'The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed lest Rome become bankrupt. People must again learn to work, instead of living on public assistance.' 

 Cicero, 55 BC

'I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.'

 Thomas Jefferson 1802

The Perpetual American Dilemma

As a race, we humans are incredibly adept in our developed ability to make true and witty observations of everyday fact - about our society and ourselves as a people, yet have managed to be equally clever in the avoidance of the lessons they teach. And we are particularly scrupulous as a society to make absolutely certain that, for the most part; we never apply those lessons to our political system or play any part in our choice of leaders.

The most telling example is the following English language idiom whose origin is traced back to the French revolution - "Let them eat cake.":

"You can't eat your cake and have it too."

Which was expressed well for the purpose of present day political connotation in the 19th century quotation :

These two literary quotes well describe the American mentality of wanting government services beyond those provided at this nation's inception, but not wanting to contribute for their provision any more than they did at that very time. And this unreasonable desire has continually driven them to seek out a Messiah who will provide this unattainable goal: big government and low or no taxation. Well good people, there is no such thing - so get used to the fact.

Materialism vs. Morality

"The higher the buildings, the lower the morality."

Noel Coward (1899-1973)

Regardless of how the American presidential race ends or who is sworn in as the new commander in chief on January 20, 2009, one glaring fact is patently clear: our Constitutional system of Democracy fueled by Capitalism is badly broken. And the only real question that remains of any valid issue - is the damage irreparable, or can it be repaired? In other words, can Capitalism rein supreme in the United States - ever again?

As a nation we have broken down on so many levels it becomes a daunting task to categorize the specific levels, but the most important are that of family unity, personal morality, education, infant mortality and general medical care.

Added to these obvious ills are the ones highlighted in everyday life by our newspapers and the media in general such as: an unhealthy percentage of Americas are loath to keep a gun in the house, for fear their offspring in a moment of anger will use it against them. And moral matters continue to decline on other social fronts as well.

A rapidly increasing percentage of Americans (both young and of a 'should know better age') leave the scene of an automobile accident, and instead of calling for help for their victims, either head home to parents seeking protection and false witness or call a lawyer. We also find ourselves living in an America where young mothers microwave their babies because they won't stop crying. And more and more cases of sexual affairs between high school and junior high school students and their teachers surface everyday, in intensity approaching a level of routine behavior.

Nor can we, or should we, ignore or forget the ever growing illicit drug use at all age levels of our population, that has become so prolific it now affects our athletes, from high schools to the professional leagues of all sports. Cheating is now not a mater of betrayal of honor, but simply - not getting caught.

Rush to Wealth - Dash to Madness

No one can build his security upon the nobleness of another person.

Willa Cather (1873-1947)

No truer outcome could have sanctified the words of famed American author Willa Cather, than the worldwide economic meltdown that has taken place, and which continues to bedazzle the egos and spirits of those modern day wizards who previously proclaimed their ability to forecast the trends of the stock market. Yet I am not a financial wizard, but I too saw it coming, most likely because I had my mind open to possibilities and the wise words of intelligent non-wizards.

I was attending a Brooklyn New York college in 1962, when I found myself in a position of having to wait for a girlfriend to exit her economics class lecture. The speaker on that rainy evening was a visiting industrial economics expert, whose name has long escaped my memory. However, by this circumstance of chance and timing, as a means of killing time I would be afforded the good fortune to, unexpectedly, audit his lecture.

Looking back, I now realize just how fortunate I was for this 'serendipitous moment in time.' I do not remember the name of this tall, unassuming crew-cut gentleman, but his words and thoughts are forever seared into my mind. I instinctively knew it was important, even though at the time, honestly, I did not know the underlying reasons why: it was just an unexplainable feeling.

The gist of what this unknown sage of almost half a century ago stated (to the best of my recollection) was the following:

He said that after World War ll, Americans rapidly gained to a great degree the fabled American Dream: the suburban home, the FDR promised two car garage - with two cars - and a chicken in every pot. But he stated, that would all soon end in the next 20 years or so. And I do remember these most disturbing words from this memorizing stranger:

"As soon as industry finds a way to reliably calculate to the penny the actual cost of the human workforce they employ, as they do the raw materials of their production (via the coming computer age), they will stealthily begin to institute a major downloading (aka downsizing) of the their numbers. And as more and more automatic systems come into play (like the ATM), that download will increase at alarming speed.

