Tipping Point

Cleon Skousen made a wise argument years ago.  He said that the big question in the choice of a government system is not between Democrat and Republican, or even Conservative and Liberal - it is the choice between tyranny and liberty.

The source of the following quote is questionable, but I like it anyway - -

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largesse out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy."

America is at an interesting point in its history.  When you look at the political landscape in America, you quickly discover that the urban, densely populated areas of the country incline towards voting Democratic, while the heartland seems to prefer the Republicans.  Union members typically prefer Democrats, as do blacks, Hispanics, women, college students, illegal immigrants, Hollywood and the vast majority of the mainstream media.

Democrats typically argue for bigger government programs, more government control, more entitlement programs, more "redistribution" of private wealth, more taxation, more regulation of businesses, and more safety net programs for the sick and the poor.

In recent presidential election cycles, the actual popular vote for president has been extremely close, sometimes swinging only one or two percent in either direction.  The electoral college system, however, makes certain states - Florida, Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Colorado and others - into pivotal swing states.  Win those states and you can be president.

There are reportedly some 12 million illegal aliens in America.  Like black people, these people would likely pick Balack Obama 99 to 1.  Why?  Because Obama wants to give them amnesty and a quickie path to U.S. citizenship.  Why?  Because he knows that if he can get these immigrants the right to vote, they will vote for him - A.) Because he was the one to let them in, and B.) Because he will give them all the free stuff he can possibly give them - free medical care, free food, free housing, free everything.

So, if the voting bloc that prefers to tax the private sector in order to fund public benefits for itself grows by millions, then the liberal Democratic model will take permanent control and never look back.

You may ask why any politician would be so stupid as to desire to take our country in such a direction.  Well, if you are the politician who doles out the free benefits from the public trough, you can control the public resources and control the people who receive them.  So we come back to the liberty:tyranny paradigm.  It is the tension between a local government controlled by the people, and a powerful, centralized government which controls the people.

Don't think that I believe that the Republicans are more righteous than the Democrats.  The tyrannies perpetrated by the Bush administration were breathtaking -  9/11, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, and the Patriot act.  Corporations bribe politicians and finance their campaigns.

One thing is sure - we are at a tipping point.  We have lost our understanding of the principles of freedom.  We have embraced secular myths such as evolution and atheism.  We have entertained a melting pot of ideas and racial carmelization.  It can no longer be said that our ideals are clear and consistent.  What was a nation of Christians is now a nation of who-knows-what.  The Constitution was voided with the fraudulent passage of the 14th Amendment.  It "hangs by a thread".  Corruption and sin are rampant.  The Gadianton Robbers have confiscated all four corners of the earth.  All men are enslaved. 

We have looked into the heavens and counted some 250 billion suns (solar systems) in our Milky Way galaxy.  So far also, we have counted perhaps 250 billion GALAXIES like ours !!!  I don't believe that any of the life forms here on earth arrived here by any other means than by transplantation. The Gods know what they are doing.  They have been at this terra-forming game for a long time.  I should not be so cynical about the progress and decline of our Father's children on this planet.  He placed us here.  He knew what we would do.  He knows how it will end.  He knows what He will do to wrap things up.  He is doing what He has done on numerous other planets.  If given the chance, we will do the same ourselves one day.

Still, it is bracing to be around at this spectacular tipping point.  Here are some prophetic predictions from Nephi in America 2600 years ago:

 5.   But, said he, notwithstanding our afflictions, we have obtained a ^aland of promise, a land which is ^bchoice above all other lands; a land which the Lord God hath ^ccovenanted with me should be a land for the inheritance of my seed. Yea, the Lord hath ^dcovenanted this land unto me, and to my children forever, and also all those who should be ^eled out of other countries by the hand of the Lord.

 6.   Wherefore, I, Lehi, prophesy according to the workings of the Spirit which is in me, that there shall ^anone come into this land save they shall be brought by the hand of the Lord.

 7.   Wherefore, this ^aland is consecrated unto him whom he shall bring. And if it so be that they shall serve him according to the commandments which he hath given, it shall be a land of ^bliberty unto them; wherefore, they shall never be brought down into captivity; if so, it shall be because of iniquity; for if iniquity shall abound ^ccursed shall be the land for their sakes, but unto the righteous it shall be blessed forever.

