I wrote the following back in 1997 or  1998, as part of a novel called "The Second American Revolution," available here.

“The thing I don’t understand is how the president’s approval ratings can be so high with the economy falling into the tank. Don’t people realize his policies are guaranteed to make things worse—just like what happened in Russia during Yeltsin’s last years?”

“I think they do, dear. Especially since the bank holiday back in ’04 that killed President Ericsson’s chances for a second term. They just don’t want to face the cold, hard fact that they haven’t done the responsible thing and saved up for their golden years. Now those golden years are here, and they’re suddenly discovering they’re maxed out on their credit cards, they’ve got 2nd mortgages impossible to pay off when their homes are depreciating in value, and they’ve got nothing set aside except their 401 (k)’s and IRAs. And those have lost value over the last couple of years instead of gaining value. They really believed the Dow would hit 40,000 and they’d all be rich forever. Now the house of cards is collapsing and they’re caught in the crunch. They’ll go on denying the truth as long as they can—and maybe longer. As long as they do, they have to approve of President Gordon’s performance. If they don’t, they have to face up to their responsibility for the state of their finances. I wouldn’t want to, if I were in their shoes.”

Granted, I was wrong about there being a bank holiday, and President Gordon was based on Al Gore (rather than John Kerry or Mr. Obama). But I get cold chills when I remember I wrote this over 10 years ago and now it's come true.

Denise from LA (a conservative, constitutionalist independent as she goes to considerable pains to make clear) posted a fascinating piece of an article from the NY Daily News

Quote From The NY Daily News.

Missing in action is the Barack Obama who vowed to unite the country around common values. Lately he has been the very opposite of the man he promised. Instead of hope, many have a growing fear of the arrogant government he leads.

In truth, there is no history for what he is doing. He is the most radical President of our times, far outside the mainstream of our political philosophy. He is not a reformer who fixes things. He fancies himself "transformative," a man who reshapes and reorders. It apparently begins with smashing the existing order under the pretext of managing the crisis he inherited.

During the campaign, a fellow journalist confided that "I know Obama is a Manchurian candidate, I just can't figure out what for." I laughed then, but no more. Obama represents a secular religion that believes, no matter the malady, Washington is the antidote. More government is the chicken soup of his tribe.

It is an illusion of many Republicans and Democrats that Washington can successfully manage the economy and our lives. Our institutions and culture are too big, too diverse and too unruly to be run like a banana republic.

Yet the economic mess has robbed the nation of its confidence, and the vacuum is being filled by politicians bearing promises and borrowed dollars. The true cost of this "help" will come later, with back-breaking debt and a lack of growth and opportunity.

We can't say we haven't been warned. "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad" is more than folklore. It predicts our fate if we follow the government mob.

This is my response:

Whom the gods would destroy...

...they first make mad. Good quote, Denise. Especially since "mad" can be taken two ways.

First, as in "insane," which Mr. Obama (and a lot of the noisier liberals in Congress and elsewhere) are, given that all of them are non-normies. What is a non-normie? A child who never learned to grieve losses but stuffed his/her towering snit down into his/her psyche to grow into a lake of fire over the years. A child who grew up stuck on stupid, with a raging hatred of normies (those who did learn to grieve losses as children and grew up to become adults).

Second, as in "furious," which an increasing number of normies and recovering non-normies are becoming as the threat of having everything they hold most dear and valuable taken away from them by the non-normies grows daily. Despite what Tabitha (above) says, the normies and recovering non-normies far outnumber the flaming non-normies (and many of them are military, both active duty and retired). As Glenn Beck points out, we surround the non-normies--and between the Tea Parties and the We Surround Them rallies, we are beginning to express that fury."

For me, that fury has very little emotion in it. It feels (if that's even the right word) like a Mission Directive (h/t Tony Hubble of Pebbles in My Pond, a blog of Townhall, available here). Mine might best be stated as "I will not be treated like a slave or a serf. I will do whatever is necessary to prevent my family, friends, and fellow normies and recovering non-normies from being treated like slaves or serfs by those flaming non-normies who show nothing but contempt for me and all others. Give me Liberty or give me death."

