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“There is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis,” reads a comment published today at PatDollard.com. “Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.”
Perhaps, like more and more Americans, I’m a bit paranoid. Regardless, I think there is much to be said for the content of the aforementioned comment which is fast making the rounds today. Further, I expect that it will be recorded as one of the blogosphere’s best comments ever — if, in fact, someone actually records such things. But I digress. Please read the full length of the comment — accompanied by my graphics — and, if you are so inclined, follow the author’s first-paragraph instructions:
Friends,
Will you please take the time to read this, and if you think it worthwhile, pass it along to your email list, and ask them to read it? Even if they voted, with all good intentions, for Mr. Obama?
I am a student of history. Professionally. I have written 15 books in six languages, and have studied it all my life. I think there is something monumentally large afoot, and I do not believe it is just a banking crisis, or a mortgage crisis, or a credit crisis. Yes these exist, but they are merely single facets on a very large gemstone that is only now coming into a sharper focus.
Something of historic proportions is happening. I can sense it because I know how it feels, smells, what it looks like, and how people react to it. Yes, a perfect storm may be brewing, but there is something happening within our country that has been evolving for about ten - fifteen years. The pace has dramatically quickened in the past two.
We demand and then codify into law the requirement that our banks make massive loans to people we know they can never pay back? Why?
We learn just days ago that the Federal Reserve, which has little or no real oversight by anyone, has “loaned” two trillion dollars (that is $2,000,000,000,000) over the past few months, but will not tell us to whom or why or disclose the terms. That is our money. Yours and mine. And that is three times the 700B we all argued about so strenuously just this past September. Who has this money? Why do they have it? Why are the terms unavailable to us? Who asked for it? Who authorized it? I thought this was a government of “we the people,” who loaned our powers to our elected leaders. Apparently not.
We have spent two or more decades intentionally de-industrializing our economy. Why?
We have intentionally dumbed down our schools, ignored our history, and no longer teach our founding documents, why we are exceptional, and why we are worth preserving. Students by and large cannot write, think critically, read, or articulate. Parents are not revolting, teachers are not picketing, school boards continue to back mediocrity. Why?
We have now established the precedent of protesting every close election (now violently in California over a proposition that is so controversial that it wants marriage to remain between one man and one woman. Did you ever think such a thing possible just a decade ago?). We have corrupted our sacred political process by allowing unelected judges to write laws that radically change our way of life, and then mainstream Marxist groups like ACORN and others to turn our voting system into a banana republic. To what purpose?
Now our mortgage industry is collapsing, housing prices are in free fall, major industries are failing, our banking system is on the verge of collapse, social security is nearly bankrupt, as is medicare and our entire government, our education system is worse than a joke (I teach college and know precisely what I am talking about)–the list is staggering in its length, breadth, and depth. It is potentially 1929 x ten. And we are at war with an enemy we cannot name for fear of offending people of the same religion, who cannot wait to slit the throats of your children if they have the opportunity to do so.
And now we have elected a man no one knows anything about, who has never run so much as a Dairy Queen, let alone a town as big as Wasilla, Alaska. All of his associations and alliances are with real radicals in their chosen fields of employment, and everything we learn about him, drip by drip, is unsettling if not downright scary (Surely you have heard him speak about his idea to create and fund a mandatory civilian defense force stronger than our military for use inside our borders? No? Oh of course. The media would never play that for you over and over and then demand he answer it. Sarah Palin’s pregnant daughter and $150,000 wardrobe is more important.)
Mr. Obama’s winning platform can be boiled down to one word: change.
Why?
I have never been so afraid for my country and for my children as I am now.
This man campaigned on bringing people together, something he has never, ever done in his professional life. In my assessment, Obama will divide us along philosophical lines, push us apart, and then try to realign the pieces into a new and different power structure. Change is indeed coming. And when it comes, you will never see the same nation again.
And that is only the beginning.
