Sundown in America

27 September, 2008 | joanie-f

[joanie-f]

America is facing the most dangerous crisis in the history of our nation. It is not simply an economic crisis. It is a crisis whose outcome may well determine whether America continues to survive as a representative republic ... and whether America remains strong enough to face the massing, determined enemy outside of her borders.

The ‘economic’ portion of this crisis did not occur by accident. It occurred, in large part, as a result of leftist ‘social engineers’ who are intent on circumventing the Constitution to use pretended altruism in order to expand their power and further implement their left-leaning ideological agenda. And they cannot succeed unless the noble foundations upon which our republic was built are completely dismantled.

The current economic crisis, and all of its ramifications, represent a giant step in that insidiously evil crusade.

This economic meltdown is occurring largely as a result of socialist special interests pressuring their friends in congress to relax the underwriting standards for home mortgages. Those friends in congress used all manner of grotesque extortion and shakedown techniques, made legal through changes in law (most notably the Community Reinvestment Act), to pressure the banking/mortgage industry to grant hundreds of thousands of loans to low-income and minority citizens whose economic backgrounds exhibited little or no ability to repay those loans.

From the Ludwig von Mises Institute’s The CRA Scam and its Defenders:

When the CRA was created during the Carter administration, the administration also funded with tax dollars numerous ‘community groups’ that have helped the Fed, the Comptroller of the Currency, and other federal regulatory agencies to enforce the act. Under the CRA, if a bank wants to make virtually any change in its business operations — merging, opening up a new branch, getting into a new line of business — it must first prove to regulators that it has made ‘enough’ loans to the government's preferred borrowers. The (partially) tax-funded ‘community groups’ like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) can file petitions with regulators that stop the bank's activities in their tracks, perhaps defeating them altogether. The banks routinely buy off ACORN and other ‘community groups’ by giving them millions of dollars as well as promising to make even more dubious loans.

Yes, there were other contributors to this meltdown, but years of such pressure and pandering to special interests were the major contributing factor in the crisis we are facing today (and tomorrow ... and beyond).

One of those special interest groups that participated broadly in this dramatic change in banking/mortgage procedures was indeed ACORN (the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), one of the largest radical left-wing groups in America.

Barack Obama’s affiliation with ACORN is longstanding and deep. He ran an ACORN-sponsored massive voter registration effort (which was later accused, and continues to be accused, of engaging in massive voter fraud). He later became a trainer for the group, as well as its lawyer in numerous election law cases. He received strong financial support from ACORN in all of his election campaigns, and his affiliation with the group and its radical activities remains strong today.

Fast forward to September 26, 2008:

Many involved in the current congressional negotiations on the economic bailout proposal are attempting to make the public aware that the proposal being pushed by the democrats would have a large portion of the taxpayer-funded ‘bailout’ money diverted to whom?

ACORN.

Is the public becoming aware of this fact? No. Why? Because those in congress who are attempting to sound the alert are being righteously ignored by the mainstream media.

Lindsey Graham (R-SC) stated today, … this deal that’s on the table now is not a very good deal. Twenty percent of the money that should go to retire debt that will be created to solve this problem winds up in a housing organization called ACORN that is an absolute ill-run enterprise, and I can’t believe we would take money away from debt retirement to put it in a housing program that doesn’t work.

Wrap your minds around this concept, if you can.

Our current economic crisis threatens America’s existence on five major fronts:

(1) It threatens to plunder from the American taxpayers for generations to come, reducing their standard of living, threatening their hard-earned retirement security, and placing debt upon the shoulders of their children not yet born. And why? In order to correct the ‘errors’ made by our leadership, and brought about by the pressures of special interest groups.

(2) It is already succeeding in nationalizing major sectors of American private enterprise, in the banking and insurance industries ... with more to come.

(3) No matter the bailout plan that is adopted, more government regulation over the private sector will be enacted, dramatically increasing bureaucratic government interference in the free market system – i.e., placing yet another socialist anchor around the neck of our capitalist system.

