by Jeff Matthews

The Tenth Amendment Center’s announcement of its January 10-11, 2011 fund-raising money bomb effort garnered a fair number of comments.   I want to briefly address some issues.

First, let me disclaim that I am not associated in any official capacity for TAC.  Even if it has a payroll, I am not on it.   I have no financial interest in TAC whatsoever.  My interest is purely intangible.

Is donating to TAC futile?   Well, at least one person thinks so, and I will bet many more believe the same way when it comes time to make a decision as to whether to “pony-up.”  Below was probably one of the best comments to support this view, which I have left exactly as written:

WRONG! This is what we have been brainwashed to do. Throw money at something and EXPECT RESULTS. IT NEVER HAPPENS! This organizations is no different. Did you stop the Health care Bill? S510? NO, YOU AND YOUR ORGANIZATION DID NOT AND IT WON’T! Have you stopped TSA and that violation of our 4th amendment rights? NO, YOU HAVE NOT! How’s that Parental Rights Amendment going? Not a snows balls chance in hell of making it and if it does they will just fly over, go under, go around, parachute in. backroom deals, pass it off to DHS, EPA, CIA, CFR or what ever else it takes to make it happen. NO, because the bottom line is all you are selling is false hope too, and making a buck! If you are not part of the solution, you are part of THE PROBLEM!! How the hell do you think we can compete with George Soros’s money or David Rockefeller’s, Bill Gates, the Bush’s or a multitude of the rest of them? An idiot can do the math and know this organization can’t do squat but make a buck in the process. This is Glenn Beck style of helping “we the people”. More to point, help your self to our pockets just like the rest of them!!!!!!!! Anybody who researches can see this freight train is way too out of control to stop it!!!!! Get George Soros to fund you. We the people are finally figuring it out. We will have to help ourselves!!

Well, I must admit that the writer is probably correct that “[a]nybody who researches can see this freight train is way too out of control to stop it!!!!!”  This clearly seems to be the road down which we are headed.

But the issue not raised is what ultimately happens to an out-of-control freight train.   It crashes!   This is the process we are witnessing.  The federal government, and for that matter, many state and municipal governments, are in a world of hurt that has been decades in the making.  There is a reasonable likelihood that it could all crash in the not too distant future.   Just the other day in a 60-Minutes interview, Governor Chris Christie and financial analyst, Meredith Whitney, among other noted officials, spoke candidly about the dire straits in which our various governments find themselves.

These are real problems.   Whitney predicts it is probable that 50-100 large municipalities will go into default within the next 12 months.  What happens when the money runs out?   Can our governments raise taxes on broke citizens?   Not likely.   So, what will happen to major infrastructure?   Our water supplies, wastewater systems, road maintenance, etc.?   Once vital services cease, there will be hell to pay.   Communities cannot function effectively and profitably if constituents need to devote large segments of their days bringing home buckets of water, dumping buckets of sewage, etc.   Who would have time to worry about interviewing for jobs when the family needs water and when something needs to be done with the mountain of sewage backing-up?

Hopefully, conditions will not drop to these lows, and maybe the Fed can inflate us out of our misery.   But if inflation is not the cure, then, we need to brace ourselves for some tough times.   When governments fail like that, times become fertile for the rise of new powers.   There is literally no telling what kind of government, if any, might replace our federal government, or conversely, whether our federal government might replace our state and municipal governments.

In times like these, it is important to educate people.   Perhaps we are beyond hope of avoiding collapse, but on the other hand, perhaps something can be done to avoid collapse.   Either way, many people seem to concur that a major restructuring of our governmental systems will be necessary.   Some think the correct direction is to deflate government payrolls and cut benefits.   While this appears laudable on its face, we need to ask ourselves how it is that we can grow back our economy by making millions of people poorer.   This is a real quagmire, regardless of how you feel about government.  The reality is that if we take steps to make millions of people poorer, we can forget about economic growth; we will be facing a depression.

As the debate grows over what to do, more people need to understand the plight that led our founders to revolution.   Were our founders avoiding communism?   Hardly.   Their plight was a feudal aristocracy.   Note how one of the first measures our founders undertook was to repeal titles of nobility?    This ought to be a clue that the nobles of the time were the source of oppression.   Not communists.  Not socialists.  Nobles.

Is there a growing probability we are headed in a reverse course and back into the sort of system our founders overthrew?   Well, when corporate America is realizing record profits at a time of record unemployment, maybe we are.

As the commenter above stated,  “How the hell do you think we can compete with George Soros’s money or David Rockefeller’s, Bill Gates, the Bush’s or a multitude of the rest of them?”  Sadly (or fortunately) the writer understands government better than most Americans.   The government is not an intermediary of the power elite.   The government is the power elite.

Perhaps without a dime in donations to TAC or anyone else, our presently corrupt system will collapse from its own weight.   But who will pay?   The power elite own most of the nation’s debts.   They control the military and the police.  Will they simply write off their treasury bond holdings?   Or will they insist on squeezing every last ounce out of the working class to raise taxes for their demands of repayment, despite the fact that the middle class is facing serious struggles?

My concern is that we might end up like Mexico.   There, the oppressed just take it.   You are either rich or poor.   They know nothing of domestic opportunity.   I have wondered why it has been so long since Mexicans have uprisen into revolution.   Why do they take it?  Is it because they, like the commenter above, feel that all is lost?   Is their attitude, “We should give thanks just to be alive?”  My guess is that it probably is.  When one has never enjoyed the fruits of prosperity, one hardly misses the taste.   Thus, they stick to their basic grains and give thanks for it.

As it stands here in the U.S., this generation has seen at least a fair illusion of opportunity.   Much of that illusion was based on deficit spending, liars’ loans and credit cards, but at least we saw it.   My hope is that we do not collapse into a point where our expectations adjust and we just learn to take it, like most other citizens of third-world countries.

I say, “To hell with that!”  This is not a time to pronounce defeat.   This is a time to muster forces.   Of the 308 million of us, at least 307 million are not among the power elite who are corrupting our social structure and leaving the vast majority of Americans at risk of collapse.  The numbers are clearly on our side, as has been the case in every successful revolution (whether peaceful or violent).

In every society worth its salt, people must specialize.   We cannot individually prosper while having to simultaneously grow our own food, sew our own clothes and supply our own water.  Instead, a few grow a lot of food for many.   A few sew a lot of clothes for many.   In the case of politics and governing, alas, a few must serve the political interests of many.   While I might have some time here and there to “spread the word” and participate in some events, I find myself fairly beholden to my day job.   I am sure most all of us do.

This is where foundations like TAC become important.   Somebody needs to carry our message.   Without our message, we are voiceless.   What TAC does is extremely valuable.   Google TAC and see for yourselves all the press it has received from very prominent media sources.   This exposure is important.

In the end, if our regime falls (and it isn’t looking too good right now), I want it to fall at a point when people are like-minded, can stand united in their recognition of what ails us and can stand united to repave a new age of opportunity for everyone, instead of spoils for the few.  In short, if you cannot oppress your oppressors, you will be oppressed.   Welcome to politics!  Let’s push hard and make this happen.

CommonSenseMoneyBomb.com

Jeff Matthews [send him email] is a practicing attorney in Houston. He graduated from the University of Texas, School of Law in 1993 and was licensed that year.

Copyright © 2010 by TenthAmendmentCenter.com. Permission to reprint in whole or in part is gladly granted, provided full credit to the author and this website is given.

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