Open Letter to the Government

An Open Letter to Washington

I address those in Washington charged with the sacred duty of representing the views of the people, as well as our Chief Executive.

From its inception in 1776 the United States of America was designed to be a haven from tyranny in its many forms.  Our founders who drafted the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and other important formative documents gave high value to freedom, liberty, and self-determination.

They recognized that tyranny seeks to remove these divinely bestowed gifts from personal possession amongst a citizenry.  It was during such a time in our nation’s history that great men met to plan how these gifts could be preserved as perhaps never before.

During dark times our founding fathers exchanged ideas of government with these principles of liberty in the forefront of their minds and hearts.  They asked for divine guidance and drafted the documents that changed earthly history.  We have been blessed by these guiding principles for many years.

We are faced today with choices that will change earthly history again.  The bill recently passed by the Senate and Congress which was then signed by the President places in peril our freedom, liberty, and self-determination.

The so called, “bail out bill” is an assertion that we depend on government.  This is simply not true.  If we act as though it were, our freedoms will not survive.  This usurpation of power without consideration to the balances placed in effect by the Constitution has the power to destroy our freedoms.

In Freudian terms the Legislative and Executive branches acted as one giant “id”, making decisions without regard to the voice of the people and without recognizing that their “timeline” did not allow for the process of judicial review.

Freud’s “id” acts only in hedonistic self interest seeking pleasure and avoiding pain.  I can think of no better descriptor to explain what occurred this past week.

Freud theorized that the “id” would destroy itself were it not for its counter balance the “super ego” which is ideal and value driven.

The “super ego” informs the “id” that it can’t act without considering certain rules and consequences.

I would compare the “super ego” to the fortuitously created Constitution left by our forefathers and its properly executed enforcement via judicial review of the Supreme Court.

Freud’s third participant in this process is the “ego”.  The ego balances the two pulling forces of the “id” and the “super ego”.

In many ways the ego acts as a fulcrum point, or the true position of power.  This power MUST be in the People; We the People!

In your process of governing these past few weeks you have acted as the “id” serving against the will of the people; bypassing their will through strategically negotiated, self interested, pork barrel spending.

The passage of the bail out bill was not earned through hard work and innovative thinking; it was purchased using bribery and coercion.

The People didn’t want to spend $700 Billion, but you spent it anyway and then you added an additional $112 Billon buying the votes needed to pass this bill.

If you did not vehemently fight against this bill, I consider you accountable.  If your vote was bought, I hold you responsible.  If you supported this bill I wish you were more creative and I wish that you truly believed in the American people.

What have the People had to say during this?  People across the country have expressed hesitancy at the expenditure of their tax money for the purpose of bailing out companies which have been either imprudent or unscrupulous in their financial practices.

The bill was presented to the public as the only solution and we were told that its immediate passage was necessary to prevent disaster.

I recall feeling at the time as if I was receiving a sales pitch at a car dealership.  In the past I have fallen for this hype.  This was before I knew that the best way to purchase a car, is to purchase a car I can afford and buy with cash.  If that happens to be a $650 beater, so be it.

Having learned that purchasing a vehicle I cannot afford only brings servitude, I see past the sales floor farce and I have seen past yours.

There is more than one solution to our present financial crisis and it has nothing to do with the expenditure of money or a specific timeframe.

The long term solution is centered in the implementation of prudent financial practices by our citizens, by our institutions of commerce and by our government.
Just like I must do when I go car shopping; some of our unrealistic dreams must die.  There may be a great deal of pain associated with that.

My 401k plan has decreased in value, but if it is the true reflection of the value then I prefer to accept that real value rather than entertain a delusion of an inflated value.

We the People have expressed a desire to “take the hit” and deal with the reality of this crisis now in lieu of making this absurd expense and exacerbating the problem for the future, and for our children.

Many polls showed that a majority of people did not support the bail out. I challenge you, as our political representatives, to review the positions expressed to you by email, letters, and phone calls.  Look and see what we the People wanted.  I fear that most of you will find that you failed to represent us.

I applaud those of you who listened to your constituencies.  I specifically thank Congressmen Rob Bishop and Jim Matheson who listened to their People and voted against this bill.

I shamefully recognize that Senators Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch as well as Congressman Chris Cannon chose not to represent the will of their People.  This is already reflected in Chris Cannon’s loss of his party ticket.

I will do everything in my power to ensure that those who do not listen to their constituencies do not return to Washington.

You in Washington have become an out of control “id” that does not recognize the need to adhere to the rules set forth in our founding documents which are meant to preserve freedom.

You have lost perspective of what it means to be a representative.  You have not recognized that your duty is not to dole out what you feel is best for your constituents, but rather to listen to your constituency and represent their will on the Congress and Senate floors.  You have failed your litmus test.

Let us return to the topic of tyranny.  The cost of this bill will be shouldered by the People; and is in essence taxation.

The manner in which the bill was passed lacked the component of true representation.  The Revolutionary War was sparked by this same act; taxation without representation.

Though centuries have passed, the desire of the American people to be heard remains strong and constant.

Hear us now:  Represent us or we will revoke your office of power.  We are not children needing to be rescued.  We are beings capable of utilizing the gifts entrusted us by God; capable of self-determination.

We can and eventually will depend on ourselves to recover from this economic crisis.  Please allow us this right.

I urge the People of America, from sea to shining sea, to take back your government.  Regardless of your party-affiliations express your views to your representatives, share your ideas, and vote into office people at the local, state, and national level who understand that their duty is to represent us not rule over us.

