Northern Illinois Patriots

 It is no coincidence that, as our worldwide educational rankings have plummeted from number one to number 23 and 24 in math and reading we have become a nation of politically uneducated citizens. As the cost per student has soared the academic credentials of our students continues to plummet. Our public schools have become indoctrination mills and day care centers.

Students exit the public schools little if any understanding of the workings of our government or its history. They do not understand the Separation of Powers, the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the concept of limited and defined power of the Federal government. They are taught to despise capitalism, to rebuke the successful, and to embrace the welfare state.

They are taught that our rights come for our government not God, that religion represents a threat to the government. They are taught that the states derive their power from the Federal government rather than the converse.

The latest election confirmed our worst fears. As Mark Twain once said, “If you don’t read the papers you are uninformed and if you read the papers you are misinformed.” We are now a nation that is both uninformed and misinformed. Voters chose to reelect a President with most abysmal record in our nation’s history. Rather than display an ability to study the facts and exhibit the skills of critical thinking, they chose their candidate based on 30 second sound bites.

We have become a third world nation of political illiterates. We have traded in our intellects and our morals and become a nation of sheep led by a self-proclaimed Messiah. This last election put on display, for the world to see, the Dumbing Down of America.

 The Republican buzzword for surrender is “compromise”. John Boehner once stated, “Sometimes it’s hard to do the right thing.” Republicans seem resigned to raising taxes to avoid the “fiscal cliff” and reduce the budget deficit.

Good never compromises with bad, right never compromises with wrong, and justice never compromises with injustice. But, in a nation that has lost its moral compass, what was once crystal clear no longer sees the light of day.

Did Jesus compromise when faced with crucifixion? Did Christians compromise when facing persecution? Did Patton or McArthur compromise when facing the enemy? Would a parent compromise when it comes to the safety and security of their family?

We have become a nation that no longer recognizes a moral standard or a power greater than our government. We have corrupted our media, our family values, our Judeo Christian roots, our Constitution, the rule of law, the Separation of Powers, the sanctity of marriage, and our civility.

Our values and our spirit distinguish us from other living creatures. We have sold our souls to the devils to satisfy our thirst for power and material things. If we do not have our honor and our dignity we have nothing of value. Do we want to be remembered as a people of unshakeable principles or a people of pitiable Compromise?

 What do European countries and the United States have in common: a Socialist form of government, devalued currency, high unemployment, scant economic growth, a downgraded credit rating, bloated bureaucracies, out-of-control entitlement spending and government pensions, a shrinking private sector, burdensome regulations, onerous taxes, and class warfare?

Europe is an economic catastrophe and appears unwilling to admit that Socialism and Keynesian economics have led them into a financial abyss. As Margaret Thatcher said, “The problem with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other peoples’ money.” As the number of people living off the government dole increases and the number of people available to support them decreases a tipping point is reached and their economies come to a screeching halt.

But President Obama, the self-proclaimed “smartest man in the world”, believes that problem is not the system; the people running the system are the problem. Rather than learn form the mistakes of other nations, President Obama is doubling down on failure. Rather than learn from history he is determined to repeat it.

The mark of any good manager or leader is the ability to objectively self-evaluate their performance and make the adjustments necessary to achieve their primary goals. But President Obama, a man with no economic, financial, or management experience and a penchant for ignoring the advice of others, lacks the background necessary to right our sinking ship.

But European countries have found a loyal follower and have taken heart. After all, Misery Loves Company.

 The Obama administration fancies themselves as masters of manipulating numbers and statistics. But numbers and statistics are a dual edged sword. Relying on an ignorant apathetic electorate they have forgotten how easy it is to access the same numbers foisted on the public.

So let’s look at the projected Obama numbers: $45.8 trillion in spending through 2021, $26.3 trillion projected Federal debt through 2020, $10.9 trillion increase in Federal Debt, $9.5 trillion in additional debt, $6 trillion paid in interest on debt, $2.6 trillion for the cost of Obamacare, $1.75 trillion in annual cost for regulations.

Current Obama expenditures: $831 billion for the cost of the failed Stimulus, $575 billion in cuts for Medicare, $569 billion in annual taxes for Obama Care, $160 billion in taxpayer dollars spent in Fannie and Freddie, $109 billion annually for the cost of new regulations, $18 billion in expected losses for the auto bailout, 45 million people receiving food stamps, and 14 million unemployed workers.

But the list does not end there: 6.8 million new foreclosures, 6.3 million unemployed 27 weeks or longer, 3.8 million more people in poverty, 3.1 million people granted Obama Care waivers, 2.5 million jobs lost since Obama took office, 1.6 million personal bankruptcies, 980,000 people who have given up looking for work, 1 million construction jobs and 850,000 manufacturing jobs lost, $280,000 per stimulus job, 46,000 pages of new rules added, and a record number of pages added to the Federal Register.

This represents just a portion of the devastation that has been inflicted on taxpayers. But the Obama administration has a total disconnect with the impact their policies have on us. For President Obama it is just a Numbers Game.

 The mainstream media, once again carrying the President’s water and continuing its assault on the “evil rich”, they were only too happy to report on increased earnings for private sector CEO’s. Compensations that can range from several million to 10 million brought righteous indignation from the far left. At least these individuals are responsible for millions or billions of private sector dollars and thousand of private sector jobs. They cannot print their own money, arbitrarily raise their revenues, or necessarily borrow money.

Contrast their compensation with the $50 million earned annually by Justin Bieber and Lady Ga Ga or the $125 million earned last year by Oprah Winfrey. And what about the 10’s of millions earned annually by our President’s favorite movie stars, producers and directors and campaign contributors or the 10’s of millions earned annually by sports figures? And what about the evil rich George Soros?

