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America on the Brink
Townhall.com ^ | August 11, 2010 | Brent Bozell

Posted on 08/11/2010 8:29:29 AM PDT by Kaslin

Terence P. Jeffrey has written a new book. It is required reading for any conservative worried about, but perhaps not understanding, exactly what the Obama regime is trying to do to America. That demographic includes every conservative who hasn't yet read Jeffrey's new book.

First, there are disclaimers. Jeffrey is a friend and a colleague, and editor-in-chief of CNSNews.com, a division of the Media Research Center, which I head.

The second disclaimer is more an admission: When I read the title of Terry's new book, "Control Freaks: 7 Ways Liberals Plan to Ruin Your Life," I didn't much care for the title. z,i>Control Freaks -- a little too hyperbolic, maybe? Then I read it. There is no hyperbole here. If anything, the problem's with the subtitle. Liberals aren't planning to ruin our lives. They're well on their way.

Click here to find out more!

Terence P. Jeffrey has written a new book. It is required reading for any conservative worried about, but perhaps not understanding, exactly what the Obama regime is trying to do to America. That demographic includes every conservative who hasn't yet read Jeffrey's new book.

First, there are disclaimers. Jeffrey is a friend and a colleague, and editor-in-chief of CNSNews.com, a division of the Media Research Center, which I head.

The second disclaimer is more an admission: When I read the title of Terry's new book, "Control Freaks: 7 Ways Liberals Plan to Ruin Your Life," I didn't much care for the title. Control Freaks -- a little too hyperbolic, maybe? Then I read it. There is no hyperbole here. If anything, the problem's with the subtitle. Liberals aren't planning to ruin our lives. They're well on their way.

"Control Freaks" is a book a serious conservative will have a hard time putting down. It's a book that will make a serious liberal rethink his worldview.

Jeffrey's formula is simple. His interest is not in a discussion of the what or even the how. He is interested in the why. He takes seven broad themes -- movement, retirement, health care, property, speech, life and conscience -- and explores the left's desire to control each one.

Each theme undergoes etiological triage. He delves deep into the Federalist Papers and countless other historical artifacts (he has some 50 pages of "notes" attached) to explain exactly why the Founders believed each issue to be one of supreme -- and here's the rub -- personal importance.

Then Jeffrey fast-forwards to present times and performs the same exercise. By studying the writings and speeches of today's leftist leaders (most prominently President Obama, of course), he paints a most disturbing portrait of a movement seeking total federal control over the individual.

Jeffrey begins with the simple idea of movement. How important was this to the Founders? When King George III declared that the colonists could not settle west of the Appalachians, it became one of the reasons the colonists went to war, such was their desire for the freedom to move and settle in the place of their choosing.

Today the president gives speeches proclaiming that the federal government should plan the neighborhood in which you'll live; and the state, for purely pecuniary reasons, now has the right through the Kelo decision to take away your home.

Jeffrey quotes a legal opinion from Thomas Jefferson that cites the 10th Amendment as the cornerstone of the Constitution:

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That 'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people.' To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of the boundless field of power, no longer susceptible of any definition."

That, alas, is precisely what has been the outcome because the left has shredded that sacred document, inserting into our private lives one government regulation after another, nowhere permitted by the Constitution. Worse, these regulations are fiscal disasters, slowly killing the United States of America.

Franklin D. Roosevelt butchered the meaning of the General Welfare Clause to justify a national Social Security program that now will require the government to borrow an additional $7.7 trillion over the next 75 years to stay afloat. Add to that $14.5 trillion in public debt and unfunded promised benefits, $2 trillion for federally guaranteed programs like student loans and deposit insurance, and $38.2 trillion for Medicare, and you end up with a very quiet government report, released this year, showing the federal government facing $61.9 trillion in unfunded liabilities. It's a figure so big as to be incomprehensible. The control freaks truly are out of control.

But as Jeffrey documents, this control extends far beyond the pocketbook issues. The left is busily at work controlling, even banning the exercise of free speech, whether through nefarious efforts like the so-called Fairness Doctrine or outrageous legislation like McCain-Feingold, which banned free speech during campaigns. Such is their disdain for the democratic process.

