Okay, that’s IT.

I’m through.

I’ve had enough.

Personally, I am sick and tired of the fear mongering, the “sky-is-falling” rhetoric, the doomsday scenarios being played out at nauseum by the so-called “mainstream” media, and the outright extortion tactics of the bankster class, who are, again, holding a gun at their own heads and threatening to pull the trigger unless we pay them a ransom – in this case, another multi-trillion dollar debt ceiling increase.

The leading ratings agencies, over the weekend, came out with statements that basically read that if the United States did not increase its self-imposed credit limit substantially from its current 14.3 trillion dollars (in other words, allow ourselves to borrow even MORE money from our kids and grandkids), they would lower our sovereign debt bond rating from AAA+ (which in and of itself is a joke at this point) to a lower rating, which will directly result in increases in interest rates across the board, including interest rates on United States treasury notes.  This will raise the cost that the US Treasury will have to pay to service our $14.5 trillion debt, which will serve to put us into even more debt.

Get the picture?

The same criminal ratings agencies that refused to downgrade Lehman Brothers until a week before their collapse – the same ones that looked the other way as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lurched their way toward insolvency and a bailout that cost the American taxpayer hundreds of billions of dollars – now are trying to inflict the final coup de grace on this nation by forcing politicians into taking a so-called “deal” that will only serve to seal our fate as a permanently-diminished, second-rate banana republic.

Am I the only person who is seeing what is wrong here, or does anyone else see it?

Well, I, for one, am not buying it any longer.  As the ill-conceived and criminally mismanaged TARP “bailout” showed, none of these people can be trusted to say anything truthful.

I say, fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me.

It’s time for you and me to call their bluff.

Let the nation default.

There, I’ve said it.

Do it now, while the repercussions are somewhat controllable.  And, while we’re at it, abolish the Federal Reserve System, hold the Chase/Goldman/CIT/BOA criminal bankster syndicate accountable for their blatantly destructive actions, and start over.

When the actual debt load (including unfunded future obligations) on every household in this nation stands in excess of $600,000.00 (as it does now), there is no way we will ever repay it, anyway.  So let’s bite the bullet, declare bankruptcy, and let our creditors (i.e., China and Japan) get what they can from us.

The United States of America, the greatest and most exceptional experiment in liberty that this world has ever known, has been very nearly killed – rotted from within by human greed and hubris.  And we “the People” are just as guilty as those who actually perpetrated the deed, because we have been co-conspirators, complicit in our ignorance and selfishness, willingly allowing it to happen with barely a whimper of protest, until it is almost too late.

The Founders Tried to Warn Us

When someone asked Benjamin Franklin, upon adjournment of the Constitutional Convention in 1787, what kind of government the delegates had created, he responded, “A republic – if you can keep it.“  Thomas Jefferson wrote, “…We are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained only by unremitting labors and perils.“

We have, sadly, shirked our duty to keep and preserve our Republic.  Those who hold public office in Washington, DC and elsewhere who have sworn a solemn oath to “support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” have purposefully and actively worked to sabotage and shred that very document.  And, we are about the reap the terrible fruits of the efforts of those traitorous few who have engineered this disaster, because of our willing complicity.

I say, let it come.  Let’s take our medicine, swallow the bitter pill, and see if we can rebuild our credibility, over time, in the eyes of the rest of the world.

If we don’t – if we, instead, do as we always done, and kick this can down the road further, and allow ourselves to be deceived and deluded into believing that we, somehow, have a “handle” on all this – then the fall will only be less controllable, more painful, and possibly fatal to our very existance as a shining “city on a hill.”

No more debt ceiling increases.  Let’s just default.  Get it over with.

National collapse, and the prospect of plunging not just us but the entire world into interminable darkness, would be so much worse.

Steve Shute is the Executive Director of the Hope for America Coalition.

Come out to our next Hope for America Coalition meeting and meet and talk with our Hope for America PAC-endorsed candidates!

We will be meeting at the Shawnee Branch of the Johnson County Library this evening, starting at 7:00pm. Among the candidates that have agreed to appear are Kelly Meigs (KS Rep-17), Jeff Caldwell (KS Rep-19), Greg Smith (KS Rep-22), Brett Hildabrand (KS Rep-23), Jason Osterhaus (JoCo BOCC-4), and Michael Ashcraft (JoCo BOCC-5). We’re waiting for confirmation from Amanda Grosserode (KS Rep-16), John Rubin (KS Rep-18), and Bob McElwain (KS Rep-21).