![](http://bobmccarty.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/change-poster.jpg "\\"Change\\"")
And I thought I would never be able to experience what the ordinary, moral German felt in the mid-1930s. In those times, the savior was a former smooth-talking rabble-rouser from the streets, about whom the average German knew next to nothing. What they did know was that he was associated with groups that shouted, shoved, and pushed around people with whom they disagreed; he edged his way onto the political stage through great oratory and promises. Economic times were tough, people were losing jobs, and he was a great speaker. And he smiled and waved a lot. And people, even newspapers, were afraid to speak out for fear that his “brown shirts” would bully them into submission. And then, he was duly elected to office, a full-throttled economic crisis at hand [the Great Depression]. Slowly but surely he seized the controls of government power, department by department, person by person, bureaucracy by bureaucracy. The kids joined a Youth Movement in his name, where they were taught what to think. How did he get the people on his side? He did it promising jobs to the jobless, money to the moneyless, and goodies for the military-industrial complex. He did it by indoctrinating the children, advocating gun control, health care for all, better wages, better jobs, and promising to re-instill pride once again in the country, across Europe, and across the world.
He did it with a compliant media–did you know that? And he did this all in the name of justice and . . . change. And the people surely got what they voted for.
(Look it up if you think I am exaggerating.)
Read your history books. Many people objected in 1933 and were shouted down, called names, laughed at, and made fun of. When Winston Churchill pointed out the obvious in the late 1930s while seated in the House of Lords in England (he was not yet Prime Minister), he was booed into his seat and called a crazy troublemaker. He was right, though.
Don’t forget that Germany was the most educated, cultured country in Europe. It was full of music, art, museums, hospitals, laboratories, and universities. And in less than six years–a shorter time span than just two terms of the U. S. presidency–it was rounding up its own citizens, killing others, abrogating its laws, turning children against parents, and neighbors against neighbors. All with the best of intentions, of course. The road to Hell is paved with them.
As a practical thinker, one not overly prone to emotional decisions, I have a choice: I can either believe what the objective pieces of evidence tell me (even if they make me cringe with disgust); I can believe what history is shouting to me from across the chasm of seven decades; or I can hope I am wrong by closing my eyes, having another latte, and ignoring what is transpiring around me.
Some people scoff at me, others laugh, or think I am foolish, naive, or both. Perhaps I am. But I have never been afraid to look people in the eye and tell them exactly what I believe–and why I believe it.
I pray I am wrong. I do not think I am.
Best regards
tps
Click here to read the post within which the comment above appeared today.
* * *
Hat tip: Pam Geller at Atlas Shrugs
Editor’s Note: I contacted Pat Dollard for assistance in contacting “tps” and left a comment below the aforementioned post, hoping “tps” will see it and respond to me. I hope to be able to interview “tps” soon and publish more about him in this space. Stay tuned.
28 responses so far ↓
1 Andy // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:44 pm
I think that you mpoint out some interestind (frightening) parallels between the situation that America finds itself in currently and that of pre-Nazi Germany. In any case I assume you would have preferrred that we elected McCain. Isn’t it the GOP paradigm of untempered free market Greed that has gotten us into this situation. And ins’t it the GOP whose cure al la Paulson and Co. goes against that exact same free market by efectively socializing banks.
Regards
2 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 13, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Andy — Compared to Obama, yes, I would have preferred McCain. Regarding “untempered free market greed,” I think you’re off base. Look at the executives who’ve been in charge of Goldman Sachs, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac et al, and you’ll find they are Democrats! Next time, do your homework and stop reading from the socialist newsletter, Andy.
3 jb // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Looking beyond the obviously conservative slant of this website, these are some interesting points if considered with respect to last days.
4 Truthseeker // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:46 pm
Andy, put down the Koolaid.
As an individual who has a degree in History, Political Science, and Economics…I can attest to the facts of the above document and outstanding analysis of the situation.
5 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 13, 2008 at 2:59 pm
jb — I must say that I agree with you!
6 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 13, 2008 at 3:00 pm
Truthseeker — Thanks for the input! If you have more to add, let me know.
7 Karl Nowak // Nov 14, 2008 at 5:08 am
Very interesting analysis.. Not sure what to say, this unworthy kangaroo
election still makes me numb.
However I wrote something similar in April during the then scornful democratic
nomination-process, and got astounding responses.
In light of my piece reading this analysis feels something like a twilight –deja vu. Please feel free to read my analysis from April 2008.
Regards,
Karl Nowak.
>On Fri, Apr 18, 2008 at 8:26 AM, Karl Nowak wrote:
Hello Susan!
