On December 8-9, 1958, Robert Welch delivered a series of speeches at the founding meeting of The John Birch Society (JBS) in Indianapolis, Indiana. The transcripts of those two days were later published as The Blue Book of The John Birch Society. In this foundational address, Welch warned:
Here are the Communists’ aims for the United State — to be achieved, they hope, through the leftward momentum of the attitude induced by Sputnik and all of its auxiliary propaganda. (1) Greatly expanded government spending, for missiles, for so-called defense generally, for foreign aid, for every conceivable means of getting rid of ever larger sums of American money — as wastefully as possible. (2 ) Higher and then much higher taxes. (3) An increasingly unbalanced budget, despite the higher taxes. When these notes were first put together many months ago, I expected a deficit of ten billion dollars at least, in the fiscal year of 1958-1959, despite all of the talk at that time about a balanced budget. Today well-informed people, even within our government, are talking about a deficit of fifteen billion. (4) Wild inflation of our currency, leading rapidly towards its ultimate repudiation. (5) Government controls of prices, wages, and materials, supposedly to combat inflation. (6) Greatly increased socialistic controls over every operation of our economy and every activity of our daily lives. This is to be accompanied, naturally and automatically, by a correspondingly huge increase in the size of our bureaucracy, and in both the cost and reach of our domestic government. (7) Far more centralization of power in Washington, and the practical elimination of our state lines. There is a many-faceted drive at work to have our state lines eventually mean no more within the nation than our county lines do now within the states. (8) The steady advance of federal aid to and control over our educational system, leading to complete federalization of our public education. (9) A constant hammering into the American consciousness of the horror of “modern warfare,” the beauties and the absolute necessity of “peace” — peace always on Communist terms, of course. And (10) the consequent willingness of the American people to allow the steps of appeasement by our government which amount to a piecemeal surrender of the rest of the free world and of the United States itself to the Kremlin-ruled tyranny.
Over 15 years later, in a speech delivered at the JBS Council Dinner in Los Angeles on March 9, 1974, Welch reiterated the same 10 aims of the communist conspiracy:
A part of that plan of course is to induce the gradual surrender of American sovereignty piece-by-piece and step-by-step to various international organizations of which the United Nations is the outstanding but far from the only example now here are the them for the United States:
One, greatly expanded government spending for every conceivable means of getting rid of ever larger sums of American money as wastefully as possible.
Two, higher and then much higher taxes.
Three, an increasingly unbalanced budget despite the higher taxes.
Four, wild inflation of our currency.
Five, government controls of prices, wages, and materials supposedly to combat inflation.
Six, greatly increased socialistic controls over every operation of our economy and every activity of our daily lives; this is to be accompanied naturally and automatically by a correspondingly huge increase in the size of our bureaucracy and in both the cost and reach of our domestic government.
Seven, far more centralization of power in Washington and the practical elimination of our state lines. There is a many-faceted drive at work to have our state lines eventually mean no more within the nation than our county lines do now within the states.
Eight, the steady advance of federal aid to and control over our educational system, leading to complete federalization of our public education.
Nine, a constant hammering into the American consciousness of the horror of modern warfare, the beauties and the absolute necessity of peace — peace always on Communist terms of course, and
Ten, the consequent willingness of the American people to allow the steps of appeasement by our government which amount to a piecemeal surrender of the rest of the Free World and of the United States itself.
Where Are We Now?
Now, over 52 years after Welch addressed the JBS Council Dinner in Los Angeles, how have those communist aims materialized?
What follows is a brief overview of where we stand today, underscoring how Robert Welch was able to accurately project the lines forward.
1. Greatly expanded government spending and foreign aid
The federal budget has grown exponentially beyond its constitutional limits, leading to a national debt exceeding $40 trillion as of August 2026. Multi-trillion-dollar omnibus spending bills are routinely passed in Congress, and most who vote for them never even read them. Meanwhile, hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are unconstitutionally funneled into foreign aid, undeclared foreign wars and overseas conflicts, and globalist initiatives that neither put “America First” nor serve our national interests.
