An analysis I read by Kevin Newscome explains our trepidation, “We are truly a divided people, who agree or disagree along party, ethnic, racial and religious lines. Much like the priests of centuries past, no decision can be made without first consulting our appointed political or social leaders. We take sides with differing factions within our country, arguing about single issues that are presented to us and whose sole purpose is to divide us into isolated groups. Instead of meaningful debate about the future of our nation, we receive only distractions. .. We seek leaders, but only receive figureheads. We have ceased being Americans. We are conservatives or liberals. We are environmentalists or corporate interests, Catholics or Protestants, hawks or doves, black or white. The people of America are divided among many lines, ultimately under the confines of a system of right and left… we are so distracted by civil war of right and left, we aren’t aware of our country vanishing before our eyes…”

This is the right/left paradigm I’m trying to escape. Why have my beloved Republicans allowed the security of our borders to completely deteriorate? Whose last administration enacted the USA Patriot Act (signed into law shortly after 9-11), by which the government no longer needs probable cause to enact search warrants for your library records, hard drives, or even bookstore receipts? Any one of us can now be labeled a “terrorist” and readily lose our constitutional protections. I believed this was acceptable for a long time, because surely my benevolent Republicans wouldn’t do anything not in the best interest of the American people. Where is the left on this issue now that President Obama is in power? He promised to address the Patriot Act but has instead strengthened it. Why did President Bush proclaim that he “abandoned free market principles to save the free market system” with the bailouts that are a deathblow to the economy? The Democrats are also a nightmare. Why is the Obama administration failing to police deals in which banks participating in the $700 billion federal bailout lent billions of dollars overseas? Why did President Obama say he “will urge banks to increase their lending, and possibly provide some incentives, [but] it will not dictate to the banks how they should spend the billions of dollars in new government money.” (The New York Times February 10, 2009)? The policies of both administrations are eerily similar, and the players have remained virtually the same, which has led me to the conclusion that our leaders are simply puppets of the true powers that be.

A book I read in the early 90’s called “The Planned Destruction of America” outlined a hellish conspiracy theory. I revisited this idea as I watched the Bush administration make my conservative heart faint with the $700 billion bailout. The book explained that the Federal Reserve Act, through the federal reserve authorized a private central bank (a PRIVATE bank and NOT a government agency) to create money out of nothing, lend it to the government at interest, and control the national money supply, expanding or contracting it at will. Nothing has been the same since. We now print fifty cents to every dollar borrowed, and are necessarily headed toward hyperinflation. The powers that be are in the process of enslaving the nations of the world with debt. Our children are now born into a household of $546,688 of debt- this is unspeakably immoral. Our constitutional rights are being destroyed and our economy is in a shambles. We are headed toward desperate times. So I applaud people who have the courage to “swim up stream” and post links to things that spur discussion and debate, even when I don’t agree. But beware, famous evil geniuses like Julius Caesar and Adolph Hitler understood how to use this divisiveness to pave the way for tyranny. Newscome goes on to give a historical perspective: “Caesar captured Gaul (roughly modern France) by inciting civil war between the Celtic tribes who inhabited the area, encouraging them to attack and annihilate one another to the point of total exhaustion. This allowed the future Dictator For Life to march in to (and out of) Gaul not only a hero, but a savior as well. Through his divide and conquer techniques, Caesar portrayed himself to be the only assurance of peace, and through this campaign of propaganda, controlled much of the world. An aspiring 20th century dictator named Adolph Hitler patterned his future empire along similar lines. Hitler,obsessed on the idea of racial purity, and inspired racial and religious hatred to such a degree that an estimated 6 million people were murdered in concentration camps, many from the hands of their fellow countrymen.” Liberals and conservatives disagree on many heart wrenching issues, but just as the great evil leaders of the past used dissension to confuse the people, I believe there is a false left/right paradigm that is today being used to distract us, as a people, from fundamental issues that threaten us all.

Yes I’ve become one of those foil hat people. I’m glad to do my part to add to the diversity of your FB friends Rob!

I heard Colin Powell say much the same thing recently, as he is under attack for trying to have a rational discourse. The poor guy! He’s living my life since we came out of the closet, so to speak, to work for Obama last year.

I have to say, though, it has been a good and enlightening experience, indeed, an enriching experience to be on the receiving end of the sheer weight of the condemnation and disapproval voiced at fever pitch by those who…love me? I am chastened and saddened to think that perhaps at times I have done this to others.

I must check into further into Wood’s Tea.

Funny you use Junk City as an example for the Nazareth quote, because I used that exact wording when my dad told me the new KSU football coach (Ron Prince, this was a few years ago) had gone to high school there. I’ve no doubt that plenty of worthy, competent people live in that town but of course as a Manhattan High Indian, well, we just hate the Blue Jays, you know?

Asserted the Bucksportian, or Bucksporter, or Bucksportite, or whatever I am!