We will also be discussing the Union of Patriots project to find and fully fund worthy Constitutional candidates in 2012.

“These men and women meet the high standard of following and supporting the United States Constitution, and the Hope for America PAC is proud to stand behind these individuals who are carrying on the fight to support, protect, and defend our freedoms and liberties,” HFAPAC Chairman Steve Shute said. “In this critical election season, where the future course of this nation hangs in the balance, it is especially crucial that we have people in office that will stand in the gap to resist statist tyranny in any form. We are confident that these individuals will answer the call.”

HOPE FOR AMERICA PAC ENDORSEMENTS

Federal Races

US Senate                         NO ENDORSEMENT
US House District 1      TIM HUELSKAMP

US House District 2      NO ENDORSEMENT
US House District 3      NO ENDORSEMENT
US House District 4      MIKE POMPEO

Statewide Races

Kansas Governor                    NO ENDORSEMENT
KS Secretary of State            KRIS KOBACH
KS Attyorney General          NO ENDORSEMENT
KS State Treasurer                 RON ESTES
KS Insurance Comm.            NO ENDORSEMENT

Kansas Legislature

Senate-7             NO ENDORSEMENT
House-14            LANCE KINZER *
House-15           ARLEN SIEGFRIED *
House-16           AMANDA GROSSERODE
House-17           KELLY MEIGS
House-18            JOHN RUBIN
House-19           JEFFREY CALDWELL
House-20            NO ENDORSEMENT
House-21           ROBERT McELWAIN
House-22           GREG SMITH
House-23           BRETT HILDABRAND
House-24           NO ENDORSEMENT
House-25           NO ENDORSEMENT +
House-26           ROB OLSON *
House-27           RAY MERRICK *
House-28           NO ENDORSEMENT +
House-29           NO ENDORSEMENT
House-30           NO ENDORSEMENT +
House-38           ANTHONY BROWN *
House-39           OWEN DONOHOE *
House-43           S. MIKE KIEGERL *
House-48           MARVIN KLEEB *
House-49           SCOTT SCHWAB *

Kansas State Board of Education

District 3            JOHN BACON *

Johnson County Board of County Commissioners

BOCC Chair              NO ENDORSEMENT
BOCC District 1      NO ENDORSEMENT +
BOCC District 4      JASON OSTERHAUS
BOCC District 5      MICHAEL ASHCRAFT

(*)  incumbent            (+)  2/3 of membership selected “none of the above” to endorse

We will be meeting at our usual meeting location at the Johnson County Library – Antioch Branch, 8700 W. Shawnee Mission Parkway (NW corner of Shawnee Mission and Antioch Road – map and directions).

From the Tea Party Movement to State Legislators, the American people are drawing a line in the sand. On what side of it will you stand? Has the government our Founders created been forgotten by Washington, DC? Is a Patriot Uprising ready to capture the spirit of 1776? “Don’t Tread On Me: Rise of the Republic” gives the viewer a look into the movements, mindset, and legislation that will catapult the “Great Restoration” into households across America.

William Lewis will also conduct a Q&A session afterwards, and we are lining up other people featured in the movie to participate and give their thoughts on the long-term direction of the “Freedom Movement” in this country.

Meet & Greet: 6:00pm
The screening will start promptly at 6:30, so don’t be late!

Please RSVP your attendance to rsvp@hfapac.org, or at the event’s Facebook page.

We hope to see you there!

“These candidates meet the high standard of consistently following and supporting the United States Constitution, in both statements and deeds, and the Hope for America PAC is proud to stand behind these worthy men and women who are carrying on the fight to support, protect, and defend our freedoms and liberties,” HFAPAC Chairman Steve Shute said.  “In this critical election season, where the future course of this nation hangs in the balance, it is especially crucial that we have people in office that will stand in the gap to resist tyranny in any form.  We are confident that these 12 individuals will answer the call and lead in actions as well as words.”