This e-mail hits you from overseas (Europe) and I’m watching the most shameful behavior I have ever witnessed in modern time politics.
In 2000 during the aftermath of that now infamous election battle I did nothing.
It wasn’t my election or country. It wasn’t my business that a foreign nations court selected an illegitimate president.
Almost eight years went by that decision and today I can’t tell you how sorry I am for your turmoil. It effected me, my family and keeps for instance haunting us Europeans every time we board a simple aircraft.
Time has proven that your business is in a great deal Europe’s hurdles and today there are many people out here wishing Sen. Barack Obamas victory in the upcoming elections. Mainly for sentimental reasons. Many of us don’t yet recognized the monster. I too was unaware for a long time. I know for quite a while that HRC would never become president of the US. Simply because she wanted it little too much. Spotting “her pattern” was easy. But who was that Barack Obama?? I couldn’t place him. He was an empty black box. An eloquent ardent speaker, with chocolate-chip eyes and a cafe au late smile. Unmatchable. A new JFK? So I watched him very carefully, on CNN, Youtube sometimes in slow-motion. I still couldn’t place him until Hollywood came to my aid. I saw an excellent well crafted thriller about a hard-detected well integrated psychopath. And then I know. The apparent danger. Because if you Americans elect this man – we are all truly doomed. He will fizzle and he will push the button. So now I am trying to do what I didn’t the last time – speak up, in the vain hope to avoid the almost inevitable.
Don’t let this man off the hook. Send those pictures to major networks or post it for example in places like current-TV or Youtube. A cheerful “heehaw” in 2004 was enough for frontrunner Howard Dean to stumble and finally lose the democratic nomination. I wonder how many scandals are needed before you Americans brushes Barack Obama off ? He makes plenty of mistakes and missteps. He is by no means as good as he thinks he is. All it takes to bring him down is a small piece of journalism, little people like you and me scrutinizing his true nature. Please for the sake of us all, make it happen.
Sincerely: Karl B. Nowak
8 mary // Nov 14, 2008 at 11:38 am
This is ridiculous.
Comparing Obama to Hitler?
We should compare the founding fathers to Hitler. After all, they both committed genocide.
9 Quickly // Nov 14, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Paranoia bears no fruit. Figure out what you’re going to do and do it. I’m not much of a fighter. I will probably serve as a cushion for the bodies of my children somewhere inside a giant mass grave.
These things happen every so often. Lots of people are murdered, we’ll probably be among them. When you just let yourself freak about it, there’s nothing gained. Build a secret storage unit on your property to hide people. Learn wilderness servival skills. If you want to help, do something, don’t panic.
As for me, I will trust, not in the moral fortitude of our leaders, but in the fact that we are sinners and we will die, guaranteed, one way or another. Either all alone as my diseased decaying body fails me, at the end of a soldier’s boot, or in a bizarre elevator accident. Maybe I will die through patricide, when Obama brainwashes my own children to rise up and kill me. At an rate, I WILL DIE. So what do I have left? To trust in Christ, that his perfect sacrifice was sufficient to propitiate God’s great wrath against me. To trust that God has declared me righteous not on the basis of my own merit, but on the basis of Christ’s goodness. To trust that Christ will continue to grow his church, and that the gates of hell will not prevail against it. To trust that Christ will come again in power, and triumphantly raise the dead to either glory or judgement.
So when you see the Nazi’s boot coming down, you can have peace that despite the troubles of this world, Christ has saved you.
10 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 14, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Quickly — You are 100 percent correct! Thanks for stopping by!
11 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 14, 2008 at 12:36 pm
Mary — I strongly recommend you read Quickly’s comment above and take the appropriate steps to get yourself ready for whatever might happen. Thanks for stopping by!
12 Allan // Nov 14, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Who is John Galt?
13 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 14, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Allan — An entry at POWERLINE purports to answer that question here. Good luck!
14 tps article, PatDollard.com, Something Monumentally Large Afoot, Writer tps, Obama camp, Acorn, Voter Fraud, Nazi Germany, Student of History, Winston Churchill, Warning « Citizen Wells // Nov 14, 2008 at 4:56 pm
[...] http://bobmccarty.com/2008/11/13/writer-says-something-monumentally-large-afoot/ [...]