(4) No matter the bailout plan that is adopted, our national debt will increase beyond our ability to pay it down, to the point where our national priorities will, of necessity, be transformed from one in which our safety, security and sovereignty take a perilous second place to our need to merely pay down the money that we borrowed to get ourselves out of this economic meltdown.

(5) Unless those who played an activist role in fomenting this crisis are sought out, investigated, and prosecuted where called for, and unless the citizenry demands an accounting and a broad excising of the corruption in their leadership, once the dust settles -- and it will settle, temporarily, after any bailout program takes effect -- nothing will change. No reform will occur. And our future will be filled with more of the same -- adding to our debt, taking away from our liberties, and putting our survival in jeopardy.

Now reflect back on the fact that the current leader in the race for the presidency has had, and continues to have, close activist ties with a radical organization that played a major role in the above cataclysm.

Now ask yourself this important question:

Why is ninety-nine percent of the American electorate unaware of that connection?

President Bush delivered an address to the nation two nights ago. The subject of that address was the current economic crisis.

In his attempt to explain the causes of this crisis, he insinuated that it all started because America’s economy was considered so healthy that it attracted investors from all over the world. As a result, banks and financial institutions were awash in money, and that state of affairs planted the seed for this debacle.

Our President offered up the greatest whitewash of the reasons for this catastrophe imaginable.

John McCain and Barack Obama participated in the first of four televised presidential debates tonight. Because of recent developments, despite the fact that foreign policy was scheduled to be the topic of the debate, much of their debate centered on our economic ills.

Barack Obama pointed the finger of blame for those ills at 'eight years of Bush economic policies -- policies that were embraced by John McCain.'

Did John McCain refute that argument by finally educating the American public regarding his opponent’s personal affiliation with a radical leftwing organization that played a significant role in creating the sub prime debacle? No, he simply spoke in platitudes about how we must all work together, in a bipartisan way, in order to solve this monumental problem.

I am aware (as are many of you) of the major causes of this crisis. And if I am aware of the part that Obama and those of his political ideology played in this catastrophe, surely my President and my candidate are as well.

What is keeping them from making that association a major issue in this election?

At the bottom of this travesty (the magnitude of which I don’t believe we have seen in either our or our parents’ lifetimes) are four crucial, potentially deadly, considerations:

(1) The virtually unbridled power of the mainstream media – who routinely turn our focus (because we allow them to) toward superficial nonsense, and away from information that would be extraordinarily dangerous to those whose ideology they share.

(2) The fact that, even during their deliberations in attempting to solve this economic crisis, most of the democrats in Washington still do not consider the safety and prosperity of the people of this country to be their main focus. Their main focus, even in these troubling times, is the amassing of power and the implementation of a leftist ideological agenda. Why else, when the economic (and possibly physical) safety and security of every American is hanging in the balance, would they still be attempting to divert a large portion of this gargantuan, taxpayer-funded bailout into the pockets of a left-leaning organization bent on social engineering (and an organization that played an activist role in the catastrophe to begin with)?

(3) If republicans in congress resort to compromise, as they have so often done over the past eighteen years, they will have committed the final betrayal. They will have saddled the American taxpayer with an unbearable burden – in the form of financial extortion, the crumbling of our capitalist system through the nationalization of private enterprise, and the granting of oversight powers to the government that were never envisioned by our Founders – all of which conditions are expressly forbidden by our Constitution. Individual liberty will be the major casualty – with security and sovereignty to follow, a distant, but definite, second.

(4) Congress, bowing to the enormous pressure of powerful, radical left-wing special interest groups, started this crisis by pressuring, in an entirely unconstitutional manner, the banking/mortgage industry to do what their special interest lobbyists wanted. Yet among the major end results of any temporary bailout will be the granting of significantly more 'oversight' powers, this time made legal by 'post-meltdown' legislation. The government will be granted enormous additional power to look over the shoulder of private industry and dictate the parameters under which it can function. Talk about rewarding crime, and positioning the country for more of the same ... now legalized ... much deeper, and much more threatening to our capitalist foundations.

I have little faith that the electorate will recognize the genuine nature of the man they are about to elect to the presidency. The media will not allow it. And the citizenry is too lazy to look beyond the mainstream media for answers.