2. Higher and then much higher taxes
Beyond the steady increases in federal, state, and local tax burdens, the tax apparatus itself has been weaponized — and will likely be weaponized even further by future administrations. For example, during the Biden administration, massive funding increases for the IRS aimed to hire tens of thousands of new armed IRS agents. This initiative sought to enforce an increasingly onerous and redistributive tax code that penalizes American productivity and private enterprise.
3. An increasingly unbalanced budget
Welch’s 1958 warning of a $10 billion to $15 billion deficit serves as a stark baseline. Today, the federal government routinely runs annual deficits exceeding $1.5 trillion — a far cry from $10 billion to $15 billion. Furthermore, with the exception of Senator Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) proposed “Six Penny Plan,” the political will to balance the federal budget has been almost entirely abandoned by both major political parties — thereby normalizing a system of perpetual debt-financing, regardless of which party controls Congress.
4. Wild inflation of our currency
Since the Nixon administration severed the U.S. dollar from the gold standard in 1971, the Federal Reserve has operated a fiat currency system that allows for unchecked paper-money printing — greatly reducing the purchasing power of the dollar. According to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) Inflation Calculator on in2013dollars.com, $1 from 1971 has the same purchasing power as approximately $8.27 in 2026, reflecting a cumulative price increase of 727.11 percent. One dollar in 2026 buys just 12.1-percent of what that dollar did in 1971. This devaluation is effectively a hidden tax that has eroded the savings and purchasing power of all Americans, especially those in the middle class or on fixed incomes. This fiat framework is now being aggressively pushed toward a central bank digital currency (CBDC), which would grant the federal government absolute tracking and control over individual spending.
5. Government controls of prices, wages, and materials
While explicit “price controls” are less common than they were in the 1970s, they have effectively been replaced by the increasingly weaponized regulatory state. Environmental mandates, such as those from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was established in 1970, along with Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) compliance scores all act as de facto controls on materials and production. The federal government now dictates what kind of light bulbs, appliances, and vehicles Americans are permitted to manufacture and purchase.
6. Greatly increased socialistic controls and a huge bureaucracy
The explosive growth of unconstitutional “alphabet soup agencies” has created a sprawling administrative state that operates outside the constitutional checks and balances of the legislative branch. Furthermore, the daily lives of citizens are increasingly monitored through municipal digital and AI surveillance infrastructure. The integration of Flock Safety automated license plate reader (ALPR) cameras and Axon camera networks into centralized AI centers represents an unprecedented and unconstitutional violation of individual privacy.
7. Far more centralization of power and the elimination of state lines
The 10th Amendment has been systematically eroded. The federal government routinely bypasses state sovereignty by using federal grants to essentially bribe or extort local governments into compliance. Programs such as Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) dictate local zoning laws, while federalized law-enforcement grants — such as those disbursed by the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) office at the Department of Justice — strip local police departments of their independence, effectively relegating state lines to nothing more than mere administrative boundaries for federal dictates.
8. Complete federalization of public education
Following the unconstitutional creation of the Department of Education in 1979, localized control of schooling was effectively dismantled. Through initiatives such as No Child Left Behind and Common Core and tying federal funding to strict compliance with federal guidelines, Washington has centralized curriculum standards. During the Biden administration, this federal apparatus was used to enforce ideological compliance, institutionalizing diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and critical race theory (CRT) across local school districts.
9. Hammering the absolute necessity of “peace” on Communist terms
The American people are continuously being conditioned to accept globalist treaties, managed trade agreements, and international oversight under the guise of “peace,” “security,” or combating “global crises” such as “climate change” or the rise of China. The globalist narrative, perpetuated by organizations such as the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), insists that the U.S. must subordinate its military and economic independence to international bodies in order to avoid some global catastrophe — effectively achieving disarmament and compliance on terms favorable to collectivist regimes. An example is President Barack Obama’s New START Treaty with Russia, in which the U.S. agreed to cut its nuclear arsenal and stockpiles to levels favorable to the Kremlin.
