An American Tragedy

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” (Joseph Goebbels)

Truth is the mortal enemy of the lie. This is a profound observation from such an evil man. The definition of truth is being in accordance with fact or reality. The Nazis were masters of using propaganda to manipulate facts and produce the reality that suited their wicked purposes. Other states have attempted to repress dissent and rule by using the Big Lie. The Soviet Union and Communist China come to mind.

Our country was created with a Constitution that attempted to insure tyranny that occurred under British rule could not happen in the United States. Truth and freedom of speech are essential for a Republic to thrive. In the last two decades, facts and reality have been obscured, twisted, manipulated and obfuscated by our government, corporations, investment professionals and media. The Big Lie can be perpetrated by states, corporations, or individuals. The multitude of lies has made Americans increasingly dependent. The State gains more power as citizens become more dependent.

The following quote attributed to Scottish history professor Alexander Tyler in 1787, seems to portray an accurate reflection of what has occurred during our 200+ years of existence as a democracy.

A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship.

The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200 years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;
2. From spiritual faith to great courage;
3. From courage to liberty;
4. From liberty to abundance;
5. From abundance to complacency;
6. From complacency to apathy;
7. From apathy to dependence;
8. From dependence back into bondage

These words were written two years before George Washington became our first President. There is so much truth in these words it makes me shudder, especially since we are clearly in stage 7. An honest appraisal of our country’s downward spiral is necessary to begin the process of redemption. We have continually voted ourselves increased benefits, dependent upon the printing presses of the Federal Reserve to sustain our country’s ponzi scheme. We have pawned our future and the bill will eventually come due.

The Great American Republic

My assessment of the chronological sequence our democracy has progressed through, follows.

From bondage to spiritual faith (1760 to 1769)

• King George III becomes King of England
• Currency Act, Sugar Act, Stamp Act, Quartering Act, Townshend Act passed by Parliament
• Sons of Liberty formed by John Adams, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, among others.

From spiritual faith to great courage (1770 to 1783)

• Boston massacre
• Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence
• Parliament passes the Tea Act
• Boston Tea Party
• The First Continental Congress
• Battle of Bunker Hill
• Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense
• Revolutionary War rages for six years
• British surrender at Yorktown
• Treaty of Paris ends Revolutionary War

From courage to liberty (1784 to 1865)

• Constitutional Convention
• Constitution ratified by 13 states
• George Washington elected President
• Bill of Rights passed
• Fugitive Slave Act passed
• Louisiana Purchase
• Robert Fulton invents steamboat
• War of 1812
• Monroe Doctrine
• President Andrew Jackson battles bankers which leads to the Panic of 1837
• U.S. Mexican War
• California gold rush
• Compromise of 1850
• Dred Scott Decision
• Abraham Lincoln elected President
• Confederate states secede from the Union
• Emancipation Proclamation
• Civil War rages for four years
• Union is restored
• 13th Amendment abolishes slavery

From liberty to abundance (1866 to 1969)

• Civil Rights Act of 1866
• First Trans-Continental Railroad
• Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone
• Industrial Revolution
• General Electric founded
• Spanish American War
• U.S. Steel founded
• Airplane invented
• Automobile invented
• Federal Reserve created
• World War I
• Great Depression
• New Deal programs implemented by FDR
• Golden Gate Bridge completed
• World War II
• Holocaust
• Atomic bomb used to end war with Japan
• Marshall Plan rebuilds Europe & Japan
• US emerges from the war as the only great economic power
• Cold War
• Korean War
• Interstate highway system built
• Civil Rights Movement
• John F. Kennedy assassinated
• Vietnam War
• Great Society programs implemented
• Civil Rights Act of 1964
• Martin Luther King assassinated
• Neil Armstrong walks on the moon

From abundance to complacency (1970 to 1989)

• Roe vs Wade
• President Nixon resigns in disgrace
• Oil embargo
• Ronald Reagan elected President
• Military buildup and tax cuts
• Fall of the Soviet Union

From complacency to apathy (1990 to 2000)

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