I never thought that any other rulers could come close to meriting this badge of dishonor of this club of Dictators R Us. I may have located their successors. Welcome to the Internet dictators, who are replacing them, if only in the corruption and corrupting behavior. These new wave dictators are right in our faces. They are primarily concentrated in some prime square footage in Washington DC, where the D should stand for "deceit,” and the C for “chicanery.” This is the land where “do as I say you are going to do, not what the Constitution says,” is becoming the norm. I am sure that there are many decent rulers located in that location. They may even outnumber the “bad and the ugly,” but the bad and the ugly are so repulsive that their very presence in what is supposed to be an august body of government, casts a shadow like a Halloween costume on the living room wall, and is equally as hideous. Talk about a “Thriller,” without the entertainment value. Their corrupting influence has been so invasive, that even some of the “good,” are now turning a blind eye, making them “unindicted co-conspirators.”

The Founding Fathers tried to place all sorts of contingencies in place to protect this democratic republic from evil corrupt knaves, but even they could not calculate how truly nefarious some of these "leaders" can be. As a matter of fact, this country no longer has many true leaders. "Rulers" abound and they seem to have slipped rather comfortably into the “absolute power corrupts absolutely,” mode. Let’s see. What is an example that I can use to back up my statements? I found it. The latest healthcare debacle sprang right to mind. I find it very disgusting that politicians who want to project an aura or the mantle of “leadership,” can unilaterally decide that we the people are beneath contempt and cannot be allowed to read a bill that will have an impact on our future as individuals and the future of the nation. The finance committee voted on a “concept,” a concept that could send me to prison if I choose not to participate in their socialist healthcare program? They finally decided to let us take a peek at the 1502 pages of their bill. That is too late for me to be mollified. I am still rankled at their treatment.

Let me make it as public as possible. I will not be forced into any communistic healthcare where government bureaucrats have the power to determine whether I live or die. That role is already taken. His name is I AM, AKA G-O-D. I deliberately spelled His name out for ease of understanding for those with a God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob aversion. Here is a thought. Maybe you politicians can convince me when you tether yourself to the same odious health plan you are planning to put in place for the serfs. I will try to read your bill. I am a college graduate and should be able to read the “wherefores,” and “whereases.” The last word is a deliberate spelling that succinctly describes what the rulers think we are.

These new rulers are not sending out their minions to pull citizens out of their houses and shoot them for daring to express any opinions contrary to the opinions of the rulers – yet. I have this nagging nightmare that not too long in the future, we may have more in common with the people of Iran, than we envision at this point in time. I earlier described the new rulers as Internet dictators as a nod to the “sophistication” of the repressive measures now employed. Instead of the crudeness of a stake upon which the enemy is laid out, the destruction of a person is more sophisticated, relatively speaking. It is a crude name here like “mob,” and a Hitler reference there. “Brownshirts,” comes to mind. Citizens are called these vicious names, by their own representatives, just for daring to express a desire for a return to the liberty mandated by the US Constitution.

An “in your face” manifestation of Internet dictatorship was the government-sponsored snitch site where family member and neighbors could turn in one another. Thank God, sanity must have prevailed and snitch on your friends.guv or whatever the heck it was called, was quietly phased out before the requisite burnings at the stake could begin. I guess the defiance of citizens turning themselves in caused the cave in. That was a “teachable moment,” to quote the president. Next time, the approach will be more overt, or more in your face, depending on how far along the subjugation of the citizenry has progressed?

The title of this piece mentions the robber barons also being owed an apology. The robber barons of old were accused of doing their own pillaging and raping, of their fellow citizens, in the industrial and financial arenas. They could learn a thing or two about real rapacity when contrasted with the nouveau robber barons. The previous robber barons may have been able to proffer a redeeming rationale that, while they were guilty of unfair business practices, including monopolies, they did play a significant role in the industrialization of the republic.

The new versions of robber barons cannot provide any such mitigating reasons for their thieving ways. They financially rape because they are avaricious and their victims are much too accommodating. Now, many of these robber barons have “navigated” from their raping and pillaging of the private sector, right over to the other den of raping and pillaging, government “service.” The “unlucky” ones got caught, and are serving anywhere from 150 years to 2 years. According to crack researcher David Z, almost 60 have done the perp walk, in the last few years. The other partners in this tango of corruption, the political perps, number over 9000 for the last twelve years or so. Just imagine if they had to abide by the rules that they made for the rest of us. Their unlawful take would have probably approached those billions and trillions of dollars of which they are so fond of spending, the old OPM (other people’s money) tool.

I could list them and their serial numbers, but why bother? I would prefer to use the space to quote a man of infinitely more worth. That wise one would be Thomas Jefferson, who had this to say:

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered..

We did not listen to your warning, Mr. Jefferson. Many are homeless “on the continent their fathers conquered.” They were “enveloped” in the arms of corrupt politicians and corrupt financial “experts,” and when the embrace ended, they were sheared more expertly than real sheep.

So, why are Americans in general, not reacting to their financial rape? We have the “mobsters” and “right wing fanatics/domestic terrorist/returning Iraq and Afghanistan veterans” contingent, so labeled by their own government, who are speaking out. But what about the rest of us? Are we suffering from a mass Stockholm syndrome? Inquiring minds are befuddled. Are we so willing to let the architects and administrators of Medicare, Medicaid, the US Postal Service, Fannie and Freddie (Mae and Mac), Social Security, put another social program on the grill for burning to a crisp? On Jeopardy, the aforementioned programs/institutions would be the answer provided to the question: “How many government programs have been screwed and are bankrupt or near bankruptcy?”

It is not as if we were not warned. Thomas Jefferson sounded the alarm when this nation was a fledging republic. Contrasting what he wrote with what is occurring in our times, makes one come to the conclusion that he had a better track record than the Psychic Network, in predicting future events. How can anyone disagree with the following that he presciently wrote?

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. 
A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. 

My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.

The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those 
who are willing to work and give to those who would not. 

When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, 
we shall become as corrupt as Europe.

I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the 
government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them. 

I guess those of us who labor, watch that labor wasted, and do not want the government to “take care of us,” will be living very unhappy lives, for a long time to come, unless we are “eliminated” by the “law of comparative effectiveness.” We still have a choice. We can either curl up into the fetal position and die, or we can fight with every single one of the legal and political instruments available to us. If the political system, including the voting system, has not been irredeemably corrupted, we can turn over a new leaf and vote for honest, virtuous, competent leaders, or we can become another floundering, failed nation. Should we choose the path of least resistance, we can kiss the “beacon of hope” designation goodbye. We will not be worthy.