When you have a abysmal record as President you have little choice but to make other people appear even more pathetic than yourself. Is it the President and his minions that will decide how much money we are allowed to make and keep or who is allowed to succeed and who must fail? With the passing of Stalin, Chairman Mao, Saddam Hussein, Karl Marx, and Adolph we thought the era of dictatorships was behind us but apparently not. The gathering of the storm clouds of tyranny is indeed Ominous.

 The State poster child for Socialism, California, is facing a reduction in the number of teachers for the fourth year in a row with potentially 20,000 teachers losing their jobs. What is most shocking to teachers is the fact that they may suffer the same fate as private sector employees, namely layoffs.

California is facing a budget deficit of $20 billion while its total outstanding debt is $2.3 trillion. Employee pension funds are underfunded by $500 billion dollars. They have become the state version of our Federal financial fiasco. While the teacher’s union likes to point out that is costs the school districts about $700 to process each noticed teacher, it pales in comparison to the annual cost of salaries and benefits.

Their familiar refrain on the reason for budget deficits is underfunding not overspending. The truth is: more revenues means more spending not a reduction in the budget deficit. Corporations, small businesses, and individuals must balance their budget and insure that their expenditures do not exceed their income but government feels no such constraints.

 Socialism has been tried and has failed every time it has been tried. There is the presumption on the part of Socialists that they can better spend our money than we can. But our Federal government and California underscores that false assumption. To think that our favorite west coast state has a clue on balancing their budget would be California Dreaming.

 It has often been said that the only things in life that are certain are death and income taxes. We can now add a third certainty, financial and moral collapse. An old expression, fat, dumb, and happy used to describe anyone oblivious to current events and predictable outcomes.

We have added $5 trillion in new debt in just three short years, made trillion dollar budget deficits commonplace, and accumulated $100 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. The Federal Reserve has printed $16 trillion in unsecured paper money for fund foreign and domestic bailouts.

Our porous unguarded borders have caused a rapid rise in crime, depleted state funds for social service programs, and made our nation more susceptible to terrorist attacks. We have decreased our military preparedness, embraced our enemies, and shunned our allies. We have a true unemployment rate close to 11% and a combined unemployment and underemployment rate close to 20%. Our housing market is in shambles and repressive regulations make gains in employment nearly impossible. Much of our population remains mired in generational welfare.

Public education is in a state of decline and Christianity is under attack. Crime, divorce, illegitimacy, and illiteracy are at all time highs. Immorality and perversity pervade our advertising, books, music, movies, and television. We have come to believe that the actions we and our government have taken will have no consequences. What is certain, unless we reverse the direction we have taken as individuals and as a nation there will be a Day of Reckoning.

 As parents we have all experienced a child of boundless curiosity, when presented with a request or a demand, ask “Why?” And which of us, having worked in the private sector, have not heard our supervisors say, “We always do it this way or we never do it that way.”

As Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor, stated in 1887, in the devolution of a democracy, abundance is invariably followed by complacency and apathy. In the H G Wells book, the Time Machine, the Eloi, a society of childlike adults is hampered by their lack of curiosity and discipline. They do no work and live in a peaceful communist society where strength and intellect are no longer advantageous to survival.

We have come to accept a tyrannical government that acts in an extra constitutional manner. We do not question debilitating generational welfare programs, taking the life of unborn infants, mandatory education, the regulation of what we eat, drink, wear, breathe, drive or the homes we live in. We do not question economic generational theft, political corruption and lies, the denial of right to the free expression of our religious beliefs, or the indoctrination of our children in public schools.

We do not question oppressive taxation, the squandering of our tax dollars, the destruction of our heritage and culture, the security of our borders, the abandonment of the rule of law, class warfare, our moral decay, and the loss of inalienable rights endowed by our Creator. We must abandon the indifference that threatens the greatest society the world has seen and begin to ask Why?

A very savvy and succinct friend makes the following comment:

The tyranny of a majority indoctrinated and captured by an elite controlling the media, academia, government bureaucracies, and big labor is now the problem. The elites seek to implement the French model of 'beneficent' elites running the lives of the great unwashed in exchange for their permanence in power. They, of course, can do a better job than 'impersonal' capitalist markets.

 I and many Americans have wondered why the stock market continues to recover while our nation is drowning in debt, unable to balance their budget, has chronic unemployment, and a disastrous housing market. Remember when we were told that the cost of TARP would be somewhere in the range of $800 billion dollars?

The first ever GAO audit of the Federal Reserve was carried out in the past few months over the objections of d Ben Bernanke, Alan Greenspan, and various other bankers who lied to Congress. They were afraid of the effects an audit would have on markets and we now know why.

 Over $16 trillion dollars had been secretly given out to US banks and corporations and foreign banks everywhere from France to Scotland. From the period between December 2007 and June 2010, the Federal Reserve had secretly bailed out many of the world's banks, corporations, and governments. Virtually none of the money has been returned and it was loaned out at 0% interest.

 When the TARP Bailout bill was passed we were told that loans of $800 billion were given to failing domestic banks and companies. That was a blatant lie considering the fact that Goldman Sachs alone received $814 billion. The Federal Reserve donated $2.5 trillion to Citigroup, while Morgan Stanley received $2.04 trillion. The Royal Bank of Scotland and Deutsche Bank, a German bank, split about a trillion and numerous other banks received hefty chunks of the $16 trillion.

And where is the outrage? Why have we not heard from the Federal Reserve, the White House, the Republican and Democratic Parties? And what about the mainstream media and their often heard cries for justice for our citizens? In a Ponzi scheme of Titanic proportion, a few rich and powerful people are acting unilaterally to destroy our economy. This latest disclosure and cover up by the Obama administration has proven to be just One More Lie.