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"The Power to Fund is the Power to Destroy." [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-02-19
This title is a misquote—right? We all know the quote as “the power to tax is the power to destroy.” It’s a quote from Chief Justice John Marshall in an 1819 decision. This philosophy is the basis for, among other things, exempting churches from taxation; if a government could tax a church it could destroy it, thus violating freedom of religion.
Now: think about what’s happening now. We’re experiencing the wholesale destruction of our Federal Government. Taxation has nothing to do with it. No one is taxing the assorted organizations that Trusk is busy destroying. They are not being taxed to death---but you could say some of them are being funded to death.
Yes, of course most of them are in some way part of the Executive Branch---but not all of them. However, they are all funded by it, in whole or in part, and therefore the funding can be withdrawn. Even more, the funding can be threatened to be withdrawn, to force compliance with some order.
Libraries, schools, museums, performing arts centers: they all get Federal funds. At one time that was not the case. Then governmental largesse began to flow, and wasn’t it wonderful? They could all do so much more than they used to do without it!
I think we’re now learning something: take the king’s money and you dance to the king’s tune. When he’s a benevolent king, he stands back and doesn’t try to call the tune, and no one notices. Then one day there’s a king who isn’t so benevolent, who is in fact malevolent…..
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[1] Url:
https://dailykos.com/stories/2025/2/19/2105891/-The-Power-to-Fund-is-the-Power-to-Destroy?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
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