The bizarre Czar complex

author — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 18:44:56 +0000

It seems rather astonishing that President Obama has been building an organization of Czars with barely a critical mention of it outside of mild fascination from the public. It is a very suspicious activity in light of the huge Government grab of power and control from us citizens during a time when every issue seems to be an opportunity for bigger Government. Terms such as Socialism, Marxism, Fascism and any other oppressing “ism” you can think of are being used to describe where our nation is headed, regardless of your preferred term it is certain the Government will be getting much bigger at the expense of our individual liberties, and that power is being channeled to favor the Executive branch as evidenced by the Czar network being created. This should be setting alarm bells off throughout our society, but I think the constant barrage of momentous legislation is otherwise monopolizing the nation’s attention. Why, as our Government gets larger and more intrusive, do we have this network of Czars being constructed? What is the purpose or intention of suddenly needing their services unless it is to confiscate more rights from citizens and the other branches of Government to concentrate it within the Executive branch? The Czar building phenomenon is an actuality that clearly betrays any rhetoric from the Administration that claims there is no intention of usurping more control.

Even more surprising than the public not focusing on this issue is that Congress has not forcefully pushed back on this practice. Our political system is set up with a system of checks and balances between the branches as specified in the Constitution. The Czars are comandeering authority to exercise control over the public without having to answer to anyone but the President. Congress, as the people’s representatives, is not exercising any authority to appoint or confirm the Czars nor demand any accountability from them. How do they think this is going to turn out for them in the future as this created platform of consolidating power gets entrenched and ever more powerful? The authority of the Czars will likely start off in a restrained manner, and as time goes by and acceptance becomes the norm, they will slowly ratchet up their influence to the delight of an ascendant President and the chagrin of an undermined Congress and population. This is the nature of a created power base, once installed, it constantly evolves by a steady accretion of power over time. It makes you wonder why Congress would continue to accept what will obviously become a usurpation of their own powers, but so far they are doing exactly that.

What is it exactly that justifies the creation of this Czar network that exists outside of the Constitution and answers to only one person? Is the intention to circumvent the people and their representatives in an attempt to amass political dominance to create more of an autocracy? Can we not assume that regardless of the justification presented it will lead to something that will be an apparatus of power, and how positive could that be for us since it operates outside our normal political system? We need to keep in mind that any power it assumes must either come from another branch of Government or directly from the people, so which of these should be screaming the loudest right now? Is this the first glimpse of a much larger plan yet to be revealed that will forever change our governmental landscape and will not be wholly comprehended for years to come?

A creditor’s rights are the same as our own

author — Sat, 09 May 2009 21:19:42 +0000

Every American should be extremely disgusted with the tyrannical actions that have transpired regarding Chrysler with our Government browbeating some of its creditors into submission. They publicly chastised a group of creditors that had a right, in fact a fiduciary duty, to protect the value of their investments in Chrysler for the benefit of their shareholders. These assets were senior to all other claims in the capital structure thus giving them the right to the company assets before any junior creditor is to be paid. However, the Obama administration was more interested in the company quickly reorganizing to protect the union, thus embarking on a plan to hand Chrysler over to the union as the majority shareholder under reorganization and upon doing so they offered the senior creditors what they thought was deserved in this restructuring. Four major banks that held about 70% of the debt quickly agreed to the terms, and to no surprise it just happens that they are all TARP-recipient banks. How peculiar it is that these banks thought the deal was equitable and voluntarily consented, I wonder if the fact that they received TARP money from the Government had anything to do with such consent, it indicates just how much our banks are merely Government-controlled puppets. The remaining senior creditors held out to exercise their rights and thus forced Chrysler into bankruptcy in an attempt to have the law applied as written and practiced through the years of legal history in this nation. Instead of this Administration respecting the law and allowing due process, they chose the course of expediency by publicly castigating the creditors for merely exercising their property rights. Obama used his political capital to influence public opinion against these firms, isolating them, and creating an atmosphere that will prove unreceptive to their legal rights in court. This is absolutely an abuse of power, Obama and his administration are blatantly wrong with this action, but that will prove little comfort to the creditors as the deck is stacked against anyone not falling in line with the plan thus fighting the case becomes futile. We live in a country where “ruler’s law” just stomped on the “rule of law” by coercing certain citizens into conceding their property rights so the benefit can be transferred to another. Sound familiar?

There certainly will be a tendency to disregard this case and its outcome as something that happened to rich people, hedge funds, or money managers, hence making it no big deal for common Americans. If the Government just trampled on legally protected rights for one set of Americans because it favored their agenda to do so, who and what are next? Maybe a family that has more than one car will have to give one up for 33 cents on the dollar so the car can be provided to someone who does not have one. What about your home, can the Government arbitrarily decide to exercise control over your residence if it suits their agenda much like we know they can if you miss your tax payment? This argument can extend to anything that you own, any property that you should have the rights to buy, use, or sell at your discretion. This can be in the form of a physical possessions or paper investments such as stocks, bonds or contractual rights of ownership etc. It should be very disturbing to every citizen that individual legal rights were just brushed aside in favor of the agenda of another. It does not matter if it was for a company or an individual, for the wealthy or not so wealthy, this is an assault on all of our rights. Every time citizens relinquish any of their rights, they are then absorbed into the power of our controlling Government. It will become the new reality and will be relied upon to serve as precedence for any future tyranny our Government cares to administer on our population in its ever persistent march to expand its scope. Our Government and its union-protecting agenda won the day, but unfortunately America and its citizens lost. Where does it go from here, and where does it end?

P.S. What are the chances of success for what is likely to be a 65% Government and union-dominated Chrysler post bankruptcy? Be sure to rush right over to your nearest Chrysler dealer, Fiat will be depending on it.

Dose of Clarity » obama

The bizarre Czar complex

A creditor’s rights are the same as our own