For those who seek it, absolute power has always been worth lying to attain.
In an action equivalent to handing a heart patient a Big Mac and a pack of cigarettes, late last week President Barack Obama unveiled his plans for creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, as well as pre-emptively striking out at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which opposes the measure.
According to the Obama administration, this new agency would ostensibly be a major component of their regulatory overhaul calculated to – get this – prevent another major economic crisis. Leaving aside the expense of another agency, the imprudence of further government expansion and this being yet another example of the house that seeks to spend its way out of financial adversity, it occurs to me that this measure might be just a little disingenuous considering that Obama, his cronies at ACORN and key members of Congress bear the lion's share of responsibility for creating the global economic implosion in the first place.
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But then, most Americans don't know that, do they?
We have already seen and lived the consequences of what happens when there is too little accountability on Wall Street and too little protection for Main Street, and I will not allow this country to go back there.
TRENDING: Joe's escalator
President Obama, Oct. 9, 2009
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There are conscientious Democrats and independent voters who supported Obama and are now having difficulty believing they've hitched their wagons to an administration and a Congress that represent motives and methods they consider to be contemptible, oppressive and the antithesis of their core values.
Slowly, they are realizing that America is not looking at a slightly more amicable brand of foreign policy; we're looking at a wholesale subversion of our sovereignty and national security. We're not looking at consumer protection and regulation of key industries; we're looking at an incremental government takeover of industry and commerce. We're not looking at a little more obligatory altruism; we're looking at the comprehensive appropriation of our hard-earned wealth and the erosion of our most cherished liberties. We're not looking at a somewhat more accommodating social agenda; we're looking at practical labs on anal intercourse in our elementary schools in the not-too-distant future.
Fewer Americans – but an increasing number nonetheless – are coming to the realization that, pertaining to the congressional leadership and the current administration, it is not a case of good intentions giving rise to questionable results. This is a case of malevolent intentions giving rise to predictable results. They see that the global economic crisis that reared its head one year ago was generated intentionally and facilitated many of the "necessary measures" taken by the government since January. They are beginning to suspect that the "imminent threat" of some catastrophe around health care (that they have been pressed to acknowledge) is a manufactured crisis as well, calculated to deftly translocate power and prosperity from the private sector into the hands of parasites – forever.
Though audacious to the point of being comedic, the same people who claim that the targeting and arrest of alleged al-Qaida terrorist Najibullah Zazi was "profiling," that opposing President Obama's policies is "racist," and that homosexuals are being denied civil rights, are attempting to make us feel guilty for not wishing to fear bombs going off in our streets, for not wanting to see the fruits of our labor thrown into the fireplace, and for not fancying the compulsory imposition of deviance within our most basic social institutions.
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Like a reluctant teenage virgin and her poorly raised, testosterone-logged boyfriend, prepared to say anything in order to get what he desires, most Americans are still being convinced, cajoled and reassured by those in Washington that we only need to allow them to actualize their designs, and all will be right with the world. They'll still respect us in the morning. …
Some are like the object of our young beau's affections, convinced that he is genuine; having gotten what he wants, he won't flick her into the wastepaper basket like a used condom, as she has been warned by friends and family. Similarly, some of our fellow Americans simply can't conceptualize a scenario in which they wouldn't have the guarantee of a "do-over" during the next election cycle.
The cavalier comportment, elitist arrogance and unbridled narcissism of our leaders in Washington suggest otherwise. They know what many of us still do not know: If they succeed, our dissatisfaction with the results will no longer be of practical concern to them. Like the randy young lad, once they have what they want, there will be no going back.
