For years we have seen that financial giants have controlled a great deal of what happens in our country – to their benefit. They have managed to garner the kind of control that leads one to thoughts of a conspiracy.

Yet financial power has never been a substitute for total power. Mao, Hitler, and Stalin were never personally rich, yet look at the power they wielded once they assumed control of government — raw power, unchecked. The bailout that is now before Congress may produce the same thing in the very near future — unlimited authority possessed by only a few policy makers.

The bailout proposal does not simply help out the old financial elite by re-establishing their authority, it would also give their minions total control (see section 8 of the proposed legislation) without oversight by Congress — no checks, no balances — or the taxpayers, who will in the end, shoulder the financial burden.

A column by David Brooks in the New York Times on Tuesday, September 23, 2008, tells a story that every thoughtful American should read. While one can debate the merits of some of the author's philosophy, in this column he has told a story that is quite insightful.

Brooks' column outlines the fact that a few financiers over the years controlled Wall Street and thereby the economy. He goes on to say that recently, due to the complicated financial instruments that came into being in the 1980s, they lost control of the old power structure because even they couldn't understand the complicated system themselves or how it operated. Of course, it's difficult to control something one doesn't understand.

The collapse of these instruments has now given these elitists a golden opportunity to again gain control.

The advisors around the major candidates are the proverbial fox guarding the hen house. Paul Volcker, now advisor to Barack Obama is one example. Volcker just happens to be the inspiration for Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan to bail out the financial markets. During his confirmation hearing for appointment as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, some may recall him saying, “The standard of living of the average American has to decline…I don’t think you can escape that.” Subsequent chairmen of the Fed have stated similar ideas. So it appears to have been the plan that we now see coming to fruition; the average American will be bled to make sure the financers achieve their economic agenda of control of the money supply and more of it in their back pockets.

Americans are going to have to be tougher on their representatives if they still cling to any hope of maintaining the American dream, both financially as well as the experiment of liberty given to us by our forefathers.

By being tough, we mean becoming pro-active, not allowing things to go on in the complacent "business as usual" manner once the elections are over, and being forever vigilant. Congress moves with pressure, and the American voters will have to exert much more pressure on their representatives, reminding them that they are, after all, representatives of the voter, not special interest groups or solely representatives for the elitists.

The real danger in this groundbreaking step of bailing out the financiers without oversight may well lead to a domino effect of uncontrolled government in other arenas such as law enforcement, armed forces, transportation, etc. Once the purse strings of control over the nation’s economy are completely in hand, no one will object above a whisper if they wish to survive economically.

The biggest danger may not be to the average American, as bad as it may seem. The biggest danger may be to the financiers themselves. Once the government gets so obscenely powerful, the powers that be will take out any competition. This happened in Germany, Russia, and China; the very people who established the base of power, financial and otherwise, were sent packing in most undignified ways, or were simply eliminated.

What we see happening is the growth of the power of government, elimination of the free enterprise system, and in the long run possible elimination of the very people who brought it about. What we need to see in the reaction to this unprecedented bail out plan is the growth of outrage among the American people and beginning of intense pressure on elected representatives and Senators from citizens all around the nation demanding that freedom be maintained, and the republic be restored.
 

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