The role of ideology in the growth of government is required as intellectual cover for what is done regardless of the government form (e.g. monarchy or socialism). For example, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. played such an intellectual role. People want to promote what they believe their interests are. Collective action has added to the growth of government. The benefits of participating in collective action are not always clear. What is ideology? Ideology is a more or less comprehensive belief system about social relations. It is not religion, nor political philosophy, nor just social theory. Ideology has at least four dimensions: Cognitive, Affective, Programmatic, and Solidarity. Ideological opponents in the last two hundred years have come from the Federalists political party favoring more centralization versus Jeffersonians and a later Republican party favoring decentralization, and laissez-faire economics. These interest groups have continued. Today, it is progressivism that spawns government central planning – statism. Both major parties are statist parties now engaged in plundering citizens. Bibliography (PDF): Mises.org/CLBib Lecture 2 of 10 from Robert Higgs' Crisis and Liberty: The Expansion of Government Power in American History. Recorded at the Mises Institute on June 23, 2003. ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K53J3WFHhEk

By taking Fort Henry, Ulysses S. Grant and Andrew Hull Foote gained access to the Tennessee River. This waterway gave them access to the Confederate heartland, and by taking the Fort, they were able to probe deep into Alabama. This earned the Union a bounty of new supplies, and also struck a tremendous psychological blow against the Confederates in the Deep South who believed that they were, up to that point, secure from Yankee invasion. Chris Calton recounts the controversial history of the Civil War. This is the 44th episode in the third season of Historical Controversies. You may support this podcast financially at Mises.org/SupportHC. Historical Controversies is available online at: https://Mises.org/HCPod RSS: https://mises.org/itunes/622 iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/historical-controversies/id1304510096?mt=2 Google Play: https://play.google.com/music/m/I3vmki7pz7jxond4x7qx5dfjv7y?t=Historical_Controversies Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/misesmedia/sets/historical-controversies Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=147145 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/65AydcLEcQJbnXJ85drimp Music: "On the Ground" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com), licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrnMmlx5T3Q