Part 4 – Twelve-step Program for American Recovery

 In previous sections of this series I’ve concentrated on what’s wrong with all of us – which is all we have real control over. This week I’ll get around eventually to picking on you and me, but I’m going to start with Them.

The Faceless, “Omnipotent” They

I’m really getting tired of these people, these people who run things. I’m even more tired of the rest of us letting them. They have power over the most important parts of our lives, yet They are a creepy, shadowy lot. Some who run for office show us their official faces, but Barack Obama, A.K.A Barry Soetoro, for instance, is still a mystery. Some, like Ben Bernanke, land fairly public jobs, but mostly They skulk around in marble-walled offices turning the tumblers on bank vaults. Now and then we learn the names of the scientists who make major “discoveries,” but rarely do They come out from behind those white coats. Who are those guys inventing more deadly forms of bird flu?

They come in 3 categories – the political They, the financial They, and the scientific They; the scary thing is that these three groups have joined forces in an unholy trinity that doesn’t care about the rest of us. They are just faceless enough and powerful enough to fool us into thinking They are God.     They aren’t.

The political They operate in Washington, but not just in the halls of Congress, not just in the White House, not just on the Supreme Court. They fill all those federal office buildings. They actually write those monstrous bills that Congress passes without reading. They work for the EPA and make up the rules as They go. They man the computers at the IRS. They add up the numbers at the Congressional Budget Office. They will sit on the Obamacare death panels. They enjoy pulling your strings, nudging you into the behaviors They want. They find that their jobs are easier if They ignore the Constitution and lie frequently. They are very sure that the ends justify the means. Most of them were not elected, yet They have nearly life-or-death power over us.

The financial They too haunt the halls of government, and visit the White House at will, but we also know They reside at the Federal Reserve, at the big banking institutions, on Wall Street and in countries all over the world. They run the big unions and sit in corporate offices. They are even more anonymous than the political guys, and being the money people, They are more powerful. They enjoy manipulating your property, your income, your savings; they don’t care about you. Pictures of George Soros and Andy Stern keep blocking my vision here, but there are many others just like them.

The third They, the scientific They, have roots woven tightly into the other two groups --They need money for their research and often operate at federally funded universities. This group of They’s includes the soft, hard, and pseudo scientists. They will discover whatever They are allowed to discover, whatever They are paid to discover. They fudge tests results, and ostracize those who disagree with their conclusions. The global warming “consensus” comes to mind, as does the academic precariousness of biologists who question Darwinian evolution. They have their fingers in medicine, nutrition, and ecology. We are going to rob thousands of people of good, family-supporting jobs, and the nation of a plentiful energy source because some government-paid scientists have expressed concern about the ecological impact of the Keystone pipeline. They have had a blast scaring the Western world into believing that we, with our heavy carbon footprints, are all evil, and that our planet is doomed. If we believe them, we are doomed.

Oddly enough, a great many people seem to be OK with Them. Way too many of us think They have super-human, totally benign, powers. How often have you thought, or heard someone say, “Oh, They won’t let that happen.” Really? How exactly will They do that?

You see, here’s the problem: They have power, but it is only human power – though I often wonder if their power source doesn’t run a little deeper than that, if you get my drift. They are, for the most part, not any smarter than we are. Brilliance is widely distributed in our society; it turns up everywhere – I’ve had those kids in my classes; I have brilliant friends and relatives. The They’s are not at all more creative or innovative than the rest of us. Not to sound disrespectful, but holding down a bureaucratic government job, counting federal beans, or watching test tubes do what they do are none of them outside-the-box endeavors. We shouldn’t be relying on these people to conjure up miraculous solutions to the mess that They created.

List one innovative idea to come from Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, or John Boehner, for that matter. How clever do you have to be to think life oozed into existence “on the backs of crystals,” or arrived here on spaceships? On a scale of 1-10 how original is Al Gore? And just to be balanced here – how bright an idea was the McCain-Feingold election reform fiasco? Who are the faceless, but powerful morons who thought political correctness would solve social problems? Remember Rep. Hank Johnson (D. Georgia) who thought that the population distribution on Guam would make the island tip over? Yikes.

I’m a bit cranky about this one, but I’m really fed up with (no pun intended) the mindless trust we place on the They’s. The next time you hear yourself say, “They all say that you shouldn’t eat meat, “ or “ They did studies that prove that cutting the rainforest will turn chicken eggs purple,” or “ They’ll fix Social Security by the time I need it,” clap your hand over your mouth and pray for forgiveness.

They are not going to solve our problems. Not only are They not capable, They don’t want to. Our problems = their power. They don’t want to fix anything. And, haven’t you noticed that every time we elect some hotshot to ride into Washington on a white horse it takes very little time for him to become one of Them?

If we are to save this great nation we each have to shoulder the job. The job is to connect with God as we never have before – I’ll write on that one of these days. We need to pray and do it well and often; God can solve our problems.

We have to use language precisely and honestly, stop blaming others for our problems, and quit thinking that laws will solve them (see Parts 1-3).  And let’s keep our eyes on Them.  They are not up to any good.

Eschenbach, Willis. “When Results Go Bad …”. Watts Up With That? November 29,              

           2009.            http://wattsupwiththat.com/2009/11/29/when-results-go-bad/

Expelled, No Intelligence Allowed. Dir. Nathan Frankowski. Perf. Ben Stein. Premise

            Media Corp. 2008.

Wilkie, Christina. “Rep. Hank Johnson: Guam could 'tip over and capsize' “. The

            Washington Scene. The Hill. March 31. 2010.

            http://washingtonscene.thehill.com/in-the-know/36-news/3169-rep-hank-johnson-guam-could-tip-over-and-capsize