Bread and Circuses

According to Wikipedia, “ “bread and circuses” is a metaphor for handouts and petty amusements that politicians use to gain popular support, instead of gaining it through sound public policy. It also criticizes the people for giving up their civic duty….Roman politicians devised a plan in 140 B.C. to win the votes of the poor; by giving out cheap food and entertainment, politicians decided that this policy of “bread and circuses” would be the most effective way to rise to power.”

Fast forward nearly 2000 years and our politicians still use the same playbook (i.e., earmarks and entitlements) and ‘we the people’ continue to avoid our civic duty. Thanks to tea parties and other civic-minded groups this has recently started to change for the better. But, unless we understand the gravity of our current situation, we will continue to treat the symptoms and not the disease. The disease is the systematic pillaging of our Republic and its transformation into something altogether different and un-American. 2000 years have done little to change the fundamental nature of man. We must understand that and act accordingly.

Paper is poverty,…it is only the ghost of money, and not money itself.
Thomas Jefferson to Edward Carrington, 1788

In Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution we find that it is up to the Legislative Branch alone “to coin money, regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin, and fix the standard of weights and measures; to provide for the punishment of counterfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States...”. Forget the parsing of lawyers; what does common sense tell us?

A majority of our forefathers did not want a powerful central bank. Commodity money or money pegged to gold and silver would not need a central bank to control inflation and deflation. Fiat or paper money has an artificial value that is manipulated by the Federal Reserve, foreign central banks, and international currency speculators. Although an argument for another time, I maintain that when the dollar was no longer pegged to gold it became counterfeit currency as defined by the Constitution.

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. Thomas Jefferson, 1802

Would-be tyrants, central bankers, and Progressives understand Jefferson’s warning all to well. In fact, national and international Progressives have been applying the 5th Plank of the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx starting with the Federal Reserve Act of 1913. The 5th Plank calls for “Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.” Next the principles of Saul Alinsky are emplaced and supported by the Cloward-Piven strategy. All this does not serve liberty.

Institutions that have grown up around our Federal Reserve, among others, include the “military industrial complex”, our intelligence and clandestine agencies, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Goldman-Sachs and their ilk. Bureaucracies that operate under inertia without Constitutional restraint.

"A hungry people does not listen to reason."
Seneca

The idea is to gain power and control over the people by destroying our Republic. The Progressives in the Federal government created Social Security, Welfare and Medicare. These entitlements were only partially funded by money off the printing press; later various Administrations reallocated money from them to other politically expedient “bread and circuses”. Today we can all appreciate the control these programs have over our lives and wallets. The New Deal, The Great Society, and now a desire for an “America totally transformed”. How will Progressives attempt to do this?

Capitalism in the private sector needs to be limited and controlled by the Federal government (Communist China model?). This is accomplished initially by expanding Federal control over large sectors of the economy (TARP, Bailouts, GM purchase, etc…). The next step calls for strengthening the authority and control of Federal agencies through current entitlements and programs (enter the czars). New programs like national healthcare and carbon emissions control legislation known as “cap and trade” will destroy the private capitalist sector and add more Federal agencies. Environmental initiatives hide their real intentions and prepare us for a return to “little house on the prairie”. Raise costs, lower productivity, collapse the dollar, and the stage is set for the New World Order’s World Government. The economic collapse in the United States will create the perfect storm with which to usher in a world international currency. The latter claims to keep the world’s nations solvent. In the process, our sovereignty and liberty disappear. Central banks and foreign governments call in debts and US sovereign collateral is surrendered. The Constitution would be declared null and void, citizens would be disarmed and Americans would become just another mediocre nation in servitude. What? Too much MTV?

FLASH!!! “March 15, 2010 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. and the U.K. have moved “substantially” closer to losing their AAA credit ratings as the cost of servicing their debt rose, according to Moody’s Investors Service.”

We have been warned that our national credit score is on its way down. Instead of curtailing our spending, the Progressives will risk our liberty for the opportunity to control the economy. The Federal government and many States are consistently spending more than they earn. States must go bankrupt or get a bailout; the Federal government has relied on raising the national debt limit followed by printing the money it needs. Phase one of the Progressive agenda is in play and will only benefit by a California bankruptcy coupled with the massive deficit spending for Obama’s legislative initiatives. Why do you think the Progressive mantra is that “we must spend our way out of this recession”? The present is only the dress rehearsal; think about it.

