Posted on 11/13/2008 6:50:52 PM PST by STARWISE
A reader comment over at Dollard's place nails it.
(http://patdollard.com/)
Plain and simple .... and true. This is what I see. I wish I had written it. (hat tip mg)
~~~
I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life.
I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.
Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it.
Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten - fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.
We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?
We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has “loaned” two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms.
That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the 700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of “we the people,” who loaned our powers to our elected leaders.
Apparently not.
We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?
We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving.
Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity.
Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman.
Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?.
We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?
Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is medicare and our entire government, our education system is worse than a joke
I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about)–the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth.
It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.
And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla, Alaska.
All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary
(Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more imporant.)
Mr. Obama’s winning platform can be boiled down to one word: change.
Why?
I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.
This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life.
In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.
And that is only the beginning.
And I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing.
What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises.
Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his “brown shirts” would bully them into submission. And then, he was duly elected to office, a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression].
Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think.
How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex.
He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world.
He did it with a compliant media–did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and . . . change. And the people surely got what they voted for.
(Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)
Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of.
When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.
Don’t forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe. It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years–a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency–it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course.
The road to Hell is paved with them.
As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.
Some people scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe–and why I believe it.
I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.
My thoughts exact.
In England, you can barely refer to Churchill any more in an ‘official’ curricular capacity, but one of his oft quoted observations is now upon us:
We are always one generation away from losing our freedoms.
If a generation forgets, then it pays the entire cost of relearning that lesson itself, which then kicks in another one of Churchill’s observations:
We should act now, while there are options, rather than wait until the weight of events are such that there are only two options - death or slavery.
Churchill’s final words upon his death bed:
“I’m tired of it all.”
I can’t imagine having to personally carry the weight of the certainty of the calamities of his age, upto and beyond the immediate problem of Hitler, and into the dithering that allowed Stalin into power.
Eisenhower will be looked upon as the worst president by generations a hundred years hence for not having the guts to crush Communism when he could have. Maybe apologists will be kinder to him, and say that nobody could have known about Uncle Joe, which would not be true. There were a whole bunch of dead White Russians that spoke of what was coming.
bump for later
Nothing i the Constitution actually forbids it. But the Constitution does contemplate the use of what we would today call "federalized" militia in such a role. Since the militia was and is, most or all of the male population (an today legally some of the female as well, the President could indeed "call up" a limited fraction of them for whatever purpose that fits within the following powers specified in Art I section 8. Congress shall have the power ...
To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;
To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
Under the President's Art. II, section 2 powers as Commander in Chief of the federalized militia.
The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States
Just who or what the militia is, is not defined in the Constitution, but a clue to understanding what the Founders thought it to be can be in the words of Richard Henry Lee: "A militia, when properly formed, are in fact the people themselves...and include all men capable of bearing arms." (Additional letters from the Federal Farmer, at 169, 1788) And in the 1792 Militia Act, passed by the Second Congress under the Constitution,
I. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That each and every free able-bodied white male citizen of the respective States, resident therein, who is or shall be of age of eighteen years, and under the age of forty-five years (except as is herein after excepted) shall severally and respectively be enrolled in the militia
And the definition in current law is not that much different, mainly dropping "white" and adding female National Guard members. Title 10 section 311 US Code
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and . . . under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are --
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia. 24
So yes, it's very likely Constitutional. Or could be if the legal nicities are properly observed. Something that would supprise me with this bunch of Reds.
Modern ammunition with lead free primers, maybe 10 years, maybe more maybe less. Ammunition without the "green" primers, which most still is, should last a whole lot longer than any of us will. Stuff put away during WW-I, especially if sealed up in gasketed cans or other sealed containers, still works just fine. WW-II stuff, the same. I've got some '50s or maybe early '60s Portuguese made 7.62x51(.308) that hasn't had a failure to fire yet, in the 8 or 9 years I've been shooting it off and on.).
So, BLOAT, and hope that it takes you the rest of your life and your kids lives to shoot it all up.
I regret that I did not join FR a lot earlier than I had, because I could have shared with you all my knowledge about how the Left operates
Turning the truth on its head, making up down and down up, is their SOP.
Basically, had people paid close attention to how the LEft and the Leftist media treated Israel for the past twenty years, with particular atention to how the Left portrayed Palestinian terrorists< as "freedom fighters" and the efforts of the Israeli government to stop terrorism as "Nazis," and the reclamation of their own land, "occupation.
As Israel goes, so goes America. And the first ones who ALWAYS suffer at the hands of communists, fascists, and Islamists, are the Jews.
78% of American Jews never got the memo, and now, the rest of us who saw the writing on the wall a long time ago, will pay the price for those who just elected one of the above.