15 TPS // Nov 15, 2008 at 11:27 am
I want to be clear. I never claimed Obama is Hitler, and I do not believe that he is.
My point, which was perhaps less artfully rendered than I would have liked, was that there are times in history that produce perfect storms of war, economic dislocation, and political upheaval. During these periods, citizens of all stripes–good people, well-meaning, who love their country as much as I do–seek solace within the most attractive port. During those times, history teaches us that people in power–at all levels–act irrationally when compared to different, more stable times. Quick actions, grasps for power, and restructuring to “weather the storm” invariably leads to disastrous results. Look at what our own government is doing today with our financial system. No one is allowed to make bad decisions and suffer for it? What is that message?
Obama may or may not lead from the center-left to counter the radical leftists who now control Congress. However, Obama also has radical connections that are undeniable. (The unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers just went public on Good Morning America and made a mockery of Obama’s claim that “he was just a guy who lived in my neighborhood.”) Obama has talked of “fundamentally changing America” (his quote, not mine), claims our Constitution is “fatally flawed,” and has supported and worked with and for organizations like ACORN that are openly corrupting our voting process. These are facts straight from his thin resume and/or his own mouth. (At last count, I believe nineteen states have launched formal investigations in ACORN.) That concerns me.
That same sort of criminal behavior walked the streets of Berlin, Hamburg, et. al., in the late 1920s and early 1930s with the complete blessing of prominent people, some in the German media, and politicians looking to climb the ladder of social upheaval.
It gets worse. Today, God and Christianity are beings stripped away; government fills that vacuum. Freedom of speech today means the freedom to spout leftist ideology–and little else. Take academia as a prime example. Our schools and universities are supposed to act as our training ground for the free and open exchange of all ideas; they are almost completely controlled today by Leftists. You do not have to look far to see this. Find for me a single instance of a group of student conservatives or instructors shouting down a left-wing speaker on a university campus, or rushing the stage, or throwing things at them, or threatening them with violence. But this happens to conservative speakers routinely. To a student of history, it is no different than the Brown Shirts of the 1930s intimidating others to silence their speech and influence their actions.
Sadly, too many people think the loss of freedom can’t happen today. Have we all forgotten how wonderful, strong, and proud England used to be? England stood up save the world from tyranny not long ago, risking all. Now, she is “sleepwalking into the arms of the enemy” (to borrow a phrase from a recent writer), too afraid to stand up to the Islamic 7th century death cultists who are steadily dismantling her institutions.
So please understand my premise. Obama is NOT Hitler. But I am positing that people with Mr. Obama’s world view would be MORE likely to take advantage of these perfect storm elements to “fundamentally” change the social order to reflect their belief system. Bad things happen to people in the name of good intentions. We have seen this over and over in history.
In all of American history, I have never witnessed a man like Mr. Obama who reaches one plateau only to leap for the next without accomplishing anything at any level worthy of spilled ink. Can you point one out for me? That makes him, in my eyes, overly ambitious. Pardon me if I am skeptical of the motives of overly ambitious people who want to rule me.
A swift tilt to radical tyranny here may happen, or it may not happen. But to pretend that my analogy does not hold water is to place one’s head too deep in rectal defilade for quick extraction. Best to keep the chin up, eyes open, and mouth shouting for freedom–and be wrong, don’t you think?
** Clarification: In my original post I mentioned that Winston Churchill spoke out against German Tyranny while a member of the House of Lords. He was a member of Parliament, but not in the House of Lords. Sorry.
16 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 15, 2008 at 12:12 pm
TPS — Thanks so much for your keen observations!
17 Francis // Nov 15, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Very interesting parallells between the rise of Hitler and Obama. I agree that both 1930s Germany and 2008 America have some similarity in their situations: Economic meltdown, gridlocked government. However…
1) Democractic tradition in the US is much deeper than in Germany, so any totalitarian moves (banning other parties, unions, forcing children to join the Obama Youth) will be met by massive public outcry and will be shot down by the courts. Please remember the majority of the Supreme Court are strict constructionists. And never discount how much Americans love freedom.