I have little faith that our ‘leadership’ in Washington will once again begin to represent the best interests of the people. The corruption is too deep, and the power of special interests is too unwieldy and unaccountable, and growing moreso every day.

There are enemies at the gate. Enemies of the sort that the world has never known – who see it as their destiny to conform us to their image, or see us dead. When they decide to break down that gate in a brutal manner that goes far beyond the taking of three thousand innocent lives in two skyscrapers, an office building, and a commercial airplane, they will find little resistance. Not because the people within the gates weren’t once rugged individualists who valued freedom ... but because they no longer are.

I pray, fervently and daily, that I am wrong, or that He will somehow intervene.

~ joanie

[Guenevere]

joanie, I'm with ya....and appreciate your thoughts/contributions.

But don't factor out God (& I know you don't!!)

He may yet show mercy....I pray for mercy.

[joanie-f]

Thanks for the kind words, c_b. :)

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[joanie-f]

November is shaping up to be America’s last election.

I suspect that, beginning in 2012, we may have elections like the former USSR used to have, where we have a choice between the hand-picked candidates.

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[hiredhand]

The nation is at a turning point. On one hand, it's quite amazing to witness it. On the other, we have to remember (not hard to do!) that it's a terrible thing we're watching. It's evil and deceit and a level which we had not previously descended to!

This turning point will require change. The nation will catalyze into something else. I'm not sure what this something else is at this point. But one of a few things are going to happen.

Either the left is going to continue and seize and convert this nation, or there is going to be a citizens revolt of some type. I won't detail either, because our imaginations are better than that. Whichever happens is going to require action and the sanctioning of God.

Let me clarify this. God has sanctioned power to somebody in this situation. If this somebody is the left, then nothing we can do will stop them. But if this somebody is us, then we need to act NOW.

However, as these things go, people here on this planet have the amazing propensity of complicating simple things like this with faithlessness and doubt. They'll sit on their hands and come to mountains of grief, when all that would have been required of them to begin with was to step out and declare what will be.

In short...this nation has been tossed. It's up for grabs right now, and if we sit still for too long, the time to fight effectively and win quickly and decisively will pass.

[penelopesire]

Excellent piece! So thankful that we have wonderful writers and thinkers on our side! You should send it to your local paper!

[joanie-f]

There is not a word in your post with which I disagree. And yet I suspect that one in a thousand Americans (if that) is aware of how, and why, the Federal Reserve came into existence. Even fewer see the parallels between that travesty and what is occurring right under our noses.

Have you thought of writing a stand-alone essay expanding on what you have written here? If not, and if you believe it might open some eyes (that's the crucial question these days ... whether you would be wasting your time spitting into the wind), I say, 'Go for it!'

Thank you so much for the insightful commentary, and best to you and yours in these troubling times ...

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[joanie-f]

I’m glad I have not had children to have to tell them about the good old days.

My husband and I have a son and a daughter, both old enough to have children.

He and I were discussing the other day the fact that, as much as we would love to have grandchildren, the state of the world makes us hope that our children never have children. It's bad enough concerning ourselves with the kind of world our children will inherit. Thinking beyond their generation is horrifying.

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[brityank]

Time to restart the House Un-American Activities Committee -- and this time have a firing squad standing ready.

Never have we had such a clear choice for election of a President -- an avowed socialist, using misdirection, obfuscation, and flat out lies is touted by the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democrat majority.

[DTogo]

[Attention Surplus Disorder]

Superb piece. I appreciate your posting it!

[Canedawg]

Skimmed the article while watching college footbal. Fantastic, ands needs further re-reading.

One thing that jumped out is the MSM “righteously ignoring”...wrong word there imo. there were others, too. But overall, A-.

[Freedom'sWorthIt]

God may yet intervene - that’s my prayer too, Guenevere and our only hope.

The forces of evil truly are inside the gate and about to take over.

What has happened is 10 thousands times more damaging than what happened on 911.

I have said for 10 years that the greatest danger to this country is the Clinton Crime Machine. And that the most dangerous terrorist to this country was the Senator from NY.

I was wrong.

