Foreword: America Without “Liberal†or “Conservative†Representation
In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;
And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist;
And then they came for the Jews, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew;
And then . . . they came for me . . . And by that time there was no one left to speak up.
- Protestant Pastor Martin Niemöller (1946)
It was in the 1980s, I think, that I first began to notice a few newspaper articles quoting victims of arbitrary government intrusion. Perhaps it was the 1970s, as the first generation in American history to face greater economic challenges than their parents (ignoring the Great Depression) began routinely punching the clock, eventually giving rise to Ronald Reagan’s campaign question: Are you better off now than you were four years ago? A few articles here and there. Although many of the facts have since escaped my memory, what has not was the striking similarity in reactions. “I cannot believe,†“I would not have believed†“that this could happen in the USA†except that “it happened to me.â€Â
Bad things can happen. I have always been a realist. It is a big country with many people. Don’t kid yourself. Everything happens here. There were more articles, each one corresponding in some way to a recently created federal government program. I felt sorry for the victims. But there was more. There seemed to be no recourse. The victims truly believed they had experienced something that should not happen in the USA. They spent years or decades seeking correction. Their cases – when considering the specific facts of each – seemed eminently reasonable. Politicians made the case that their reforms were important, but their implementation seemed – to use what became a term that became increasingly popular with time – quite “draconian.” What happened to individual rights?
In the late 1980s, I began investigating the “science†underlying federal reform of the child support system. The reforms themselves had been promoted – primarily with conservative phrasing – as part of “welfare reform†but had obviously crossed over into a federal takeover of family law. I had been drawn to the investigation by recognizing that all the “science†created in relation to the reforms was wrong and created a research project at Intelligent Systems Research Corporation with the thought of correcting the problem. The technical problems were challenging, if one truly wanted a solid theoretical foundation for child support determinations, but eventually yielded to a few years worth of determination and sweat.
An unexpected result came from my desire to know why all the “science†had been completely wrong to begin with, why major reforms had been built on a radical and highly-suspect foundation, and why there was so much objection to correcting the problem. Not to wonder seemed extremely arrogant; to assume that the highly educated government consultants were all total nincompoops and that only I had the intellectual capacity to clean up the mess. In the process, my own days of ignorant bliss came to an end and I unexpectedly became an expert on Big Lie Politics.
If what you’re reading feels slightly familiar, it may be at least in part because of Al Gore’s tendency to overplay the system. His global warming hoax has always been based solidly on “science†– or so he claimed – again and again and again ….. So you may already be aware of the modern Political Class has politicized science in order to create lobbying material in support of their agenda. And yes – there is a pattern to the way Big Lie Politics is played – and it is played again and again and again …
There’s more, and I promise you that if you read and understand, your days of ignorant bliss will also come to an end. You will be afraid – and you should be because it is the truth. Emboldened by past success, the Political Class is just thinking bigger than ever before. Yesterday – control marriage and family. Today – the world!
If you are not too young, your recollection of the 1990s includes its repetitious use of the term “Deadbeat Dads.†The phrase appeared in every newspaper in the country as far as I could tell, a very large number of magazines (often enough on the cover), and Dan Rather seemed obsessed with it. It was one of the largest and most intense propaganda campaigns in US history. The Political Class had decided to take over marriage and family; turning it from a sacred, private institution – left Constitutionally to the States and the people and protected from arbitrary government intrusion through enforcement of individual rights – into an integral part of government “social programs†where it and its participants could be arbitrarily manipulated.
I must now be a tiny bit technical and detailed enough to provide the basis for what you are reading. Take your time. This is important:
In 1993, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dealt the final death blow to marriage as we knew it in P.O.P.S. verses Gardner (998 F.2d 764). They classified the child support issue as “social policy†as if no question existed that it was so. Yet, throughout the nation’s history, throughout the history of western civilization, marriage and family issues had been private matters handled under Civil Law. The Civil Law classification meant being protected from arbitrary government intrusion through enforcement of individual (“civilâ€Â) rights. “Social policy†by contrast, shares an established Constitutional status with “economic policy†(they are basically the same) like tax rates and welfare entitlement levels. P.O.P.S. was a case brought by a group of divorced fathers who had never been welfare recipients, nor had their families, and none were behind in child support payments. The Court’s classification clearly was to apply to everyone – legally taking the institutions of marriage and the family with it.
The federal government, under Clinton, now unhampered by Constitutional concerns, proceeded to expand the federal child support bureaucracy’s information collection efforts to include everyone in the country. (You were told they were looking for “Deadbeat Dads†who had abandoned their families.) Every new hire was registered, employers, banks, and other institutions were forced to provide information automatically electronically via the Internet. (Too Late to Stop National ID)
With a single action, the US 9th Circuit Court of Appeals demonstrated that a single phrase, reclassifying law, has the same effect as abolishing the Bill of Rights. Used merely in response to a decision by Congress to modify a program with additional funding to states, the system of checks and balances was eliminated. Lower courts, where citizens typically plead their cases, were blocked from offering relief from arbitrary intrusion. When the decision was published, it was as though all history since the Magna Carta suddenly vanished and a new Dark Age was given roots. No longer concerned about Constitutional limitations, the Political Class was on its way to absolute power and the theft of wealth beyond the dreams of Hitler and Stalin combined.
Why? Power and wealth are not new temptations. What has changed in the USA is the extent to which use of government power has become unrestrained. The goals of the Political Class do not appear to be long-term, which would require maintenance of the nation. Instead, they are on the fast track; pushing the largest imaginable plans yielding the greatest short-term pay-off. Unimaginable sums are laid out like pizza money without aiming to serve the purpose claimed and they promise more. They do not display the least concern for what happens to the nation or “the masses†in their wake. Instead, they merely mock and scorn all those who oppose them.
If you were somewhat more interested in politics during the 1980s (and beyond), you know of so-called “public-private partnerships.†Government has always purchased goods and services from the private sector, so why does it need a new name? It needs a new name because there is a fundamental difference. Public-private partnerships exist where businesses could not sustain themselves in the private sector, where either there is no demand or there is no credible service that can be offered, or in support of government program goals that are entirely make-believe. Such is the case with the child support collection industry, created by the federal government, existing almost entirely on public funds, and not making a dent in real child support payment statistics. Such is the Cap-and-Trade industry in its effort to control the climate. It is a money machine – transferring your wealth – or hope of it – to people who are politically connected. And here comes health care reform, with a community organizer spin to a private “health cooperative.†There is no need for Congress to read the bills. They know that. The money transfer machinery is in place. There is a large budget. That’s all that matters.
