Wealth does not equal greed and power. Capitalism is good.

Have you forgotten why we are a great nation?

We are the only nation in existence who can pinpoint our orchestrated and conscious origin as a nation and not through historical evolution culminating in a singular threshold event. Our break from tyranny was done as a people and not through supplantation of one sovereign for another.

We are the only nation in existence, established whereby the people give the permission to be governed - where the people are the determinants, sovereign over the nation's future and not subordinate to the ones chosen to serve as representatives of the people. We are a governed society by permission from the people that make up our society. You. Me. Us.

No other nation in history has been able to do what our Founding Fathers accomplished. Through debate and stewardship, with ethics and character, they worked together to draft our manifesto for freedom drawing from everything they knew about governments and tyranny and the kind of power that drowns growth and hammers out hope. They were, many of them, wealthy and learned men with a certain amount of influence in their sphere of existence yet no one stepped forward to abuse their wealth and power to assume a dictatorial role and sweep cooperation aside.

Slavery, by today's standard, is the measure used to temper our Founder's greatness. Too much is made of that existence and not to the emancipation that truly changed the world opinion about slavery. Slavery existed in all nations in history, through all ages. But it was a very young American government that ended it and set the example for freedom globally, and it was ended within 89 short years of the birth of this nation. Record progress for a practice that existed for ages. The change instigated By The People.

Our government, established with built-in checks and balances and a limited scope and in concert with a free market economy was the perfect combination to nourish ideas that would propel this nation to prosperity. It was a breeding ground for hope, not based on faith, but instead, results. It was the "land of opportunity" and anyone with a modicum of energy and ambition could capitalize on the opportunity to improve their quality of life.

America – too big to fail?

This is all coming to an end - our nation is in a death spiral. Many look to place blame and cite Kondratiev cycles or conspiracies as the culprits. Most likely it is just the inherent qualities of greed and power that naturally seek each other out in unwitting cooperation.

It doesn't matter. We can be complacent about the forces at work or we can do what our Founders did. We can take action. And not just any action - rightful, thinking, and reasoning action.

It’s the tide of shared motivation that causes the waves to flow in the same direction – nearer to destruction or away from destruction. We are currently flowing to the shores of our destruction carried on a boat by the “unwitting conspirators” with big paddles under the guise of an awaiting safe harbor. It will be a deserted island from which many years will pass before we are rescued.

And who will rescue us if we do not do it ourselves? Will we give ourselves over to the first offer we get? Will we embrace the very ideals and terms that were specifically rejected and engineered out of our declaration for independence? Will we allow ourselves to become slaves just for the relief?

Left vs. Right

Self righteousness and moral high ground are not exclusive to the “right wing religious nuts.” They have not cornered the market. The “left wing liberals” also come from a altruistic moral and “superior educated” standing to defend their agenda. Effective dialogue and the potential for cooperative solutions are eliminated by this kind of exchange to establish some sort of arrogant, moral, spiritual, mental superiority.

It’s a far cry from reason on either side. There is no point arguing left vs.right. We don’t have time for that anymore. Anyone that engages in that destructive distraction is not a thinking person. Feeling maybe, but not thinking.

Overrun by the "Cartel of Good Intentions"

Sheeple have over-generalized that because greed and power seem to be behind our latest economic meltdown that capitalism is bad. Capitalism is the parent of wealth. Greed and power are the unruly children all grown up, but in baby boomer style we blame the parent for their bad behavior.

The blatant buying and selling of people is over but a new kind of slavery has been created from altruism. We can take a lesson from a country that we (and other wealthy nations) have enslaved through a "cartel of good intention," by way of aid and charity. Our good intentions of love, peace, happiness, and food and health for all have kept an entire continent at bay.

Andrew Mwenda not only makes excellent points about aid and charity but if you listen closely you will hear the same symptoms of the disease that ails this country. You will hear the sound reasoning that our Founding Fathers understood would raise the tide of prosperity and with it bring a whole nation to benefit.

We implore you to spend 20 short minutes to listen to Mwenda.

"Sending somebody to school and giving them medicines, ladies and gentlemen, does not create wealth for them. Wealth is a function of income, and income comes from you finding a profitable trading opportunity or a well-paying job."

Have you forgotten why we are a great nation?

Be a good citizen. Refresh your mind on government 101, the Constitution, and basic economics. Then take civic action - participate - start writing your representatives. They work for you.

Capitalism and wealth are not bad.

Big government is not good.