Which matches their disdain for the moral order. So fanatical have they become that they -- President Obama himself -- not only support the horrific practice of partial-birth abortion but also the practice banning any effort to aid a baby that has survived the attempted massacre. So much do they want to control life itself that they are now supporting the cloning of human beings as expendable laboratory fodder. And so much do they want to control our lives when they allow us to live that the courts are upholding state mandates on immorality taught to adolescents in public schools.

On and on and on it goes. "Control Freaks" screams to be read. It means to frighten, and it succeeds.


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Editorial
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1 posted on 08/11/2010 8:29:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

One has to wonder if a coming revolution will be violent or peaceful....


2 posted on 08/11/2010 8:39:41 AM PDT by cranked
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To: cranked

One has to wonder if a coming revolution will be violent or peaceful....”

IF you are still wondering, you certainly are not preparing.

Rethink your premises.


3 posted on 08/11/2010 8:48:55 AM PDT by ridesthemiles
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To: cranked

Socialists only understand force. Draw your own conclusions.


4 posted on 08/11/2010 8:50:10 AM PDT by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: cranked; Kaslin
One has to wonder if a coming revolution will be violent or peaceful....

Those waiting to see how a revolution might come about are not the ones who wish to precipitate it or direct it. The activists will turn the revolution in their favor. (See Berlin of the 30s)

The American Revolution was a fortuitous anomaly among history.

The French revolution devolved into chaos, and certainly didn't turn out how Jefferson and others hoped.

The Civil War very clearly made things much worse for the South, and in many ways for the Union still today, as well as blacks themselves.

The activists tend to win. Just our luck that the activists in the American Revolution were the good guys.

5 posted on 08/11/2010 8:50:52 AM PDT by sam_paine (X .................................)
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To: ridesthemiles

The inherent sarcasm was missed, huh?
Here’s the premise of the mention: Revolution is coming....real change is coming....real hope is coming.... =.=


6 posted on 08/11/2010 8:51:07 AM PDT by cranked
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To: sam_paine

You missed the point, as well, but thank you for the commentary. :)


7 posted on 08/11/2010 8:52:03 AM PDT by cranked
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To: cranked

“violent or peaceful”

That reminds me. Make sure you put your ballistic kevlar *behind* the plate metal. The kevlar won’t work if it’s against a hard object. The purpose of the plate is try and prevent any more deflection of the round into your body than necessary.

So, do you think Rachel’s getting voted off Big Brother?


8 posted on 08/11/2010 9:17:12 AM PDT by tumblindice (It's no longer a question of whether. Now it's a question of when.)
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To: Kaslin

I’m sure it is a good book but we don’t need anymore convincing. We need to do some acting.


9 posted on 08/11/2010 9:37:18 AM PDT by DManA
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To: Kaslin

So many appropriate books; so few people reading them.

I’ve been keeping a list, mostly from here in FR, and there are well over a hundred titles.


10 posted on 08/11/2010 9:45:43 AM PDT by RoadTest (Religion is a substitute for the relationship God wants with you.)
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To: cranked
One has to wonder if a coming revolution will be violent or peaceful....

At this point, who cares?

Just as long as it doesn't stop until we've re-acquired freedom.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

11 posted on 08/11/2010 10:20:05 AM PDT by The Comedian (Evil can only succeed if good men don't point at it and laugh.)
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To: sam_paine

“Just our luck that the activists in the American Revolution were the good guys.”

The activists were moral, spiritual, God-fearing people.


12 posted on 08/11/2010 11:05:09 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (They shall not pass!)
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To: Kaslin
That, alas, is precisely what has been the outcome because the left has shredded that sacred document, inserting into our private lives one government regulation after another, nowhere permitted by the Constitution. Worse, these regulations are fiscal disasters, slowly killing the United States of America.

Brent misses the core of the problem which is explained after the next quote:

Franklin D. Roosevelt butchered the meaning of the General Welfare Clause to justify a national Social Security program that now will require the government to borrow an additional $7.7 trillion over the next 75 years to stay afloat.

FDR's lawyers in their defense of Social Security did not win on Commerce Clause arguments, they won on 16th Amendment tax arguments.

And it's important to understand that Obama's lawyers are using the FDR playbook in defending Obamacare. They have already revealed their hand, that Obamacare is a tax and is fully legal to impose.