10. Appeasement amounting to a piecemeal surrender of sovereignty
The U.S. continues to entangle itself in sovereignty-destroying international organizations such as the United Nations, World Trade Organization (WTO), and World Health Organization (WHO), treating their mandates as superior to domestic law. One notable example occurred in 2015 with the repeal of the U.S. Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) law. COOL required meat products to disclose where the source animals were born, raised, and slaughtered. When Canada and Mexico challenged the law for beef and pork products sold in the United States, the WTO ruled against the U.S. and authorized $1 billion in retaliatory tariffs. As a result, on December 18, 2015, Congress repealed COOL for beef and pork in an omnibus spending bill that was signed into law later that day by President Obama. American law was effectively overturned not by the will of the America people, or even by American courts, but by a foreign globalist tribunal.
Call to Action
The above overview illustrates how the 10 communist aims have continued to facilitate the gradual surrender of American sovereignty piece by piece. However, Robert Welch did not leave us without a roadmap to reclaim our Republic. In his 1974 address, Welch outlined five core objectives for The John Birch Society to counter these subversive goals that still plague our Republic and restore our nation’s founding principles.
First, we must restore the complete and total independence of the United States. This requires a firm resolution to withdraw from international entanglements, specifically by getting the United States out of the United Nations and removing the United Nations from U.S. soil. As of October 2026, legislation has been introduced in both the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to do just that. The Disengaging Entirely From the United Nations Debacle Act, or DEFUND Act, introduced by Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) in the House and Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) in the Senate, would repeal the United Nations Participation Act of 1945, the United Nations Headquarters Agreement Act of 1947, and the “Joint Resolution providing for membership and participation by the United States in the World Health Organization and authorizing an appropriation therefor” that was approved on June 14, 1948. Repealing those acts and that resolution would terminate U.S. membership in the United Nations, remove the UN headquarters from the U.S., and withdraw our membership in the WHO. It is imperative that this legislation be introduced at the start of every Congress until it is passed and enacted into law. In order for this to happen, Americans need to be better informed about the dangers of the United Nations as a trap for world government, and must in turn pressure their U.S. representative and senators to co-sponsor and pass this pro-sovereignty legislation.
Second, to combat the wild inflation that functions as a hidden tax eroding American savings and purchasing power, we must return to sound money freely redeemable in gold at a realistic price. Doing so requires abolishing the Federal Reserve and repealing the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Senator Mike Lee have introduced the Federal Reserve Board Abolition Act to accomplish exactly this. If enacted, their legislation would dismantle the central banking system and halt the ongoing theft of American wealth driven by the Federal Reserve’s contrived inflation.
Third, we must drastically reduce the size and scope of the federal government. The explosive growth of unconstitutional agencies and the sprawling administrative state must be reversed by reducing the ballooning number of government agencies and employees, and cutting the overall quantity of government by at least 50 percent.
Fourth, we must withdraw American military forces from every corner of the world that is not American soil, keeping them deployed only when explicitly directed by Congress, via a declaration of war, in order to protect American lives and property.
Finally, we must get the federal government out of the areas, functions, and activities in which it simply does not belong. This must be achieved through nullification and strict constitutional enforcement to Make America STATES Again. By enforcing the Constitution as a compact to reassert state sovereignty, we can return the federal government to its rightful, limited role. Only through this proper alignment will the federal government be driven back into its constitutional cage, acting merely as an agent confined to the specific duties the states expressly authorized.
The John Birch Society Agenda
These five overarching objectives constitute the core action plan of The John Birch Society. Achieving them requires a massive, concerted educational force to properly inform the electorate and restore constitutional governance. By committing to these foundational principles, patriots can reverse the tide of centralized government, break the bands of collectivism, cease the conditioning that pushes us toward increasing globalist subjugation, and ensure that future generations inherit a truly independent and free Republic. If you wish to stop the aforementioned 10 communist aims, do not stand on the sidelines. Join The John Birch Society today, and become an active part of the epic undertaking to Get US Out! of the United Nations, End the Fed, Make America STATES Again, and keep our Republic.
