From one of my best friends. Interesting comments.
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This turned out to be a longer email than I thought but here goes...
My son goes to a Jesuit high school. We had Back to School night last night. The sophomore history teacher introduced the new edition history book. "We dont teach history the way you learned it", she said. "That was 'top down' history. We teach 'bottom up' history, from the point of view of the average person that lived during those times.". In 6th grade, a class project that covered Columbus , a crayon drawing was taped to the wall. It looked like a typical class project, kind of sweet. Until I got a closer look. Written next to the face of Columbus were the hand written words, "terrorist", "exploited the Indians", "murderer".
This is the playbook of a movement that has been underway for 70 years - sympathy between the progressive movement, Marxists and the left.
These people do not teach the ideas of the Federalist papers. They teach that the men that founded the country were bad/evil people. By discrediting the people, they then proceed to discredit their ideas. By discrediting their ideas they discredit the system the founders set up. That system is called the Constitution of the United States .
Today look at the venom directed at Sarah Palin. Why does she represent such a threat that a posting to Facebook page requires the national media to mock her? The reason, if they can destroy her as a person, they destroy the ideas she conveys. My point is not that Palin is the solution, its the tactics used in an attempt to destroy her. Why else so demonize a woman that was able to rise from school board, to city council to mayor, governer and candidate for VP. Oh yes, married to one guy, big family, walks the talk on traditional values.
I live in an area where 80% of the people voted for Obama. Those are numbers that Fidel, Hugo and Putin would envy. I would say the revolution is complete in California . They have achieved this by co-opting well intentioned leftists as they have done throughout the world. They infiltrate the media, schools and local political institutions by talking like moderates until they are in power. Once they obtain critical mass, they simply take over. The process takes time because it works bottom up.
Hugo Chavez is running this playbook at warp speed. We are simply experiencing it in slow motion so its harder to spot. More importantly Obama knows that if he moves too fast or overtly the opposition still has the critical mass to stop the "remaking of America ". Make note of his reaction when something he says causes backlash - he'll mock the criticism, claim he used a "poor choice of words" or other feign. In practice, however, his actions are inconsistent with the moderate positions on issues that attracted guys like Warren Buffet to support him.
The Tea Parties and Health Care furor give signs of hope. The 2010 congressional election is the last chance to slow the train. The reason I say slow it is that it may be too late to change the direction in any fundamental way in less than a generation. Both our national parties are advancing the same general agenda. In Australia 60% of the population receives direct government benefits. The only two political parties are the labor and liberal parties - the latter considered the more conservative of the two but both are left wing by any standard.
We now have less than 50% of our wage earning population paying taxes. The Democrats just sent checks ("tax cuts") to the half that pays no income tax - including thousands of felons in prison. They want to do it again. Per the article Rob distributed there are tens of thousands of dollars more in benefits they want to pay-out to the millions of people that pay nothing into the system. Once that money flow is fully established, it can never be turned off. People that rely on the government for housing, food and health care they are serfs to the state and will never choose to shut off those benefits.
California is being forced to cut billions in spending because (a) they were unable to raise taxes, (b) the Constitution requires a balanced budge, (c) the bonds are near junk ratings so they cant borrow and (d) they can't print money. The Feds ARE raising taxes, are printing money and are borrowing trillions. The result - high tax rates and/or hyperinflation have the effect of wiping out the "upper 50%" of wage earners.
According to a report published by the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank in 2007, before the economic collapse, the entitlement programs (Social Security, Medicare) programs were underfunded to the tune of $56 TRILLION dollars (vs. our entire annual national output of $13 trillion). In other words, it would take ALL of the domestic output of the United States over 4 years to fund the current obligations this government has to the people. This week the Obama administration announced that the debt of this country will be $9 trillion over the next 10 years. And he wants to spend trillions more!
Is this madness and corruption or a deliberate effort to wipe out our system? The answer - it doesn't matter why its happening, the result will be the same. If your aim is to seize control of the system set-up by our founding fathers you destroy the ability of the people to live independent of the government. Is it possible that a small group of people want to control the system, and the rest of us work for them. Our founders certainly believed it was possible and set up the balance of powers to prevent it. In point of fact they set it up to in reaction to the rule by ONE MAN - the King of England. The founders believed one man is capable to taking away the freedom of nations. Chavez, Putin and tens of other dictators around the world show us it is possible today.
If you care about any of this you must take action. Voting is a first step but active discussion about these issues in a rational, fact-based way is vital. Free flow of information and ideas between individual people remains the most powerful force in the world. A deeper, more long lasting solution can come from this type of dialog. We need to find and support candidates from any party (including new ones) that believe and behave consistent with the beliefs that founded the country.
Support can also mean writing checks and volunteering to help. Attend meetings, work in town councils, school boards and other grass roots organizations. If you do, I promise that you will meet the people I have suggested are out there.
* Is America fundamentally a good country that sometimes gets things wrong or is it a negative force in the world?
* Is our society a just one with people that sometimes do bad things or is it fundamentally unjust and needs to be changed?
* What is the right balance between individual freedom and the governments ability to do whats right for society?
* Some of the founding fathers were slave owners, does that influence what you think about our country?
* Do you think the Constitution is still relevant to our society?
Ask people in these positions what they think is wrong with our current system and what should be done about it. There are many well meaning folks w/ good answers. There are many with answers that will disturb you. There are problems we need to fix but our Constitutional system is not one of them.
If we do nothing then we deliver to our grand children a future less hopeful, less free and less prosperous. I no longer view these issues as left/right. I view them as freedom v. serfdom. The ability to have a life independent of government interference vs. one where the government - the state - takes basic freedoms away. Increasingly, from Bush to Obama, it looks like one man will be the one that decides.
You know, sometimes its OK to ride a bike without wearing a helmet.
Matt
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