A dangerous wind is blowing

When I was growing up, I was told I lived in a Constitutional Republic. I remember standing in the street during parades, my hand over my heart as the Flag passed me. We had memorized the words as very young children:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic, for which it stands…..”

We all knew the words. I grew up with that as my bedrock understanding of the nation, of the very world in which we grew up.

I went to school and learned in Civics class of so many things. How a bill becomes a law. The separation of powers. The right.. no the DUTY to vote. The incredible sacrifices made by the founders of our Republic, and those who put everything on the line to protect the liberty they believed–no the liberty they knew was bestowed on us by God  Generations of Americans understood this, and taught their children the fact that they were Americans and their birthright was liberty.

Today, I woke up and all that seems to have changed.

This morning I think instead of the Constitutional Republic of the United States of America, a land of laws and not men, a place where all are created equal, I awoke in the Fascist Republic of America.  Now, understand, I am not saying Fascist in the twisted and misused way so many illiterate college kids have used the term. I am not saying ” Amerikka” like the dolts of the 1960’s counterculture era.

fascism

–noun

(sometimes initial capital letter) a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc.,

  The President of the United States today announced that 

   GM was not operating the way he wished, and the CEO was required to step down. 

The President of the United States announced that Chrysler Corp, a privately held corporation will be required to complete a merger with FIAT within 30 days.

Now, AIG, for example has effectively surrendered control by ceding roughly 80 percent of voting stock in return for loans and subsidies from the federal government. While both GM and Chrysler have taken loans, they have not surrendered such control. 

The President has led the mob, staying a few steps ahead while those he selects have felt the heat of the anger of the rabble he stirs up.  Americans are told that the car execs are bad, and people scream for their heads. No one bothers to look at the union bosses, who have not surrendered a penny of their fat pensions and their salaries. If GM for example were to file bankruptcy, the unions would appear in court no better nor worse than any other claimant to GM’s money. Union contracts  would no longer need to be an anchor around the necks of the car companies, But the Unions have long been patrons of Obama’s Democrat party. In order to protect what he perceives to be his political base, President Obama has taken a step and seized control of two private companies. There is simply no justification, no constitutional foundation for this action. If, as he says, this is to restructure them to survive, he is doing something else here too. On Fred Thompson’s radio program on Monday, I heard him make a solid point. Mr. Obama is acting in the role of a bankruptcy judge. This is clearly a violation of the separation of powers. The political branch of government is not the correct place to execute a bankruptcy, it is the purview of the judicial branch. The President has taken so many questionable steps during his short tenure, but this is not questionable. I think it is clear to anyone without a set of political blinders on that what was done here is clearly unconstitutional. Yet no one seems to be making too much noise.

As I said, this morning I woke up in a different country. The constitution is dead. I think no one will appear at the wake. Everyone is afraid their business may be the next one seized.