Jonathan Nelson on Another Fascist Assault on Economic Freedom

Thomas Sowell, along with many others, has noted the inherently fascist nature of President Obama's economic policy. His administration and his helpers in Congress have been grabbing more and more control over larger and larger parts of our economy, all the while leaving nominal ownership of property in private hands.

Grove City College economics major Jonathan Nelson has just had a piece published that documents another attempt to force people to change the way they live according to the wishes of the President. His essay, "Uncle Sam's Assault on the Suburbs" Nelson explains the government's actions attempt to "force families into densely-populated housing, including a reliance on public transportation instead of individual automobiles" by HUD's implementation of the "Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH)" rule. Nelson notes that, not only will the rule have negative economic consequences, not surprisingly, such aggression flies in the face of the Constitution.

Not only does the proposed rule threaten the existence of some suburban neighborhoods, it abandons a core principle of our Constitution: federalism. If implemented, the AFFH rule would allow HUD, a federal agency, to override the zoning power of local governments. Without the ability for local and state governments to make their own sovereign decisions, the balancing power of federalism is lost.

Of course,we've been treating the Constitution with fascist-like tendencies for a long time now: Citizens have certain rights on paper, but in practice that state does whatever it wants.