HOPE FOR AMERICA PAC ENDORSEMENTS

Federal Races

US Senate                            TODD TIAHRT
US House District 1               TIM HUELSKAMP
US House District 2               DENNIS PYLE
US House District 3               DANIEL GILYEAT
US House District 4               JIM ANDERSON

Statewide Races

Kansas Governor                   NO ENDORSEMENT
KS Secretary of State            NO ENDORSEMENT
KS Attorney General              NO ENDORSEMENT
KS Insurance Comm.             DAVID POWELL

Kansas Legislature

Senate District 7                   DAVID HARVEY
House District 17                   KELLY MEIGS                                         House District 19                  JAMES A WALKER
House District 20                   NO ENDORSEMENT
House District 29                   RICHARD DOWNING

Johnson County Board of County Commissioners

BOCC Chair                            JOHN TOPLIKAR
BOCC District 4                      JASON OSTERHAUS

North Carolina 2nd District Representative Bob Etheridge, in response to an innocent question about whether he supported the Obama agenda, decided that it was a fine time to strike back at the student – literally – and commit a felony assault in the process.

Obviously, this “representative” doesn’t realize that it is them who work for us, and not the other way around.

We wonder just how much publicity that this little episode will get in the “mainstream” media.  We are not holding our breaths.

Independence \In`de*pend”ence\, n. [Cf. F. ind['e]pendance.]

1. The state or quality of being independent; freedom from dependence; exemption from reliance on, or control by, others; self-subsistence or maintenance; direction of one’s own affairs without interference; sovereignty.

But don’t be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines,
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasy…

 

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game,
Just remember that it’s a grand illusion
And deep inside we’re all the same.
We’re all the same…

 - Styx, “The Grand Illusion”

Dear Mr. and Mrs. America,

On the eve of the 233rd anniversary of the birth of our nation with the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, I have some sobering news for you:

For well over the last 100 years, you have been living an elaborate, meticulously constructed lie.

We’ve all been told that there are two dominant schools of political thought in this country: Liberal and Conservative, or “left” vs. “right.” (Never mind that “classical” liberals of the early part of this century are the “paleo-conservatives” of today, or that the “neo-conservatives” of our modern Republican Party would have fit in nicely with Woodrow Wilson’s Democratic administration in 1913. We’re just bickering around the periphery of the issue, as you will see.)

We’ve also been led to believe that there are two major political parties in this country: Republicans and Democrats. And that these entities stand for ideals and principles that are diametrically opposed to one another.

Well, in truth, the real struggle of our day has nothing to do with a so-called “partisan divide,” as we have been deceived into thinking. It has everything to do with the same struggle that the Founders of this country fought for their independence – for their very existence – against.

It is a struggle of the forces for liberty, freedom, and self-determination – sovereignty – against those of control, tyranny and oppression. These forces hide behind terms like “interdependence,” “multiculturalism,” “environmentalism,” and “globalism” to mask their true intentions: to create a worldwide, transnational authoritarian regime, a de facto one-world government.

The real tragedy is that there are people aligned with these forces of tyranny walking the halls of the most powerful institutions of our land, and they include members of BOTH political parties. And they claim to “represent” us, when in fact they wish to pervert our system of government to suit their own treasonous – some would even say evil – agenda.

And, they must be stopped – at all costs – before we no longer have a nation to save.

Morpheus: I imagine that right now, you’re feeling a bit like Alice. Hmm? Tumbling down the rabbit hole?

 

Neo: You could say that.

 

Morpheus: I see it in your eyes. You have the look of a man who accepts what he sees because he is expecting to wake up. Ironically, that’s not far from the truth.

In the Wachowski brothers’ visionary movie The Matrix, the protagonist, Neo, is introduced to an enigmatic character named Morpheus. Even before his meeting with Morpheus, Neo had recognized that something just wasn’t quite right with his world – a condition that Morpheus calls “a splinter in your mind.” Morpheus then gives Neo the news that will forever alter his destiny:

Morpheus:  The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work… when you go to church… when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.

 

Neo: What truth?

 

Morpheus: That you are a slave, Neo. Like everyone else you were born into bondage. Into a prison that you cannot taste or see or touch. A prison for your mind. 

Finally, Morpheus offers Neo the means to break out of his “prison” and discover the real truth for himself.

