Two Americas

by Glenn Smith Jr.

 We are on the brink of a civil divide in this nation that could rival the North vs. South divide that resulted in the Civil War. Sadly, our current president is fostering and promoting the things that are making this divide grow. This morning I was contemplating the events of the last year and a half of the Obama administration. My contemplations caused me to consider that there are now two competing economic forces at play in this country. Both are working to acquire YOUR money.

 First is the traditional “private” sector economy. This is known as the free market, where products are produced and sold, for a profit. It also includes a supporting service industry that works hand in hand to grow the private markets. In this economy, people (the market) determine if a product or service provides enough value to survive and be profitable. This economy is driven by innovation and competition. If your product or service doesn’t live up to expectations or is too highly priced, your business will not survive. The United States was built on this economy and became the most powerful economic force in the world.

 The second economy is the “public” sector. This is the government and all of its agencies. This economy produces no products and is largely self-serving. Since it produces no products for sale, it can only raise revenue by extracting it from another source, taxes. Since this is non-wealth producing it can only be supported if there is a wealth producing economy from which to extract revenue.

 Today we are seeing an ideological battle rage right before our eyes between those who want the public sector to grow and the private sector to shrink and those who believe that a private sector economy with a limited government is the best way to bring lasting prosperity. One side promotes the concept that no one should be allowed to have anything that looks like a mass fortune. This large mass of wealth should be spread around to those who don’t currently possess it, whether they earned it or not. The prevailing thought is that everyone should have an equal amount of wealth and thus no one would have an unfair economic advantage over anyone else. In another time, this was called Communism. This is the socialist society that was has been tried in several European countries. It supposes that individual liberty should be given up for the greater good of the government and that the government would then shoulder the responsibility of “meeting the people’s needs”. In the USSR, this failed miserably and millions of people died of starvation. There was no real growth in the Russian economy (outside of the military) and the country eventually collapsed under the crushing weight of its poverty. Those who hold to the ideals of a free market society believe that the power of self determination should not be hindered by an over-reaching government. They become concerned when the government rises up beyond the scope of its constitutional design.

Today, in the USA, we are being challenged to accept that the socialist model is the best option for our future. A small minority of “elite” thinkers have decided that you and I are simply not capable of surviving or prospering on our own. This concept is being promoted in such a way that anyone who disagrees with it is being branded as a hater or worse. Those who want this ideology to take root and become the way of the land resort to character assassination and all forms of slander and misinformation to belittle or silence those who they view as the enemy. Thus we are seeing the rise in power of the government economy.

 What is my evidence for this conjecture? It starts with the willing players in the game, including large elements of the general media, the liberal members of Congress, and the president himself. These groups surround themselves with an extreme element of their ideology and use them as a tool for their cause. It is seem in the systematic take-over of formerly private sector industries by laws passed by the legislature combined with the fiat declarations of the president through his administrative agencies. Look carefully at the major legislative “victories” touted by the Obama administration in the last 18 months. First was the passage of the TARP laws. This was a joint effort between rival parties to try to “save” the financial system from collapse. Was it necessary? Probably not. Did it work? That is at best debatable. The one thing it did do for sure was to give the incoming president an opportunity to begin a methodical intrusion into the private economy. Armed with a budget of billions of dollars and minimal congressional oversight, the administration was able to begin to rework the financial landscape and put itself in an unprecedented position of power and control. This was highlighted by the bailout of GM and Chrysler. Again, working to “save” the economy, the Obama administration was able to literally fast-track the bankruptcy of two major corporations. The end result was the elimination of the holdings of the private investors and replacing them with a collaboration of government, union, and banks under the banner of new ownership. All of this was done under the guise of preventing the total collapse of the US economy. How has it worked? GM and Chrysler are still with us but they are both being out-performed by the one auto manufacturer that didn’t take any bail out, Ford. Ford Motor Company is showing increasing profit and growth while introducing several new and innovative products that the market is buying.

This country has always had historical cycles of growth and recession in its economics. It is much like the natural flow of the ocean tides. If you study world history, you will find this to be a truism throughout all of civilized society. Things go up and down. In the 1930’s we saw companies come and go during the Great Depression. Out of this arose the most powerful economy on the planet. FDR, through his New Deal policies, tried then to have the government seize control of the banks and private sector economy. Fortunately the Supreme Court threw out most of his programs and thus allowed the US economy to not only recover buy to expand.  Mr. Obama is now trying to do it again. Following the take-over of GM and Chrysler, the target was health care insurance reform. Congress took up the call to “fix” the health care insurance system in the US. It was deemed to be unacceptable that there were people who didn’t have insurance. While there seemed to be a noble cause here, all that resulted was a plethora of new agencies and be bureaucracies that would require vast amounts of funding to operate. Not only did this not “fix” the stated problems, it has probably exasperated them. This law was never actually debated, and in many cases, even read. The leaders of the Democratic party pushed through a massive bill by hook and crook. Much of the process itself was an affront to constitutional function. Now we are beginning to see what is actually there, and how little it has to do with “health care”. By a blind vote and the stroke of a pen, many of your freedoms and rights were waived.

