Ford Foundation headquarters on a sunny afternoon.
Norman Dodd, being interviewed by Ed Griffin in 1982, told of an interview he had with Rowan Gaither, head of the Ford Foundation in which Gaither exposed most clearly the foundation's purposes. Dodd, at the time, was director of research for the Reese Committee, which was investigating American foundations' undue and unknown influence.
Norman Dodd:
Rowan Gaither was, at the time [1953], president of the Ford Foundation. Mr. Gaither had sent for me when I found it convenient to be in New York and asked me to call upon him at his office, which I did.
Mr. Gaither said: “Mr. Dodd, we've asked you to come up here today because we thought that possibly, off the record, you would tell us why the Congress is interested in the activities of foundations such as ourselves.”
Before I could think of how I would reply, Mr. Gaither then went on voluntarily and said:
Mr. Dodd, all of us who have had a hand in the making of policies here have had experience either with the OSS during the war or the European Economic Administration after the war. We've had experience operating under directives, and these directives emanate and did emanate from the White House.
Now, we still operate under just such directives. Would you like to know what the substance of these directives is?
I said, “Mr. Gaither, I'd very much like to know” whereupon he made this statement to me:
Mr. Dodd, we are here to operate in response to similar directives, the substance of which is that we shall use our grant-making power so as to alter life in the United States so that it can be comfortably merged with the Soviet Union….
[Our task is to] covertly lower the standard of living, the whole social structure, of America so that it can be merged with all other nations.
Think tanks from Cato to Heritage to Fraser to Mackinac have been assiduously tracking, following, and reporting on the success of those directives for years. The latest one, Economic Freedom of the World, by Cato, ranks the United States in 16th position among all nations, down from 2nd place as recently as 2000. Last year the U.S. was ranked 12th.
The study measures freedom in five broad areas: the size of government, the security an individual has in his property rights, how sound his currency is, what degree of freedom he has to trade and travel internationally, and how much the government regulates his private and business transactions. Having done this for years, the authors of the Cato study note that “Virtually without exception, these studies have found that countries with institutions and policies more consistent with economic freedom have higher investment rates, more rapid economic growth, higher income levels, and a more rapid reduction in poverty rates.”
In what is now commonly accepted as the most remarkable document about human freedom ever struck off by the mind of man, the declaration of independence says:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness….
The Cato scholars echoed this wisdom in its report:
We find that living in a country with high overall economic freedom is a relevant determinant of feeling in control of one's own life…. Economic freedom … influences individual happiness by giving people the feeling of being more in control of their lives and having the freedom to choose between different options in the market.
The Heritage Foundation has been tracking America's economic decline as well, recently issuing its 2015 Index of Economic Freedom and noting that the country now ranks 12th in the world, down from second, and that the pace of decline is accelerating thanks to “the broad-based deterioration in key policy areas, particularly those related to upholding the rule of law and limited government.”
Jefferson, the genius largely responsible for that remarkable document, also saw the future, writing to Edward Carrington in 1788: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield, and government to gain ground.” What Jefferson didn't know, or at least didn't predict, was that America's decline would be so precipitous that even scholars at think tanks are taking notice. That “natural progress” from liberty to tyranny has long been aided and abetted by the foundations and others of immense wealth and influence for decades, and the results are now obvious for everyone to see.
Sources:
Cato's Economic Freedom of the World 2015
United States Drops In Overall Freedom Ranking
Mackinac: Economic Freedom of the World Index: America's Worrisome Decline
The New American: Tracking Freedom's Decline in America
Washington Examiner: U.S. economic freedom on the decline
Cato: New Human Freedom Index, U.S. Ranks 20th
Jefferson quote on freedom yielding to government
Sign up to to receive Bob's explosive articles in your inbox every week, and as a thank you we'll send a copy of his most popular eBook - completely free of charge!
How can you help stop the Democrat's latest gun grab? How is the federal reserve deceiving America today? What is the latest obama administration scandal coverup? Sign up for the Light from the Right email newsletter and help stop the progressives' takeover of America!
Latest Comments