8.   And behold, it is wisdom that this land should be ^akept as yet from the knowledge of other ^bnations; for behold, many nations would overrun the land, that there would be no place for an inheritance.

 9.   Wherefore, I, Lehi, have obtained a ^apromise, that ^binasmuch as those whom the Lord God shall bring out of the land of Jerusalem shall keep his commandments, they shall ^cprosper upon the face of this land; and they shall be kept from all other nations, that they may possess this land unto themselves. And if it so be that they shall ^dkeep his commandments they shall be blessed upon the face of this land, and there shall be none to molest them, nor to take away the land of their ^einheritance; and they shall dwell safely forever.

 10.   But behold, when the time cometh that they shall dwindle in ^aunbelief, after they have received so great blessings from the hand of the Lord—having a knowledge of the creation of the earth, and all men, knowing the great and marvelous works of the Lord from the creation of the world; having power given them to do all things by faith; having all the commandments from the beginning, and 

having been brought by his infinite goodness into this precious land of promise—behold, I say, if the day shall come that they will reject the Holy One of Israel, the true ^bMessiah, their Redeemer and their God, behold, the judgments of him that is ^cjust shall rest upon them.

 11.   Yea, he will bring ^aother nations unto them, and he will give unto them power, and he will take away from them the lands of their possessions, and he will cause them to be ^bscattered and smitten. (2 Nephi 1, 1-11)

Wizard of Oz

I have never watched the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" from start to finish.  What I did see though, was, I think, a clever metaphor for an interesting aspect of humanity.  We do not want to be disappointed by our heroes, our clerics or our government.  Who would have thought that Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Bakker, Bill Clinton and Tiger Woods were committing adultery?  Who, among the Mormon faithful, would want to discover that the beloved 'prophet', Thomas Monson, has not had any revelations or prophecies?

Still, we press on gullibly.  I was reading yesterday about the three huge bombs found in the Oklahoma City federal building on the day that it was blown up.  Local news reports made no mention of a Ryder truck.  A federal government representative at the time commented that people simply need to have more faith and trust in the integrity of the federal government.

On 9/11/01, the WTC twin towers crashed to the ground.  At some distance away, WTC Building 7 remained largely unscathed, except for having been pelted with some flying, burning debris.  The owner decided, however, that this minor damage to the building warranted its immediate demolition, and called for the building to be "pulled" (code for planned demolition). So, a few hours after buildings 1 and 2 mysteriously imploded, Building 7 collapsed neatly into its own footprint.  Even more bizarre is the fact that a British reporter announced that the building had collapsed 20 minutes before it really did.  If you are not hopelessly gullible, you must already understand that WTC Building 7 could not have imploded without someone having gone in there days earlier and placed demolition explosives. 

I saw a newsflash yesterday announcing that the Japanese government is issuing a stimulus.  If all of the Western nations are over-extended with borrowing, who is lending them money? - - Cuba, North Korea, Afghanistan, Somalia, Germany?  The U.S. just hit the $16 Trillion debt mark, and recent articles report that China's debts rival U.S. debt, so who is lending all this money to these huge nations, and, if those nations don't pay up, how will that "WHO" collect on the delinquencies?

Come on! We both know that if you tally up the debt/credit balances of all the borrower nations, they don't add up to zero $$.  The people lending to the countries are not the countries - it is private bankers - private bankers who lend to corporations AND to governments.  When those banker families lend those governments as much money as there is in circulation in the entire nation, then there are no more shekels left with which to pay the INTEREST !!!!!  Then what?  You know what !!!!

They print more paper money.  Last week Bernanke announced QE3.  What is that?  QE3 (Quantitative Easing) is the third instance (in recent history) of the Federal Reserve (a private bank) printing BILLIONS of funny-money notes.  QE3 will involve the Fed buying $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities each month.  Counterfeiting would be a better description.  When you expand the supply of paper money, its value shrinks, you get SCREWED, and gas and food prices rise.  Just you watch !!

Once again, I ask you - WHY do not the borrower nations (who are doomed to never be able to pay back their gargantuan debts) rise up and repudiate the banker families who have swindled them/us?

Because they are in on the scam, silly!

Nero fiddled while Rome burned.  Will Obama or Romney be the Fiddler on the roof this time around?  (And will the Wizard of Oz salvage us?)