It is the entire Democratic party - a criminal machine.

The Republican party has some few brave stalwarts left in it for the truth - but it was infiltrated by the enemy.

Add to that the miseducation of the left in our schools, colleges, and in the media.....

Now the economy is in a shambles and many millions are going to be damaged and those who have done the damage are now going to pass the “rescue” plan which will only keep their billions pouring in from our country’s coffers....

to their pockets....(Acorn and others)

Now this business that a STATE Missouri is now going after those who speak the TRUTH about Obama the liar - this is the new USSR, the new Nazi Germany.

I am sorry to be so “negative” but I can’t shake it. Maybe others will shake it out of me. Good. Am ready for that.

God will have mercy on us if we as a nation turn to him and forsake our sins and confess them and seek His face. But that will not happen. Sadly. The majority in this country now have left the God of our Fathers.

[joanie-f]

I would consider myself 'old', too, ASOC.

And I, too, come into contact with young people, on a daily basis, who still retain the rugged individualism, work ethic, and sense of duty that were so much more common when I was their age.

Yet what I fear (what I see) is that those young people are becoming a smaller and smaller minority. Thanks to absentee parenting, our children's priorities are being dictated more and more by what passes for 'public education' and the media. And I see no turning back from that trend.

I do agree with you that there will always be a core of 'upright' young people that we can count on, but I fear that there will come a day when they are unable to affect a change because rampant corruption and ignorance will render their voices unhearable.

Thank you for the heartfelt comments.

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[joanie-f]

Thanks for the kind words, KoRn. :)

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[Skooz]

Abe Lincoln was a prophet:

“Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant to step the ocean and crush us at a blow? Never!

All the armies of Europe, Asia, and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted) in their military chest; with a Bonaparte for a commander, could not by force take a drink from the Ohio, or make a track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years.

At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad.

If destruction were our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher.

As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide.”

[Nam Vet]

Thanks joanie-f, good points.

Nam Vet

[joanie-f]

There needs to be some really awakening event to focus attention on these issues. Something that will draw everyone's attention and can be used as a waking call.

I would agree with you, three, but for the fact that I believe the attention span of the average American these days runs in the nanoseconds.

After 9/11, there was a re-birth of sorts, but it didn't take more than a year for us to sink back into our apathetic ignorance. Now, seven years later, I believe we are even less vigilant than we were on 9/10/01.

So, even if some pivotal event awakens us, I don't know that it can provide the necessary permanent state of vigilance that our Founders warned us would be required to preserve our freedoms.

With that said, I hope your optimism proves more valid than my pessimism.

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[ForGod'sSake]

What is keeping them from making that association a major issue in this election?

I had the same reaction watching the debate last night. After Obomber's rant blaming the "failed" policies of the Bush administration for the financial mess, I thought to myself as I fastened my seat belt, Obomber just walked into a buzz saw. McCain will lay waste to that inane notion and tie this albatross around the neck of Obomber and his socialist minions where it belongs. Feh! Disappointed? You bet.

Neal Cavuto, who can usually be trusted to at least shed some illumination on some of the undercurrents of the financial markets, hosted a two hour "bailout" special this morning. SURELY he will lay out some of the root causes of this mess; that is, shoddy lending practices brought on by unconscionable legislation by the uber PC insanity of the fools in congress. Not to be. The best he could do is interview (radical?)Tom Tancredo who actually was allowed to make some salient points.

I should maybe re-define "root cause" in a broader sense. The "root" cause is of course a Feral government that only faintly resembles our Founders' vision.

I think I'll have a talk with the Texas governor to see if we can get the ball rolling on a trial separation.

[joanie-f]

This bailout plan will not work. Look for 3 to 5 days of euphoria in the stock market - and then the credit crunch will begin taking place again, and there will be no stopping it for quite a while.

I couldn't agree more. I am positioned to take advantage of the brief 'euphoria', and then I'm out, because it will all be downhill from there (with the possible exception of future temporary 'bailouts', but I don't intend to be a part of them any more than I can avoid).

~ joanie
Allegiance and Duty Betrayed

[joanie-f]

Beautiful pic!