Central government in the U.S. expanded in three ways throughout the twentieth century. One was wartime powers. Wartime powers are when the government takes drastic measures to protect its country during war. This method of government expansion is constitutional only if the people the government rules agrees to the measures and if the measures are erased after wartime. For example, during World War II the central Government took over around ninety percent of all of the economy. The U.S. was nine tenths of a socialist state. The Office of Price Administration froze prices on most goods, and rationed others. The war Production board began recycling any material useful for the war effort. The government also extended income tax to the middle class by means of the revenue act of 1942. of all of these extensions of the central government, the extension of the income tax to the middle class was the only one that was unconstitutional. It was unconstitutional because it lasted after the war was over. There have been around a dozen extensions to the Revenue Act since WWII, which brings me to a major catalyst in government extension.

Precedent (dictionary.com)-any act, decision, or case that serves as a guide or justification for subsequent situations.

Precedent (me)- When the government gets away with an unconstitutional expansion of government, and uses the fact that it did to do it again over a similar issue.

The Revenue act of 1942 was used as a huge expansion of government power by means of precedent.

Another dangerous bit of precedent was set up during the cold war. The cold war was the first time the U.S. set itself up as an active world power: from then on, the U.S. would do whatever necessary to protect the interests of capitalism (half the time this means the economy of the U.S.). the U.S. did so by setting up the Truman doctrine, which created the precedent that the U.S. would help any country in need that shared it's ideological beliefs. The Berlin Airlift, Korean War, CIA, and Vietnam war all were a result of the U.S. protecting its interests internationally. The Korean War quadrupled our military spending, the CIA alerted the U.S. whenever a problem in need of fixing occurred overseas, The Berlin Airlift increased tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R, and The Vietnam War was the first war the U.S got involved in where U.S living conditions did not change drastically. Keep in mind that none of this would have been possible without the money gotten from the revenue acts following WWII.

Another ugly precedent of the cold war was the U.S. being in a conflict over ideologies. A fairly modern example of someone who fought from an ideological standpoint would be Hitler. A nuclear fight with the U.S.S.R over ideology would most likely have ended human civilization as we know it. The U.S. would also make morally and economically impractical choices, such as choosing to back up the corrupt capitalist system in China with cash. The U.S also went to war in Vietnam for a weak and corrupt capitalist system. The U.S going to war over ideologies took a toll on personal freedoms as well. Senator McCarthy would hunt down any American who he presumed to support communism. The government took extra steps to have the power to persecute communists, which is in violation to our first amendment rights. The accusations continued until McCarthy accused the military of communism. it was argued that McCarthy made these false accusations as a matter of national security, but McCarthy's accusations were unjust because they were preemptive by nature. If a communist blows up a building, he ought be dispatched. If a communist lives in our country peacefully and tries to change our country democratically, he ought be left alone.

The last way our government grew over the twentieth century was by government seizing control by taking care of what U.S. citizens normally would. The key architect of this governmental growth was Lyndon Johnson, and it is by far the most malignant and cancerous way the government can grow. Basically, Lyndon Johnson pushed for bills in education, tax reduction, civil rights, consumer advocacy, and anti poverty- all while fighting a war. He did this by going into huge national debt, setting an ugly example. this was damaging for several reasons. first, it hurt our citizens sense of independence and vigilante justice. It is not the governments job to baby its citizens. Its the governments job to fix what it's people can't. Racism wasn't going away, so Johnson was right in signing civil rights into law. However, the U.S. people can handle poverty by means of charity. Once citizens of the U.S lose their sense of independence, it's only a matter of time before everything else goes to. So if the U.S becomes an empire, blame Johnson for setting up this destructive precedent. Another disgusting thing about Johnson was the way he fought the Vietnam war. He was the first president to try and hide the fact that we are at war by improving living conditions during war time. This precedent has been followed ever since. Isn't it sad that our soldiers fight and die daily in Iraq, and we don't even sacrifice our living conditions?!? Meanwhile, our country is building up national debt by paying for a war AND living conditions. Once those debts get called in, we have to fight another war. The government calls in all male citizens to go to war, and a single powerful leader takes over. Our freedom's are gone, and we're Rome. It's all Johnson's fault.