2) Weimar Republic Germans did know what Hitler wanted - he wrote in in Mein Kampf years before! It’s all in there, about how he hated Jews and wanted to restore Germany’s glory by abrogating the Versailles Treaty, etc. The problem was that many powerful groups in Germany, including the army, supported Hitler’s aims so they let him take power and institute his assault on democracy. Do you believe for an instant that the people will let Obama undertake his “fundamental changes” if they are not democratic?
3) I think a much better parallell to Obama’s ascendancy is the election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Same country, same hard times, though Roosevelt did have executive experience as governor of NY. Roosevelt was elected also with the promise of sweeping change, and he delivered: Social Security, income tax, etc. When FDR overreached himself, like trying to pack the Supreme Court, he was stopped. He did not act like Hitler and dissolve the court. Some still saw his policies as anti-democratic, others saw it as egalitarian. I suppose the way to decide if it was democratic is to see what happened at the polls: FDR was elected to 4 terms. Guess the people approved.
The people have spoken for Obama as well. You can call them deluded by despair or the mainstream media. I for one trust in their judgment-they were right about FDR and I believe they’re right about Obama as well.
18 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 15, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Francis — I fear you’ll come to regret your words. As for the comparison between Obama and FDR, it is misguided. Unemployment was around 20 percent when FDR came to office. It is only 6 percent now. Of course, with the news media spinning everything for Obama, I understand how so many feeble-minded Americans were misled.
19 mary // Nov 17, 2008 at 11:28 am
“feeble-minded?”
now that’s a word Hitler liked to use.
You know, it’s so silly to say only ignorant, foolish people voted for Obama.
The fact is the most educated people in the country voted for him.
Now you could argue that being educated is not the same as being intelligent (Bush went to Yale…) and you’d be correct.
But I don’t think you really believe people only voted for Obama because they’re stupid and you’re enlightened.
I think you’re just disappointed and are channeling your disappointment to hostility.
20 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:00 pm
mary,
Are you comparing me to Hitler? That’s name-calling at its worst. The faultiness in your lies in your apparent belief that the election process was not rife with fraud and illegal voting. BTW, it was!
21 mary // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:13 pm
I’m comparing you to Hitler if these people are comparing Obama to Hitler.
Probably holds the same amount of water.
After all, you support an institution that has committed genocide–the US government.
You can whine and gripe all you want about “fraud.”
Were you complaining the last 8 years when the worst president in history was sworn in based on the decision of one of his own campaigners?
You’re a right-wing nut.
22 mary // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:15 pm
BTW, I’m proud of the label “liberal.” It’s not a slur.
The dirty word here is the pathetic, asinine, egotistical neoconservatism that has devastated this country.
23 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:19 pm
mary — There you go again with the left-wing name-calling. When all else fails, call names, Geesh!
24 mary // Nov 17, 2008 at 12:55 pm
Riiight. You just called me a liar, or can’t you read?
Don’t you have anything substantive to add? Anything at all?
Given the demographics of the exit polls, what proof do you have that it was “feeble minded” Americans who voted for Obama?
And what proof do you have that it was the enlightened among us that voted for McCain? And were they the same who had the wisdom to elect our current president?
25 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 17, 2008 at 1:01 pm
mary — I didn’t call you a liar. Rather, my comment above contained a typo and should have read as follows: “The faultiness lies in your apparent belief that the election process was not rife with fraud and illegal voting. BTW, it was!” As for he-said, she-said, I don’t have time to banter with you all day. Perhaps, you and your ilk can get together for tea and debate yourselves. G’bye.
26 mary // Nov 17, 2008 at 1:38 pm
Whatever.
Me and my “ilk”?
Yeah, demonize a whole subset of the population because they don’t agree with you.
Evil liberals, right.
Conservatives claim to be so patriotic and all that bullshit; they just hate half the people living here.
27 hotoffthepress2 // Nov 17, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Wrong again, Mary! I love my country. Now, go back into your uncle’s basement and don’t come out until the next election’s over. G’bye!
28 annie_hall // Nov 25, 2008 at 10:43 am
Have we all forgotten how wonderful, strong, and proud England used to be? England stood up save the world from tyranny not long ago, risking all. - Professor TPS, this is a very strange claim for a historian. Do you really think that this kind of idealistic thinking has anything to do with reality?
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