Open Letter to Chris Gibson

Dear Chris, 

I am writing for myself and, for many like minded citizens, including those pushed to action last year as the Irregulars. I will publish this letter to my circle.  I apologise for its length, as the observation goes, I did not have time to write a short letter. 

At some point, all of us feel like we are preaching to choir and suspect this is pointless exercise.  It is not. The choir is listening and working. Both the choir and the preacher appreciate an occasional slight reenforcement; with that, we can steel ourselves for the never-ending resistance. 

This letter is intended to offer support for holding position to not raise the debt ceiling.  

As I write, there is a pervasive pressure being placed upon you and those who believe we are at the Rubicon.  We are and, if we cross into the unchartered territory, I fear there is no going back. These are no idle or romantic words. We are at the edge of the river looking into darkness. What Erebus awaits us?

There is more at stake, today, than petty political gamesmanship. Upon sober consideration, I submit, if we permit more borrowing, we do more than assure greater inflation in the future, we are removing ourselves from our way and standard of life.  The world I grew up in, the one my father and you defended, the one unsung millions have built with silent dignity and tired hands will be over. 

We are witnessing the continued and open usurpation of power, for one thing. The President, assuming arguendo that he is a naturally born citizen, and the Senate are negotiating a spending bill which, in no way legal, will result in the delegation of the power of the House to the President. This, by itself, affirms anyone's interest in moving to Costa Rica. 

If the weakened President can pressure the Republicans to spend more money, there will be no question there is no longer a balance of power.  Any concerns about looking bad to the electorate will be moot. I believe it was Calligula who installed his horse as a senator. Why not? No one complained.

The Republicans, at least the ones in the the U.S Senate that the media places in the game, seem to be playing on the wrong board. It is sad and terrifying to watch.  There is the notion of "one time shame on you," but by the time you get to five times, forget shame, the sap should be retired.

And what is this pressure? The IMF, foreign bankers, creditor nations, and Marxists say they won't like us so much if we do not raise the debt ceiling and spend ourselves into serfdom. This is political gambit, not a financial one.  We are a wounded, large animal and the scavengers feed us poison, saying it is medicine. Anyone with an understanding of money, understands that if we stop spending and taxing, we are a BETTER credit risk. This is common sense, but the pressure you feel does not permit this understanding. 

Recall, we had to pass TARP, etc. with great portend of fear. What would happen is General Motors goes bankrupt!  Well, it did, once the President had the money to control GM. Bankruptcy is a system of relief, not a punishement, and not to be feared. Reacting to fear, however, our government transferred the wealth of our children to union workers whose exorbitant salaries were saved.

Our in-house Marxists are not economically or strategically clever, they do not care what happens to our economy, do not attempt to balance anything, as long as they create chaos and feed their strong supporters. Following such simple guidlines requires no cleverness, just belief. This happens every day and I am sure you see it.  Before we entered the era of double-plus-good news-speak, this was called, oh, fascism, for one. For example, GE is now acting as Krupp did in NAZI Germany. Whatever the name, it is statism where the people are subjected to debt, regulation, law, and favored companies, so that an oligarchy can propser. Unlike earlier history, today we are giving away our freedom, rather than having it overtly stolen from us. 

Large companies work with the President, the workers not aware they are being used.  Unions work with him, most workers not aware of what they are doing. Government employees and teachers side with the state becuase it gives them money, but only a few are aware of what is happening. Segments of our culture are culled from the herd, reeducated and sent off to battle other segments. 

We are again at a point where international bankers and investors are worried that their game may now turn on them, so they have created another great fear, just as with TARP, so as to manipulate us into borrowing more. The leftists are happy to oblige them as the resulting chaos always results in more government. Yet, in the end, the fear of foreign entities not buying Treasury Bills is moot.   WE ARE BUYING OUR OWN DEBT WITH CREATED PAPER MONEY.  We are trying to get the right to sell bonds to the Fed! This is economic insanity.

Pimco, the American company which is the leading bond buyer in the world, has stopped buying our bils and dumped them last year. One wonders how we have survived this long!  

SITE: Article and interview with Bill Gross.

’We've said before that Greece was just the beginning as far as budget implosions go. By no means were we alone in this assessment, but now famous investor and Pimco CEO Bill Gross says the United States is actually in worse shape than Greece...

