Monday, March 30, 2009

Something of historic proportions is happening

By Pam Geller

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, and 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 important.)

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.

About the author: Pamela Geller, Atlas Shrug Blogger:

To contact the author: writeatlas@aol.com

Geller’s publishing career began at The New York Daily News and subsequently took over operation of The New York Observer as Associate Publisher. After the birth of her fourth child she left The Observer but remained involved in various projects including American Associates, Ben Gurion University and being Senior Vice-President Strategic Planning and Performance Evaluation at The Brandeis School. After 9/11 she immersed in the understanding and educating Islam’s geopolitics, terror, foreign affairs and its imminent threats the mainstream media and the government wouldn’t cover or discuss. Geller is the winner of the ‘Best New Blog’, ‘2005 Jewish and Israeli Blog Award’ and a finalist in the ‘2005 Weblog Awards.’ The objective of her blog is to cover related but hardly reported issues and events of great importance and her blog acts as a counter terrorism tool fighting the great fight, changing the world one word at a time. As a leading authority she is regularly interviewed and routinely confers with leading scholars on the Middle East, Islam, Eurabia, China and Russia issues providing unblinking and glaring examination of global affairs. She is also a member of Pajamas Media.

11 comments:

  1. Obama told us what he was, but too few people were really listening. He told us we weren't going to have control over our own lives anymore when he said we could no longer drive our SUV's, eat what we want or heat our homes at 72 degrees. But too few people were listening.

    He told us what he was in his two autobiographies. He admitted that Marxism was his favorite philosophy. But too few people believed him.

    Over 42% of Americans don't pay federal income taxes. They have Congressional representation without the taxation and they are very willing to be slaves to the state. The rest of us, the productive, responsible people, remember when Congress worked for for, not when we worked for Congress.

    The political class has become the new aristocracy. They pass rules we must all obey but that they are free to disregard. They pass legislation which benefits them and their private businesses but which punish the rest of us.

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  2. It is irrefutable that Obama wants more of our nation's citizens to rely on the government.

    Even his supporters started to admit this after Obama announced his new tax structure on charitable donations.

    From Dick Morris:

    In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, 4 million taxpayers had adjusted gross incomes of $200,000 or more. They comprised 3 percent of the tax returns, made 31 percent of the income, but donated 44 percent of all charitable contributions. Together, they provided charity with $81 billion in that year.

    Obama's plan will cost them $10 billion in extra taxes on the income they allocated to charitable donations.

    How can the president be so glibly certain that they will not curtail their charitable contributions by a like amount or even more?

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  3. Some of the smartest people in the country figured out months ago what Obama was all about. The accurately predicted he would demean capitalism as a greedy philosophy and would pit those with money against those without.

    This is why so many of our best corporations have been leaving the country. The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and Investor's Business Daily have reported that hundreds of corporations have already left America, and that every day hundreds more are holding meetings to determine whether they should leave.

    Our tax base has shrunk, Obama's stimulus legislation moves the 42% of Americans who don't pay federal income tax closer to the 50% mark, and the productive tax payer is going to be shouldering a much larger burden as a result.

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  4. Pam Geller has brilliantly articulated the many fears spreading throughout our ailing nation. During last years campaign many of us expressed concerns about Barak Obama, his obvious lack of experience and his long association with far left radicals. Despite these concerns I personally hoped that after his historic election Obama would moderate his views somewhat and lead from the middle to ensure that the first African-American President would earn a place in history as a great American.

    Alas, it was not to be. President Obama with the help of Pelosi and Reid has us surging to the left and pushing budgets and spending that will irreversibly change our once great nation. Hubris and inexperience make him believe that he can do anything. Just wave the magic wand and his promises and good wishes all come true.

    Americans who know the meaning of patriotism and principles must join together to resist in every peaceful way the destructive changes being perpetrated by the Obama administration and our dysfunctional congress.

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  5. Good post, Dick. For a few days, I too hoped Obama would moderate his views.

    But it's not suprising that he hasn't.
    He told us repeatedly what he was - a radical lefty is putting it kindly. There was a slight hope he was just pushing for the MoveOn vote, but a read of his autobiographies and review of his hard left friendships with terrorists and murderers made it pretty apparent we were being naive to even hope he would moderate his views.

    This is all manufactured chaos and misdirection. Obama is delighted we're angry over the AIG bonuses because it helps deflect attention away from his tax cheating cabinet members, billions of dollars in earmarks (that he promised would not happen), but most importantly because it deflects attention from his radical agenda that is going to forever change the face of America.

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  6. It is impossible to escape the parallels between Guenter Reimann's account of doing business under the Nazis and the "compassionate," "responsible," and regulated "capitalism" of today's U.S. economy. At least the German government was frank enough to give the right name to its system of economic control.

    From the article:

    http://mises.org/freemarket_detail.aspx?control=54&sortorder=articledate

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  7. Peach:

    Cite your sources for the claims in your first comment, specifically the details of when and where Obama said we could no longer drive SUV's, eat what we want, or heat our homes to 72 degrees.

    Also, provide specific quotation and published reference for your claim that Obama "admitted that Marxism was his favorite philosophy."

    Lastly, explain with credible statistics from non-partisan sources your claim that "over 42% of Americans don't pay federal income taxes."

    I'm waiting...

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  8. Mr. Clean -

    I apologize for the fact that my links weren't "live".

    You can copy the links and paste them into your address bar.

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  9. Gosh, give someone a few links they can't dispute and it gets awfully quiet around here.

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  10. "There is a reason Europe is now referred to as Eurabia."

    There is no such thing as Eurabia except in the mind of conspiracy theorists and Europeans-haters.

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  11. Dear Mr. Krebs, One does not need to be a "conspiracy theorist" to view the statistics on birth rates in Europe and determine that Europeans are losing the race. I lived in Europe for several years and the culture we knew and loved will soon be overrun. I wish it were not so.

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