Wow..you are really smart. Thanks for the post. I was reading the constitution for clues last night, but did not take the time read any of the subsequent laws.
Putting my foil hat on, so bear with me.....Do you think it possible, that this whole ‘Obama militia’ plan is really a plan to take away individual gun rights by forming ‘a well regulated militia’, hence setting some kind of ‘precedent’ about an ‘individual right’ to bear arms? Might they then come back and try to ratify the 2nd ammendment by saying there is no ‘need’ or some such crazy argument?
I am not very knowledgeable on the gun rights battle, instead trusting the men in this country to fight the tyranny of the gun- grabbers. What do you think?
Well, Clinton wasn’t a marxist, I suppose, but certainly leftward leaning. He had a supportive media, party control of congress for 2 years, and a nuclear arsenal.
Obama will suck as a president, but their is no need to overstate things.
Madam, Barack Obama showed tghat the Constitution means nothing to him if it stands in the way of what he works to accomplish. While an Illinois legislator, Obama on four occasions assumed the Constitutional rights of newly born alive infants were to be ignored so that he could protect a particularly heinous method for killing alive children by forcing their premature birth then killing them via purposed neglect, to die alone, unattended, struggling to breathe. This is one evil bastard for whom the Constitution is less than a contract, albeit one written a couple hundred years ago upon which the nation was founded for The People. If our Constitution means crap to this wicked man, We The People are even less to be considered.
Sir, I agree totally! I know about his despicable acts on the unborn. But it’s always good to post about them for the ‘lurkers’ on these threads.
At a minimum.
And likely much worse.
Thx.
Honestly, the panties in a wad hysterics by some aren’t worth jack either.
Back in the day there were people who thought Clinton would suspend elections because of the Y2K glitch.
In the 2000s there were people who thought 911 was an inside job and we were on our way to a Bush-led tyranny.
Obama will suck. Lots of his policies are bad for the USA. Other policies will make us vulnerable, and I’d wager we suffer for it. That’s not to say he is a Caesar in the making, though.
Saying that Obama isn't likely going to be a tyrant makes me a nattering nabob? I didn't endorse him. I didn't vote for him. I'm just saying that folks who suggest he is a 21st Century Kaiser are probably off base, that's all.
Do you fear Christians and ignore abortionists and their bloody industry as 'none of your business'?
I don't fear Christians at all. I am one. I don't diminish their opinions in any way. What makes you think I did?
Do you follow a daily routine with only the occasional interruption in traffic or business activity?
Most of my days are not routine, for what that's worth.
Is you family basically safe and well fed, such that starving people in other parts of the world are a sad reality but not your problem to consider?
The second part of that sentence doesn't follow the first part of that sentence. It's a disjointed non sequitur. But yes, me and my family are basically safe and well fed, though that has nothing to do with people around the world who aren't safe and well fed.
Is sexual degeneracy the unseemly alternate lifestyle of a few of whom you try to avoid but tolerate in your midst?
Yes, I avoid degeneracy and excess and avoid it.
Have you joined a throng of voices crying out for ‘change’ and ‘unity’?
No.
Such was the general state of Sodom and Gomorrah the day before Lot and his little family left.
True. That's been true for any number of people in any number of eras, and they weren't permanently destroyed.
It was a big safe drunken party in the King's Chamber where/when Belshazzar received his message of doom for Babylon the Great.
I know, I saw the movie. And read the book.
Trim your lamp, be at the ready, vigilant. Change is coming ... straight from the minds of demons.
Drama queen.
Obama will be a rotten president, no doubt in my mind. But I don’t see the wisdom of overstating his significant. The left did that with Dubya, and all that did was help make us like him more and give him and his party big gains in 2002 and 2004.
Too much of the left’s pervasive attacks weakened him and the GOP in 2006 and 2008, though. The bloom was off the rose.
Making Obama into a monster when he is most likely just an academic minded intellectual with big plans and no experience (and no record of creativity) isn’t wise. Keep him honest, but talk of elections being suspended is just immature and silly.
Eye opening to say the least.
I’ve tried to resist believing it . . .
But there’s some significant evidence I no longer have at my fingertips that Churchill and Ike both were well entrenched in the globalist movement. They were mere puppets, too.
They’ve both long been favorites of mine.
Have you been under a rock the last many months?
Perhaps you have flawed capacity to read?
Perhaps you’re addicted to only listening to and reading the MSM?
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with “ALTERNATIVE NEWS” . . . i.e. the truth?
Perhaps you are a troll?
Obamao is evil enough to easily be more evil than the next 3-5 most evil such blokes in the Presidency combined.
The evidence is piles high.
Where ya been?
How many of our leaders quotes have you read in say post
#81 here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/religion/2130557/posts?page=81#81
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