What Happened to the “American System” part 1

The American Revolution gave birth to a nation, virtually free from government tyranny, with a sound currency, little debt, and a people dedicated to avoiding foreign wars. These ideals translated into financial prosperity, making the United States the wealthiest nation by approximately 1850. These principles, for the most part, were adhered to until about 80 years ago.
The “American System”, with all it’s faults, works. But does it still exist?
In 1930 the federal governments spending was less than 3% of GDP. Today, total government spending exceeds 40% of GDP. We have one of the biggest domestic government burdens compared to any other major economy, with no significant advantages in regards to size of government. And thanks to our military spending , we have a much bigger burden in total.
Our military currently stations troops permanently in more than 150 countries. Almost 400,00 of our 1.5 million active duty personnel are servicing outside the United States. Our founding of this country was strongly against a standing army. Today, we keep a standing army in harm’s way – spending as much on military as the rest of the world combined. Now, while I am not advocating a complete dismantling of our military, there’s no arguing the point that this kind of foreign policy is radically different than America’s historic position.
Finally…..the most important change to the “American System” came when Nixon took us off the gold standard in 1971. This was one of the most important decisions in modern financial, economic and monetary history and is a seminal moment in the creation of the global debt crisis confronting the U.S., Europe and the world today.
Nixon ushered in an era of floating fiat currencies not backed by gold but rather deriving value through government “fiat”.