 Financial reform was next. This has been a multi-pronged attack. The federal government has taken over the mortgage industry by acquiring complete control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. An artificial “problem” was created by the irresponsible actions of previous sessions of Congress as they passed regulations that forced private lenders to make decisions that they would not have made otherwise. This, combined with regulations created that allowed home mortgages to be bundled together and sold on the stock market, lead to an unsustainable rise in real estate prices, ultimately culminating in a housing bubble that popped. When this happened it sent the financial world into a tail spin, causing millions of people to lose their homes.  The same people who created this mess now control the institutions that hold all of the cards. Private property ownership is going to be a thing of the past if we don’t find a way to move the government out of the mortgage industry. The student loan industry became the next target, with congress giving the executive branch the ability to completely control it. Again, private industry has been removed from the process, leaving the government as the only player in the game. Finally, Congress has now has passed sweeping new regulations that will give it almost unlimited control over the banking industry. In addition to this new level of oversight, the SEC has been exempted from the Freedom of Information Act and no longer can be heal accountable by the public. As the government consolidates its power, it is also shielding itself from the public eye. This no longer represents a government “for the people, of the people and by the people”; it represents the beginnings of as dictatorship.

Climate and energy is the next target. With that the federal government will be in a position to possibly eliminate or control almost every element of the US economy.

 How does this affect the average citizen of the US now? There are now two separate bodies of citizens developing in the United States, one that is employed and controlled by the government and one that still believes in individual liberty with a free market economy. This is a very dangerous thing. If it continues to develop, it could lead to a civil war. I hope I am wrong, but I believe that is exactly what the current administration wants. There are those in power right now that will stop at nothing to retain that power. If you look at the facts, you have to conclude that the progressive or liberal causes are all structured in such a way as to tighten their grip on the power and never to let it go. The people of this country have stated emphatically that they DO NOT want these programs yet the government has proceeded unimpeded to pass them anyway. You can only conclude that the people in power right now have one purpose in doing this, the complete elimination of the individual liberty that this country was founded on.

If you are in the private sector in business, you are being targeted for elimination. If you, as a citizen, stand up and challenge the moves this government makes, you are going to be targeted for removal. Look at what is happening as our freedoms are being eroded by every new order that is issued by the federal government. We have a president who has told us that too much information is a bad thing. In response to this, his administration is proposing controls and restrictions on the internet. They want to give the president almost unlimited authority to shut down various forms of communication if he deems it to be a security threat. It is at his discretion to determine what the definition of “a threat” is.

We are supposed to be a country defined by the rule of law. Yet, if you are here illegally, you are somehow exempt. Our president refuses to protect the borders and even goes as far as to sue anyone who does. This is treasonous at best. If you are part of any religious group that speaks out against the moral decay of our country, you are now at risk of being jailed. People are being excluded from public meetings and removed from public lands because of their religious beliefs. The course of this country is being determined by a very small minority of people who think that their views should carry more weight than anyone else’s. It is not enough for these people to have the right to voice their opinion, they want to impose their opinion on you and have it mandated by law. They tell us that we must be tolerant, yet this standard is one that they exempt themselves from. What is happening is the total annihilation of individual liberty. This is not what this country stands for.

When are we who still believe in the free society that was formed by our Constitution going to say “it is enough”? We do still have the right to vote, although that is not being equally protected. We must exercise that right and do it in a manner that tells those who would be our masters that they are not welcome to just do as they please. We must elect people to office that will honor the constitution and the rule of law. We must demand that when elected they actually do so. I challenge all who would read this to go and read the US Constitution for yourself. Take the time to become informed by what is actually there as opposed to what the nightly news tells you is there. It is not too late to restore America to its greatness. It is not too late to preserve the freedom of worship or speech. If we, as a people, band together to take back the authority given to us by our founding fathers, we can make America one America again.

Glenn Smith Jr. is the Co-Creator of Regularguy.com and the author of The Key of Forgiveness (available on Amazon.com)

Tags: Columnists, Elections, Immigration

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 - 2:33 PM
Category: Government.

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