To understand the core of the problem that allows the Left to continue their progressive march towards controlling/ruling the American civilization, one must understand that like a gorilla army they fight small skirmishes to win weapons and gold. They win small battles, accumulate and grow until they are capable of wining larger battles.

Over decades and decades they have taken over vast portions of the federal government, the budgetary process and the 'gold' meaning funds to effect further battles. Recently they took from Food Stamp funds to fund union bailouts. They use our gold against us.

Our Public Gold = Federal Tax Revenues + Treasury Bond revenues

Federal Tax Revenues <== mostly backed by 16th Amendment
Treasury Bond Revenues <== mostly backed by the Federal reserve

Both the 1913 16th Amendment Income tax without apportionment and the 1913 Federal Reserve Act are the cash flow basis and credit card agency basis for today's United States federal government system.

Neither the unlimited tax authority nor the unlimited federal credit card limit were ever thought possible in the founding of the republic.

In order to get control of taxes, spending and how these are used by the Left against America, one must get control of the revenues and the credit card. Control of the income and the credit card can be used to start the process of dismantling the excessive centralization of federal power; a process of decentralization.

To control the revenues requires repealing the 16th. There is no way to control the unlimited tax authority while the 16th is in force.

Here is the tax ("revenue control") solution:
http://www.fairtax.org

The federal "credit card" solution is an even bigger battle because the ruling class and their tools, the central bank and its lieutenants (the member banks), are the true enemy of America. They will back either party of the American ruling class (dems, RINOs) as long as they allowed to continue creating government and consumer debt 'at will' in America.

To dismantle the above does not mean to demolish the American Dream, it means to empower us to pursue our dreams without funding the Left who oppose us. We can still have a 'strong enough' central government, a stable regulated banking system, an unrivaled military and a blessed prosperity by gaining control of the "income" and the "credit card" and imposing the strongest forms of limits via Constitutional Amendments.

The take-away here is to take back control of the "income" and the "credit card".

13 posted on 08/11/2010 11:06:15 AM PDT by Hostage
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To: RoadTest

Please post your top 10 books I should read.


14 posted on 08/11/2010 11:08:39 AM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (California Bankruptcy in 4... 3... 2...)
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To: Republic of Texas

There is no way the left will let people out from under their control freak thumbs.

They will use force to bring the “rebels” back under control.

If the left wins in that conflict, expect some SEVERE sanctions, if not outright extermination.


15 posted on 08/11/2010 11:11:34 AM PDT by MrB (The difference between a (de)humanist and a Satanist is that the latter knows who he's working for.)
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To: cranked

Whatever it is, bring it on.

This insanity needs to end asap and if i have to sacrifice myself so that future generations don’t have to deal with the communism of the left, so be it.


16 posted on 08/11/2010 11:11:34 AM PDT by GlockThe Vote
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

“Please post your top 10 books I should read.”

Glad to.

1. “How Evil Works” by David Kupelian
2. “Liberal Fascism” by Jonah Goldberg
3, “The Marketing Of Evil” by David Kupelian
4. “Intellectuals And Society” by Thomas Sowell
5. “Unholy Alliance” (Islam & The Leftists) by David Horowitz
6. “The Politically Incorrect Guide To American History” by Thomas E. Woods
7. “America Alone” by Mark Steyn
8. “Liberty & Tyranny” by Mark Levin
9. “Going Rogue” by Sarah Palin
10 “The New World Order” by Pat Robertson


17 posted on 08/11/2010 12:53:09 PM PDT by RoadTest (Religion is a substitute for the relationship God wants with you.)
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To: Freedom_Is_Not_Free

I just remembered the best one of them all (besides the Bible) and that’s
“The Unseen Hand” by Ralph Epperson - it’s really a roadmap for all the others.


18 posted on 08/11/2010 12:56:50 PM PDT by RoadTest (Religion is a substitute for the relationship God wants with you.)
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To: cranked

“One has to wonder if a coming revolution will be violent or peaceful....”
////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I wonder whether a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel will involve a sudden drop.


19 posted on 08/11/2010 6:53:20 PM PDT by RipSawyer (Trying to reason with a leftist is like trying to catch sunshine in a fish net at midnight.)
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To: RoadTest

Thanks very much for that list. It’s s place to start.


20 posted on 08/11/2010 6:53:31 PM PDT by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (California Bankruptcy in 4... 3... 2...)
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