Morpheus: Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself. This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back.

 

(In his left hand, Morpheus shows a blue pill.)

 

Morpheus: You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. (A red pill is shown in his other hand) You take the red pill and you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. (Long pause; Neo begins to reach for the red pill) Remember — all I am offering is the truth, nothing more. 

Those who are familiar with the Matrix trilogy know that Neo did indeed take the red pill – and he quickly realized that the truth was so far removed from the illusion that he had understood to be reality that it took him quite a while to adjust after being “unplugged.” And, in a way, that is what we are fighting today.

We are dealing with a populace that has, for the last hundred years, been “plugged in” to a fantasy – what I refer to as the “Grand Illusion” – that we live in a completely free country, with totally “free” markets, that will allow you to advance as far as your work, ambition, and imagination can take you. In reality, the country is – and you are – mostly being controlled by a small group of closely-held banking interests, large transnational conglomerates, and powerful figures in politics and media, on both sides of the so-called “aisle.” These people wield unprecedented money and power to influence elections and legislation to further their own agenda – and we, the people of this country, have until now been successfully deceived by these interests into thinking that we cannot make a difference, that all of these issues are “too complicated” for us to understand, and that this group knows better than we do how to lead our lives.

In reality, we’re only “free” to do what we are allowed to do. How else can you explain the non-choice “choice” between Barack Obama and John McCain that was presented to us in the last presidential election?

Thomas Jefferson once said, “Where the press is free and every man able to read, all is safe.” The unfortunate truth today is that our public school system is rated among the worst of all industrialized nations, and the “free” press – once regarded as the “Fourth Estate,” on par with the three branches of government as a check against abuse of official power – has become instead a “Fifth Column” enabler and supporter of the very policies and agenda of those who wish to destroy our country.

There is a blatant, full-frontal assault on your sovereignty underway – and your ability to determine your own destiny, and the very thing that our Founders fought and died to obtain for themselves and their posterity, is being materially threatened.

If anyone wants proof, they need only look at the recent votes regarding the bankers’ bailout last fall, the so-called “stimulus” plan this past spring, and the bill to impose a “cap and trade” energy scheme on all of us. In all of these votes, our non-representing “representatives” received unprecedented numbers of phone calls, faxes, and E-mails that ran almost universally against these horrible pieces of legislation (in some cases, the calls ran 100-1 against) – and they passed anyway.

Politicians – on both sides of the aisle – have decided that the Constitution, the rule of law, and most importantly, you, do not matter. Jefferson addressed the remedy to this, too, in a certain 233-year-old document:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 

There exists more than a glimmer of hope, though. As we reach the 233rd anniversary of the founding of the greatest, most divinely inspired nation on earth, there are signs that the population of this country is beginning to wake up from their decades-long slumber.

The advent of the Internet, and the explosion of talk radio and other forms of alternative media, have delayed – for a while – the plans of those who wish to enslave us. At the same time, spontaneous grassroots movements such as the Tea Parties that are sweeping the country are serving to engage people who have never been involved in the political process before. Organizations such as the Campaign for Liberty, FreedomWorks, and the Hope for America Coalition are educating people and opening their eyes to the evils of the Federal Reserve and the banking system, the self-serving politicians and power brokers that are working for their own interests instead of the public interest, and what we can collectively do about it. And, most importantly, we are being equipped to be agents of the change that will be necessary to peacefully overthrow this corrupt system and restore the Constitution to its rightful position as the law of the land.

What this movement is going to take to succeed is for a small number of people to display an extraordinary amount of courage and determination.

People do not realize that the Revolutionary War was fought using the commitment and resources of less than five percent of the population of the colonies. Samuel Adams once wrote that “It does not take a majority to prevail… but rather an irate, tireless minority, keen on setting brushfires of freedom in the minds of men.” We don’t need to convince the whole world to “unplug,” just convince enough of them to get to a tipping point that will create the “brushfire” that Adams referred to.

The bad news is that those who want to impose tyranny on all of us are doing everything in their power to keep you from hearing the truth.

The good news is that there are a lot more of us than there are of them.

And, ultimately, with God’s help, we will win the day – if we are only willing to stand against our oppressors, as our Founders did 233 years ago.