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Elect good people to do good things "What good did the theories of the philosophers do us? Did they help us to take a single step forward or backward? ... Did they alter our forms of contentment? We are. We argue, we dispute, we get excited. The rest is sauce. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes mixed with a limitless boredom, a swamp dotted with tufts of dying shrubs." - - Tristan Tzara, The Dada Manifesto

The Daily Reckoning is written by Bill Bonner the publisher of a group of investment services, called Agora Financial Publishing. Agora has offices in Paris, London and Baltimore, so Bill had a choice of where he wanted to live. While he shuttles back and forth between these offices he chooses to live in a château in France which he and is wife Elizabeth renovated.  Visit the Daily Reckoning on-line to  read some of the most astute and contrarian investment information available.  Bill Bonner is also the publisher of International Living, the largest and best known expat magazine in the world.  http://www.dailyreckoning.com -

The reasonable thing to do would have been to negotiate, to talk, to bargain...to seek a concession here and there. The changes the colonists wanted were marginal ones. They did not seek a whole New World Order. They didn't want a real revolution - no new calendar, no Thermidor or Brumaire; the churches would not be burned; no palaces would be looted and no monarchs killed. They merely wanted to be able to do business as they saw fit, without the interference of a meddlesome government. They probably could have gotten most of what they wanted by being patient and reasonable. But their blood was up. And so they did something extreme. They announced their independence from Britain, putting their lives and fortunes at risk, and gave every American some names and dates that almost none could remember.

The consequences were disastrous for many of these men. An e-mail message I received yesterday tells the story:

"The men who sowed the path to freedom 224 years ago were a remarkable group of men. We know them as the signers of the Declaration of Independence. But to the British they were marked men and traitors to the Crown.

Here's what happened to the signers of one of the greatest documents in history.

Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned. 

Two of their sons were killed serving in the Revolutionary Army. Another had two sons captured. 

Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships during the Revolutionary War. 

These men put their lives and everything they owned on the line. 

All knew that they would be jailed, tortured or killed if captured. 

Carter Braxton of Virginia, a wealthy planter and trader, saw his ships swept from the seas by the British navy. He sold his home and properties to pay his debts and died broke. 

Thomas McKean was so hounded by the British that he was forced to move his family constantly. He served in Congress without pay and died poor. 

Vandals or soldiers looted the properties of Diller, Hall, Clymer, Walton, Gwinnett, Heyward, Ruttledge and Middleton. 

At the battle of Yorktown, Thomas Nelson, Jr. learned that the British General, Cornwallis, had taken over his (Nelson's) home for his headquarters. Nelson urged Washington to open fire on his home, destroying his home and property. Nelson died bankrupt. 

Francis Lewis had his home and property destroyed. The British jailed his wife, and she died a few months later. 

John Hart was driven from his home, and he and his 13 children fled for their lives. For over a year, Hart lived in the forest or in caves. Later Hart returned to what was left of his home: he died from exhaustion and a broken heart.

Norris and Livingston suffered from similar fates." 

These men pledged "for the support of this declaration, with the firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor."

Today, we remember these men and the sacrifices they made. But for what? What difference did it really make? For all their suffering have our contentments been altered in any way? Did anyone's life expectancy increase as a result? Did anyone's income go up? Are we really so much better off than the citizens of Britain? Or Australia? Or New Zealand or Canada? 

The founding fathers didn't know it at the time, but government was just at the threshold of a huge multi- century bull market that would take it from something that had little impact on peoples' lives, to something that controlled nearly ever detail - from the price of rice to the amount of water in your toilet. The sacred honor of today's politicians seems concentrated on whether it takes two clicks for you to reach an Internet connection or just one. And it didn't seem to matter whether you were independent or not. In the time since the Declaration of Independence almost all the world's nations have suffered the same fate. 

In America today, nothing is too trivial or too private to escape the notice of the heirs of Misters Adams and Madison. Every aspect of your financial life, for example, is open to inspection. Every molecule you swallow is subject to government approval. Every root cellar and pigsty you build must have the permission of a swarm of agents. Instead of working less than 3% of the time to pay taxes, as did the American Colonists, we now work about 50% of our time to support federal, state, and local parasites. What's worse, we have to suffer through quadrennial political campaigns (which are stupider than game shows and much less honest) to determine who gets to rob us. 

And there is no escape. Imagine getting together a group of hotheads such as those who met in Philadephia in that summer 224 years ago. The Truths that were self-evident two centuries ago - are now threats to the republic. People who believe in the rights that were inalienable in the time of Jefferson - such as the right to liberty and the right to bear arms to maintain it - are seen as dangerous cultists. Try to assert your right to 'dissolve the bonds' that tie you to Janet Reno and the Clinton Administration and she will have you shot in the back.

Better yet, forget the whole thing. Grill some hot dogs...drink some beer...watch the rockets' red glare and the bombs bursting in air and be thankful you don't live in Zimbabwe.

Your very thankful eyes and ears here in France...

Bill Bonner

P.S. A nice thing about living in a foreign country is that it changes your perspective. When I lived in America, I viewed most of the news as a tragedy - a miscarriage of justice here...skullduggery there...numbskullery almost everywhere. But here in France, I read the papers and see things in a different light. It is all a comedy. I expect to be entertained and amused by the silly things people do - and I am rarely disappointed.

What So Proudly We Hailed - Part II - C L I C K   H E R E -