Keep in mind, I’m a conservative guy. I don’t believe in playing the role of victim. However, after a while of getting late notices on bills, overdraft notices from the bank, and  arguing at home about money, I almost couldn’t help but throw my hands up and pray for help.

That’s the catch.

I am not alone in this circumstance. Millions of Americans are going through the same problems right now. Actually, it’s probably millions more than were going through those issues just a year or two ago. Add to this equation a consistent message from nearly all national media outlets that these hardships are due to circumstances out of most folks control, and you have a recipe for national outrage at the injustice done upon it’s people.

This, is the recipe for Socialism.

A lot of you who know me, will undoubtedly roll your eyes right now. I’ve spoken about my concern of a larger federal government for a while now. However, look at the circumstances objectively. There are a few facts, that I dare anyone to rebut:

• More Americans are without work
• NBC, ABC, CBS, usually report stories about the greed of the wealthy, and it’s effect on people who ‘have less’
• The ‘Fed’ (a euphemism for the Federal Treasury) has begun printing paper dollars at a vastly increased rate, compared to two years ago (This is likely to lead to a high level of inflation – the increased value of goods, usually paired with a slower value of labor and wages)

These circumstances are likely to lead to more people doing with less, and more people believing that somehow our system of economics is flawed, and they should be compensated for their difficulties.

There will be a point when inflation reaches levels so high, that the vast majority of Americans will welcome national intervention to prevent further impoverishment of it’s citizens. This is similar, though not quite the same, as what happened in Russia in  1917, Germany in 1932, and China in 1949.

In all of these scenarios, people were presented with bogus options to solve their problems. Folks were told choose A or B, and usually B seemed completely out of the question. This forces people to embrace circumstances they usually would never tolerate.

Ask about the legitimacy of socialized medicine in 1998, and you’d likely get a lackluster response. Ask about it during the depth of a severe recession, and you’ll get a much more enthusiastic crowd.

So, here’s the real conspiracist in me: I think the hardships that people are going through right now, are being perpetuated to further an agenda that consolidates power to the federal government. Granted, DC doesn’t have the ability to outright create recessions, especially one like we’re in now. However, they do have the ability to hinder legitimate recovery from said recession.

By effectively nationalizing banks, nationalizing health care  (it’s on the way), and sending a lot of mixed messages to potential investors to business, the Federal government has created a sense of unease with the entrepreneurs and businesses that would have seen our economy back on it’s feet, much the same is they have for hundreds of years.

This prolonging of economic suffering, under the guise of helping, is no foolish trick. It is a way to entice the masses to believe the only hope they have for recovery is through the determination of a nationally strong central government. A government that will stop the corruption of the few, will save the dignity and prosperity of the many.

This is, by definition, a socialist argument.

But, I’d bet you didn’t think of that way, did you?

The method for this, was a bait-and-switch bill disguised as a financial stimulus bill to help an ailing economy. The bill, the largest ever,  is the single largest takeover of government in American history. Unlike the military coups that were required to nationalize Venezuela, Cuba, or the former Soviet Union, the transfer of government type here has been completely accompished via stealth. Ask the average person on the street about what’s in the bill. You’re likely to get limited response.

There’s reason for that. Nobody actually knows the entirety of the bill. The particulars will take months to decipher. So, either this bill will not have the immediate impact that was championed as a reason for it’s immediate passage, or the bill will be employed with reckless abandon. Either way, it appears the American people got a raw deal.

During all of this, what news do the American people get? Likely, there will be news about the amazing fashion appeal the First Lady has, or how Republicans are hellbent on destroying the economy by opposing efforts to help people with federal aid. What irritates me most about current affairs, is how the story is consistently spun to provide positive light to those who wish to fundamentally alter the way our country works (or doesn’t).

There’s a reason government handouts don’t help anyone (including banks) : The government has zero ability to require responsibility to the folks that receive, well, welfare. The federal (or any other for that matter) government does not, nor should it ever have, the ability to monitor the responsibility of the people it’s employed by. To trust the government with your security, with your freedom, is to give up both.

Of course the irony about the sudden appeal of a strong executive branch, is how the same folks were appalled by the same scenario 6 months ago. Do not confuse the current president with the much more long term presence of government. Giving away freedoms to a ‘seemingly’ benevolent leader today ensures that some other leader, with much more sinister motives, will exploit that power later. By handing over this level of control to government, we have ensured at least some difficulty in re-establishing our right to be a free people.

The lesson from all of this : The American people are just as susceptable to manipulation by the lure of compelling leaders, as any other country in the world. There will be a day when people look back on our country and realize how we the people threw away the greatest of strengths we’d ever had. We will look back and remember what we lost. Then again, maybe we’ll be so fixed on a marionette, that we’ll never look back …