In time, the Middle Class will find itself destitute and scrambling for low-pay jobs (Minimum Wage) to keep afloat."

He then went on to describe how the level of the American Lifestyle that was achieved after WW ll, would be rapidly whittled away by a cost conscious and profit driven national corporate structure.

When queried by one of the students present as to what the government would or could do to stop such a devastating cost-cutting onslaught on the American Middle Class, the prophesying visiting lecturer fell lame:

"There will be virtually nothing they can do to stop private industry in their pursuit of greater profit and operating efficacy," he said. "When the moment comes they will be powerless to act. For should they attempt to do as FDR did during the Great Depression, their efforts would be regarded as attempts at privatization and socialism. And no matter what difficulty they were undergoing, the American public would never allow such a process to take place."

I might add here that most of the class appeared to regard his lecture as some sort of economic doomsday science fiction scenario. As far as I could tell, very few of them, as evidenced their random remarks, took his moving verbal essay seriously. And even though it disturbed me a bit from that very aspect, because, I was an avid fan of well thought out science fiction, Still I too found certain aspects of his predictions - not quite acceptable.

One point in particular that seemed almost unbelievable to me, was that the Federal Government would stand by and do absolutely nothing as such a massive disaster was delivered upon an unsuspecting Middle Class.

Of course, neither that lecturer nor I appeared to visit the possibility that the government would be in cahoots with industry in such a scheme. But then again, it was the early 1960's, the "Adventures of Ozzi and Harriet" and "Leave It to Beaver" (the icons of the American Dream) were still popular shows on television. And at the time when we should have been worried, the future ahead appeared, to all intents and purposes, quite rosy. But in the boardrooms of corporate America, they were planning for our future.

At the Abyss of Class Warfare

"We can have a democracy or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of the few. We cannot have both."

Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis (1856-1941)

So clear and wise was that potent observation by Justice Brandies', we have to wonder why so many within the wealthy ruling class refuse believe it. Yes, there are many in our upwardly mobile society, including an unhealthy percentage of the Middle and Upper Middle Income (often regarding themselves as 'pretenders to the throne in waiting'), who view the justice's words as a sort of - socialist proclamation.

In fact, this limited yet powerful group in loose alliance, regard any outlook that threatens their financial wealth or right to gain such, as provocative revolutionary banter. And in other centuries and lands they manage to ban such rhetoric by alliance with the ruling monarchies and often the wealthy church. But in this land called America, the peasants once had the to form a democracy, firmly tied to a designed to be unbreakable document called a - Constitution.

And here we are, once again about to tread the almost certain road to social upheaval and destruction, by following in the bloody tracks of the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and the Cuban Revolution. That little speck we can barely see in the not so far distance is a event in the dusk of history called - Class Warfare.

This time, however, it is not a disaster to be suffered by America alone, for virtually all of the developing countries have managed to work their economic woes into a social crag mire of their own. They have all tasted of the fruit of the Capitalism Tree - which allowed them to first gorge and, in the end, be poisoned by it.

Irrational Comparisons as Social Ethic

"The Americans make the Negro shine their shoes, then deride him because he's a bootblack."

Mark Twain (1835-1910)

How often do we hear those who are either well off or doing well economically use the term in reference to those who are not as - 'needing to pull their bootstraps up?'

Well for those who are not aware of it, the term is often taken out of historical context. In the days of Charles Dickens, those within their own economic rank, in reference to their peers, employed such a term. . And it was a good comparative reference, since the poor at the time believed in taking care of their own problems and not relying on the largess of others. After all, as hard and disgusting as some available jobs were, there was always work for those willing to take it on.

Unfortunately, that is not the case today, for we have developed into a society where those who are doing well pass cruel judgment down upon those who have fallen. And when those former economic peers ask for a hand up, they are accused to asking for some form of socialized welfare. Of course, those of us with our intellects and moral minds open know that this is not true. We as a supposed united nation have evolved to a radically different plane of daily existence in today's America.

Quite simply put, there are virtually no jobs to support the Middle Class American family in the modest 1950's to late 1960's styles they had rightfully become accustomed to. And that fact holds be they Lower or Upper Income Middle Class.

In short, both adults in an average two adult and one child household of the lower and 'middle'- Middle Class, have to work the equivalent of two low income jobs (one full-time and one part-time), just to make ends meet to maintain the lifestyle they managed to afford in the late 1950's to the late 1980's. These Americans now constitute the rapidly growing population of the - American Working Poor.