"I sincerely believe…that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies, and that the principle of spending money to be paid by posterity under the name of funding is but swindling futurity on a large scale."
Thomas Jefferson to John Taylor, 1816

Our currency used to be coined in gold and silver as mandated by the Constitution. In 1971 President Nixon ordered the US off the gold standard and the US Dollar no longer had an inherent value. As the dollar was no longer redeemable for gold, there were no longer any limits on the quantity of money central bankers and politicians could print and circulate. Imagine only paying interest on your credit card balance and each time you needed more money you could just call your bank and increase your card’s available credit. You can also recognize that after a period of time your income would not be sufficient to cover the interest payments, much less the unpaid balance. That is where the Progressive agenda takes us by 2020. Keep in mind that it is not the Obama agenda; he is only the front-man for those with the real power and know-how.

Today the US Dollar is fiat money; it is not backed by any physical asset (collateral such as gold or silver). While a bank will not consider you or me for a loan without collateral, Congress only need pass another spending bill or increase the debt ceiling. A fiat dollar has no inherent value. In 1913 when the dollar was tied to gold, a dollar was worth a dollar. Today, a 1913 dollar worth 100 cents is only worth 4 cents. Get the picture?

US deficit spending that exceeds what our generation can repay must be passed on to the next. We are at the point where our grandchildren have to co-sign our national loan by proxy (You got it! We are the parent or guardian.). We know how our lifestyle is cramped by a lack of disposable income. You make $100 and your expenses are $20; I make $100 and my expenses are $80. Who is in worse shape? Now imagine that our Federal government’s monetary policy deliberately increased our expenses. With incomes unchanged and subject to inflation, our quality of life would go downhill very quickly.

Every time the Federal Reserve provides more money to US banks, each bank makes a profit through interest on each dollar, most of which are loaned out several times. I’m not crazy; it’s called “fractional-reserve banking”. It means that a large quantity of virtual money is created and added to the economy. The bad news is that our savings and the dollars in our next paycheck have just lost value, again. This represents the dirty little secret tax that transfers the value of the dollar we lost to the Federal government and the Central Bank. That is how our dollar has come to be worth 4 cents since 1913. Taxation without representation.

"Corruption and freedom cannot long subsist together."
Charles Carroll, Sr., 1763

The complicated and convoluted terminology thrown at us daily does not help matters. Talking heads on the news (in the business to draw viewers, get ratings, and make a profit) repeat the “gospel according to Greenspan or Bernanke” and make anybody dizzy unless their in on the game. Congressmen like Bernie Frank and Chris Dodd stated emphatically that there was no problem in the housing market.

The housing mortgage crisis was a result of fraudulent actions taken by individuals in and out of government. They knew it was coming and they profited by it. You and I without a job and/or an “upside-down” mortgage are left holding the bag without the benefit of a bailout reserved for government cronies. To put it bluntly, you and I are simply “too small to be bailed”. Not to belabor the point but the commercial mortgage bubble is set to burst late this year or early next year. The real great depression is coming; talk to your grandparents for hints on how to survive it. Wow! Those “old folks” might be of some value after all.

"Let us disappoint the men who are raising themselves on the ruin of this country."
Sam Adams, 1772

The Progressives exist; they are real and they are ready to profit from our misery. This is an historical reality and we can pretend it’s not true at our peril. Corporate malfeasance, political chicanery and enabling, coupled with disinterested greed brought us to this place. Our loss is their gain.

We must return to the origins of our Constitution to eradicate the Progressive cancer in our midst. We must instruct ourselves, become aware, and become involved in local politics. We must prepare for the worst of times by reaching out to our neighbors. And, most importantly, we must be prepared to resist and defend against the counter-revolutionaries in our midst.

"Guard against the postures of pretended patriotism."
George Washington, 1796

We are Americans. Red, Blue or Independent from any background or origin we are Americans. Stand by those who support and defend the US Constitution and believe in the tenets of our Declaration of Independence.

All others, like Progressives, are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

"The television screen may be bright and our comfortable homes may be warm, but outside it is beginning to grow dark and cold."
William J. Lederer, A Nation of Sheep

To those who have ears, let them listen. Once there was the warning of Paul Revere; a warning is being sounded today. Regardless of origin, faith, or politics I will stand with all fellow Americans. Will you stand by me? May we the people prevail; E Pluribus Unum.