The Fed could literally be creating a feedback loop where the only institution interested in US debt is the Federal Reserve. But for them to buy more debt would just create more inflation and thereby make US debt even less desirable. Then what? An implosion in the US bond market would send interest rates through the roof and push the United States right back into a deep recession (and probably pull the world down with it)....

I believe it was Mark Levin who said:  do not fear August 2 for it is this generations Independence Day. He is right. We have to throw off the mantle of fear and pull ourselves into the fight.  August 2 should be a day of national celebration, not fear. By preserving the ceiling, we have called the bluff of the shadow men.

The first Independence Day was followed by years of anguish, but it, then, resulted in our great liberal republic as a model for man, a beautiful concept dying around us. Our Independence Day is less evident to most of us, now, but it is as powerful a turning point. Once again, we will have to stand together or hang separately.  

Not long in the future, the average person will come to understand what is happening this week; what we do will be understood - either way. It is for those with knowledge and authority to stand for those who do not yet see.  We are past considering reelection schemes, we are defending our way of life, our children.  Those who signed the Declaration of Independence understood they signed away their lives and sizeable fortunes, should things go against their beliefs. Where are our founders?

Rather than wring hands over a fear of "default," we should welcome the appearance of the enemy at the bridge, be it at Lexington or the Rubicon. It is time gird oneself and engage the enemy. Cowards deserve to be slaves. 

When you first sat and talked with the Irregulars at the coffee shop in Saratoga, I volunteered the notion that the President's actions are not subject to rational discourse and negotiation, that he is intentionally breaking our nation. You replied you did not think so, though your associates, economists at the Hoover Institution did.  

Please reconsider that we are correct. Once one accepts that we are not dealing across a table with a negotiating partner in good faith, but with a subversive, albeit vague, Marxist, the current bizarre actions resolve to crystal clarity. You are well versed in political history and making the leap to agreeing with this position only requires an admission: it can happen, here. That is the hard concept to admit, but we must.  Our Pearl Harbor has been bombed and we are wondering if the enemy does not like us.  

Permit a few more concepts.

1.  It's a ceiling, stupid:  Congress, in a lucid interval, voted to stop itself when it was on a drunken spree. Why not honor its correct characterization of its own weakness and vapidness? Why set a ceiling that has no meaning?

2.  Mr. Obama was correct when he voted as a Senator against the piercing of a debt ceiling: it is a sign of the failure of leadership. 

3.  The unfettered market has a mechanism to deal with the profligate. As risk goes up, so does the interest rate which results in a reduction ofborrowing and spending. Why are we, as a nation, different? The fact that we MAY have a temporary increase in interest rates should be welcomed. Grown ups see beyond immediate gratification. We should welcome the power of the market place we defend. Otherwise, we shrink back in fear and selfishness and find ourselves as serfs. This is the other side of the Rubicon.  One way we are different as a nation, rather than a framily, is we can drug ourselves into a stupor with the illusion of wealth found in paper.

4.  There is talk of the U. S. losing its "full faith and credit" by not borrowing more money to pay international bankers and investors.  This is gibberish and the adoption of an intimidating phrase that is wholly irrelevant. It is used in the Constitution to admonish the various  states to honor the laws of other states. It has nothing to do with Keynesian economics.  At the heart of the concern is that the United States of America had better bow as it shuffles into the bank, hat in hand.

5.  We will not go bankrupt, but if we have to reset our economy, this will be similar to a reorganization which, I repeat, is a relief, not a punishment.  What, if we go through a few months of disruption and agitprop, if, at the same time, we declare our independence from those who wish us ill? It is so simple to just act upon our beliefs. You can see various states resetting, now. They cannot print money so they have to.  

6.  The House is responsible for our spending, as I am sure you and colleagues understand. It is time for the House to stand apart from shadow games being played and insist upon a proper deference to the Constitution.  Right now, it is being played as a fool as the President offers no budget,  mocks the Constitution, negotiates with the Senate, and gleefully awaits a capitulation or a "default," which he will assure by failing to make payments that could be made. 

The way to position the argument, today, is to call August 2 our Independence Day, a day we decide to become solvent and free of foreign enemies. If our voters are too ignorant to understand what is at issue, it is the fault of those who represent them. 

We are losing our country through neglect.  Our world looks to end not with a bang, but with a whimper.

Thank you for your time and continued service.

Gene

Eugene J. Cunningham, MA, JD