This rapidly accelerating sub-economic population and voting block is very angry, and they have every right to be so. Dutifully, they have sent their sons and daughters off to fight two useless wars (Vietnam and Iraq), worked hard at their jobs, paid their taxes and sacrificed to buy their homes and to educate their children.

Now they are being told that they shouldn't be living in the homes they worked and saved to own because - they can't afford them. They are being told that if they can't afford to pay for their grandchildren's' education, they are obligated to go into debt for life. They are told that even though their own government borrowed endlessly from the Social Security Trust Fund to the tune of a 3.3 Trillion dollar debt, the federal government is not obligated to repay that legitimate debt. And to add insult to injury, even though they have been paying into the Social Security System their entire working lives, they now stand accused of being part of an entitlement system that is really a Ponzi scheme.

While at the same time - in plain sight - they see a government not willing to pay back Social Security, or come to the rescue of strapped homeowners. But instead one that is willing to bail out the crooks and charlatans of Wall Street to the tune of $750 billion and growing.

ow can these people be asked to pull up their bootstraps? They have all they can do to remain afloat financially in this great Capitalist Empire we call - present day America.

Another of Twain's quotes that is appropriate for the times we live in is as follows:

"The Radical of one century is the Conservative of the next. The Radical invents the views. When he has worn them out the conservative adopts them."

In reflection of that Mark Twain quote, so goes the history of America. The Founding Fathers were by all standards Liberals: in those days referred to as - Free Thinkers. They defied conventions that had been held for centuries under the false yoke of tradition, and in doing so they created what is probably the greatest humanitarian document in the history of the human race the - Constitution of the United States of America.

Knowing however that such a fragile document of workable ideals would require the greatest of protection from the temptations of both a citizenry and their government, the Forefathers almost immediately became Conservatives.

Clearly they set a standard: it takes both sides of the political isle to make a workable democracy. And that is a lesson we as Americans appear to reject time and time again.

In the Final Analysis

"Neither a Borrower, Lender nor Mortgage Seeker Be."

The American Banking System (2007-???)

The most deadly lasting affect of the George Bush Jr. era, will be the as yet un sated appetite for 'Middle Class economic blood' among those who presently occupy the boardrooms of Corporate America. Despite all that has taken place during the Economic Meltdown, these sharks would still like to get their hands on the funds available in the Social Security Trust.

They harbor the exact same feeding frenzy mentality the medieval kings and princes of old held for the peasantry in landlocked bondage under them, who they sometimes referred to as - their people - more as a point of ownership than as an equality of citizenry.

In a span of approximately 45 years (1945-1995) we in the United States have manage to achieve the American Dream and then - lose it. And the blame for this loss is split between the Federally Elected Ruling Class - Congress, and the voting populous in a relative ratio of 66-33: 66 percent on Congress and 33 percent on the voting public.

What we have allowed to develop in this crucible of democracy is a race of 'educated fools.' For far too many see in this miraculous gift of self government, nothing more than a shallow opportunity to vent their personal prejudices, be they cultural, racial or religious, upon their fellow man and woman.- via a Vote.

One final point of historical importance concerns the highly heralded - youth vote. Historically, youth as a political movement and force has an incredibly tragic and quite often bloody history. It is wise to remember that Russia's Joseph Stalin, Germany's Adolph Hitler, Communist China's Mao Tse-Tung, Cuba's Fidel Castro and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, among others, were ushered into office and the power by a wave of predominately youth driven movements. All of these men (initially including Hitler) possessing charismatic and ingratiating character appeal and mesmerizing speech making capabilities, rode into power behind a Socialist banner and almost immediately began making sweeping changes to their country's political and social landscape.

Think about those statistics for a moment and digest their implications carefully. In retrospect, when afforded the opportunity by history, very much enamored with ideals, youth has chosen very badly just about every time they have been handed the chance to make a difference in a society.

Now we have a new totally untested and inexperienced president, Barack Obama, who leans very much to the Liberal Left - almost to the point of positioning himself horizontal to a Socialist discipline. He has a charismatic personality that is ingratiating, and possesses a memorizing speech making capability. And he has advocated the making of sweeping changes to the American political and social landscape.

A scary comparison of historic parallels - isn't it?