While I'm not a conspiracy theorist, I am very concerned about the possibility of Mr. Obama and his cronies in Congress using the GIVE Act, available here under H.R.1388, as the basis for creating the Obama Youth and the Civilian Security Force. Alternatively, check this link out for the latest DOD document on the Civilian Expeditionary Workforce. (h/t to Curtal Friar at Fountain Abbey.) Apparently this idea has been around for quite awhile, but note the date on this revision. January 23, 2009.

Unlike many conservatives, I do not, and will not, own a gun, largely because I suffer from a mild form of bipolar disorder and do not want the temptation to use said gun on myself. However, I am seriously considering getting back into archery, which is considerably less dangerous to me, and potentially at least as dangerous to the bad guys. Also, as my last post indicates, I'm working on ways to enable myself, my family, my friends, and my fellow normies and recovering non-normies to get out of Dodge. I think the window of time available for this is less than two years, perhaps considerably less.

In closing, here are a couple more exerpts from "The Second American Revolution." Remember, I wrote this over ten years ago.

For a moment, she considered this, as if trying to determine how much she dared tell me—and how best to do it. Finally she heaved a sigh. “I’m scared to death about what’s going to happen in the next Congress, now that the Democrats will control the House. If they pass the program President Gordon’s announcing today, I don’t see how we can survive.”

I lofted one brow. “Do you know something I don’t?”

“Sandy Beringer, the president’s press secretary, is a college classmate of mine—and a secret Villager.” Again she kept her voice so low I could just hear it. “He took me out to dinner at a little bistro last Friday night and told me in gory detail. He’s not very happy with President Gordon, either, but keeps his feelings to himself. Hidden in the fine print of this glorious package to fix Social Security and all the other social and environmental ills of the world are three daggers aimed right at us. The first one is confiscatory taxes. No one’s to be allowed to keep any income over $30,000 per family of four. The rest will go to save Social Security and revamp the educational system to be controlled by the Department of Education, because local school districts just can’t do the job right. And what those two programs don’t soak up will go toward enforcing draconian environmental standards. People won’t be allowed to own cars any more, but must ride public transportation or bicycles, or walk. Everyone must have a national ID card for any purchases, travel, or medical procedures. And all the armed services will be combined with the INS, Customs, ATF, FBI, and other national law enforcement and investigative bodies into a single National Police Force—to ‘relieve’ the cities of the onerous responsibility for local law enforcement.”

I stared at her, horrified.

She went on without noticing. “Finally, no one may legally own gold in any form, and all gold held by individuals and corporations must be surrendered to the Federal Reserve Bank without compensation of any kind. Furthermore, all work on space development must stop immediately, and all residents off world must be brought home immediately on pain of death by abandonment. The space station and any other properties in space must be de-orbited and destroyed, and the satellite networks must be decommissioned."

And this one.

With a grunt, I returned my attention to the transcript showing in the Klipboard. “So what we see here is a master harpist playing on the fears and concerns of the general public, especially the baby boomers.”

Michelle nodded. “Even in his proposal, he’s—circumspect. He doesn’t come right out and say people won’t be allowed to keep more than $30,000 in annual income per family of four, or own gold in any form. He just proposes a graduated tax rate that produces that effect, and taxes gold holdings at 150% of the spot price for gold on the last day of any quarter. He doesn’t even come out and forbid private ownership of cars, just proposes that states which don’t ticket people driving autos with fewer than five passengers will lose all Federal highway construction funds. If the cars belong to a fleet, such as a taxi company, they must have a minimum of one passenger at least 90% of the time. As for the trucking industry, he proposes a very steep curve for conversion to 0% polluting vehicles.” She sighed. “I—overreacted earlier.”

The novel is free for download if anyone wants to read the whole thing. Meanwhile, I just keep acting on my Mission Directive--and blogging the occasional results and suggestions rising out of it here.