I urge those of you who currently hold the sacred representative roles to reflect on your recent choices.

Did your vote truly fit your ideals?
Do you have “buyer’s remorse”?
Have you violated our trust?

I believe in our system of government.  It was designed to function if you truly represent us, it cannot if you violate that trust.

If your stance requires change and you are willing to do so, I will accept you.  I recognize that you are human.

Perhaps the consequences that we face by taking responsibility for our nationwide practices of living beyond our means caused you to want to shrink away from the consequences.

However, I assert that those consequences, as fierce as they may seem, will pale in comparison to the cost of the loss of freedom.

I ask you to use your positions and our political structure to ensure that these errors of usurpation of power do not occur again.

I urge our current President and those who are seeking this office to have faith in the potential and resolve of your people.

Do not think of us as weak and unable to weather a storm.  Lead us through the storms.  Teach us about ourselves through your expectations of us.

I urge our third branch of government, our Judicial branch, to take up their role in our system of checks and balances to challenge this new law, and restore our confidence that the structure of our freedoms as outlined in the Constitution remains sound.

Signed a hopeful American,

Karson Kinikini

Why is Greenspan “Shocked”?

On October 23rd, in a financial witch hunt, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform questioned Allen Greenspan,  the former chairman of the federal reserve, on the current market crisis.

Greenspan is quoted as saying that he “found a flaw” in his professed ideology that the free-market is best left to regulate itself. And that he was “partially” wrong in his opposition to regulation in the derivatives market, expecting that institutions would protect shareholders and there investments. He then went on to advocate increased regulation in the securities market.

While it is disconcerting at the least to hear the former fed chairman make these sort of retractions on the decisions with which he has been supposedly “guiding” the fed with. It is even more troubling that individuals will read some of the results of this witch hunt and believe the tripe that is being spouted.

During the heyday of the asset/realestate boom in the US and around the world, few seemed to care or even be concerned at the looming potential economic disaster that was being nursed along. Only now after the infant has emerged as an adolescent rebel and is causing havoc around the globe is it on everyone’s mind.

Let’s take a quick step backward and look at this crisis that everyone in power is quickly jumping to point the blame for, and do some basic analysis. We could step further back in time to show these effects over the past many years, but for the sake of the readers time we will just jump back to 2000. On the heels of the dot com bomb, the federal reserve lowers it’s interest rate to an all time low, in an effort to marginalize the impact of this upset in the financial industry. Then not long after on September 11th 2001 an attack on the financial district of New York sent the US and world markets into an uproar, fearing long term financial impacts the fed again lowers its rate to an all time low, and then continues to keep the rate abnormally low for the next 5 years.

Along with the low interest rates, the credit liquidity that the fed makes available for banks was exceptionally easy for them to tap into. And to add to the market abnormalities the US government had created laws that in an effort to get everyone who wanted a home into a home, made it even easier to qualify for various mortgage programs. So with easy credit liquidity and legislation providing low lending requirements, supposed “Predatory Lenders” and conservative lenders alike had customers knocking down their doors to get a “piece of the action”. There were programs that required so little that they only wanted to know the borrowers credit score, and that they had sufficient funds to pay only 2 months on the mortgage, with only that information they could approve the applicant on a loan up to 1.5 million dollars.

With credit so easy to come by, people naturally looked to a traditional asset like real estate as a method by which to tap into the credit, and create income streams based solely on the leverage of their own and others credit worthiness. The only thing which fueled this boom, was the ease of credit acquisition. As people bought homes, the prices raised as they would in a normal/natural free market. This allowed them to again leverage credit to purchase another piece of real estate at the increased market value and continue the process.

To say that this was an error in the way that the free-market runs would be to discount the effects that these market controls had on what has happened to our economy. A person or business operating within a completely free market relies on market indicators to determine the choices that they will make. The free-market naturally seeks for a point of equilibrium where the supply matches the demand in the market. But when some of the key market factors are arbitrarily controlled or forced into certain positions that they wouldn’t naturally be in a free-market (ie: Credit Liquidity, Interest Rates, Legislation requirements on the market) then that sends the other market indicators into a flux that doesn’t make any rational sense. Individuals in the market will naturally make their decisions for their own self interest based on those indicators, which would be in the path of the greatest profit for the least expense. This decision lead most people to decide on taping their credit to increase their profitability, because the requirements were kept artificially low.

A totally free-market would have naturally increased the interest rate and the requirements for getting the loans, thus normalizing the market long before we reached this crisis state. The market would have not allowed for this or many other similar economic catastrophes which have occurred over the last 95 years. These have been the result of allowing our market to be arbitrarily controlled and managed by a group of private bankers who are seeking for their own gain at the expense of the rest of the US. This group has created and managed the fed over that time period, they passed the fed as a method to avoid the market instability that a “free-market” offered, but as a result we have experienced much more frequent and more devastating economic troubles since it’s inception than we ever did from the creation of the United States until the creation of the fed in 1913.

I would agree with Greenspan and say that his philosophy has been flawed, not in the case of the market being the best regulator of itself, but rather in the assertion that the Fed should maintain it’s arbitrary control on the market.

The demon that created this disaster is now being hailed as the white knight with the ability to manufacture the funds to bail out our banks and potentially the banks of other nations rather than being held accountable for it’s role in perpetrating this nefarious blunder on the US people. If we are going to call for additional regulation as a result of this catastrophe, let us regulate the architects rather than the subcontractors, and call for the US house of representatives to exercise their constitutional responsibility to justly oversee the actions of the Fed and call for greater oversight of its actions.

Article Links:

Reuters

Bloomberg