One of the egregious examples of the disastrous Nixon presidency was his “revenue sharing” scheme. Richard Nixon made federal tax revenue available to states and local governments, as the dollar was separated from gold and the feds could print as much money as they “needed.” That development crushed local government. And now, as President Donald Trump pointed out repeatedly in his congressional address this week, even the government has no idea where all that money is going.
Local cities, counties and special agencies were eager to grab federal money, but restrained in doing so by the public. Conservatives pointed out if you take the federal money, you will lose control.
A political slogan was needed to frustrate common sense, and it came as locals parroting the idea they were “willing to accept revenue sharing so long as there were no strings attached.” They were saying the federal government should not attempt to supervise how its money is spent. It was like the parent giving the teenage son a credit card with no limit and no supervision.
The bureaucratic response was predictable. Agencies popped up like mushrooms to funnel federal tax dollars to local government and later to NGOs mouthing the goals of the bureaucracy or the dominate political party.
Thus, Nixon’s revenue sharing is one of the primary reasons we have a $36 trillion debt and DOGE is finding billions of dollars tucked away or spent on advancing the political ideas of the federal bureaucracy. The federal bureaucracy is self-funding today, and it has gone international.
Thanks to the press, Nixon’s legacy is focused on Watergate, yet Watergate is insignificant when compared to the devastation of the president’s revenue-sharing scheme. That disbursal of federal money throughout the land revolutionized government in America. Someone born in 1969, the year Nixon took office, grew up with the idea the federal government should fund whatever the people want or whatever some bureaucrat declares they need. As Donald Trump tries to gain managerial control of the financial chaos, Democrat governors and Democrat judges seek to block fiscal sanity. If successful, the Democrats will have repealed the 2024 election.
This really is not a contest between Trump and the Democratic Party. It is a contest of freedom vs. an omnipotent bureaucracy, and if the judiciary is allowed to take a side, the constitutional construct will be gone.
Even 50 years ago, the idea of “equity” measured by government had invaded the public’s consciousness. America abandoned the idea of individual achievement, individual success and individual reward. Before revenue sharing, education was a local issue. Welfare was the responsibility of the local county, and it was available for just a few weeks, if one met residency requirements.
Remarkably, the devotees of equity and the singularity of thought required to believe it, are losing their grip on the population despite the fact most Americans have spent a lifetime immersed in these socialistic ideas. Some truly revolutionary thoughts about work and reward, morality and Christianity, are emerging from men and women who labor on their own behalf and are devalued by the socialist equity theory of cosmic order.
The 20th-century socialists, devotees of the Lord of the Manor system of governance, do battle today against those in the farms and fields, shops and offices. The battle continues today over personal freedom vs. government oppression.
No more. Donald Trump promised change, and Tuesday night he gave it a detailed outline.
From those modern trenches come the voices of workers rejecting DEI and transgender nonsense, people who are too busy to fret over racial slights or sexual insults or someone’s imaginary pronouns. Face painting and sign painting and public hysteria cannot be allowed to rule America.
The people have a new champion in Donald Trump. The bureaucracy has tried twice and failed to destroy him. Donald Trump’s potential to free America and bring jobs back was first recognized by American labor. When the word “tariff” was uttered mighty, international corporations mumbled, “We do not have to build that auto manufacturing plant in Mexico. We can build it in America.” It’s magic.
But not only does President Trump have to deal with the consequences of Nixon’s “revenue sharing” he has to deal with President Nixon’s favorite foreign policy achievement, opening up China. The United States lost millions of jobs to nations with slave labor wages. It also lost entire industries.
So Tuesday evening, while the president cheered for America, the Democratic Party leadership sulked in silence. It was a weak but welcome silence.
