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The Amerikan Way
By Jack Kinsella
Back in the 1980's ABC ran a miniseries on television called "Amerika." America's proper spelling was changed to simulate a more sinister America under Soviet occupation.
The idea for the miniseries came from a column written by humorist and conservative capitalist Ben Stein.
The series was aimed squarely at American society as it was in the late 1980's. The series was set ten years after Soviets had conquered America -- but it was left up to the viewer to decide for himself how it all came about.
It implied that apathy and an unwillingness to defend freedom on the part of many citizens was what make the takeover possible.
That, plus the fact that the American public had been disarmed in advance by the liberal thinkers who concluded that guns were the source of gun violence instead of the people using them.
At one point in the series, a key Soviet official observes that their plans for conquering the United States succeeded far beyond their wildest dreams, because once the nation had been defeated, Americans turned inward, not caring about national issues, seeking only to retain a piece of the prosperity that had once been theirs.
"It (the Soviet coup) worked because you lost your country before we ever got here," says the Soviet leader. "You had political freedom, but you lost your passion ... How could we not win?"
The same theme is echoed througout the miniseries, as summarized by another character:
"Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for – for things not to get worse."
In another scene, a schoolgirl recites the following speech, (somewhat presciently) set in a Chicago classroom. Pay close attention -- you may recognize some of it.
"We are the voice of the new generation. We are the voice of the new people. The destructive ways of the past are gone. We will replace them with our vision of the future. The Party will lead us to the new age. There have been those who have tried to stop the new age. They are the corrupt reminder of the past.
They have tried to confuse us with the idea that the old America was a good country. We know that lie. History teaches us that lie. We are grateful to our Soviet brothers who saved the world from destruction, and we can now join them in a world of socialist brotherhood.
Everyone will go to school, everyone will have a job, everyone will be equal. No one will exploit or be exploited, and all those who oppose this wonderful vision will be crushed."
A quarter-century ago, Amerika was so far fetched that audiences couldn't buy the premise. After initially opening to a wide audience and huge ratings, the audience share fell from a high of over 45% to just 19% overall.
In 1987, the miniseries was too far removed from reality to be marketable to American audiences. Plans to spin it off into a regular television series were scrapped after the ratings collapsed.
In 2009 it is too close to reality to be marketable as fiction. If ABC were to run the series today, the Democrats would claim it was a political smear campaign aimed at them.
Maybe it was the speech delivered by the schoolgirl. It has a too-familiar ring to it:
"We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of the future, the answer to the cynics who tell us our house must stand divided, that we cannot come together, that we cannot remake this world as it should be. We know that we have seen something happen over the last several weeks, over the past several months.
We know that what began as a whisper has now swelled to a chorus that cannot be ignored, that will not be deterred, that will ring out across this land as a hymn that will heal this nation, repair this world, make this time different than all the rest. Yes, we can. Let's go to work." -Barack Hussein Obama on Super Tuesday, 2008
Oh no, we didn't...oh yes we did!
And now we're trying to figure out how to stuff Pandora back into her box -- but its too late.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged $100 billion of your money at the Copenhagen Climate Conference yesterday to right the wrongs the old America inflicted on the developing world.
The destructive ways of the past are gone. . . . we can now join the rest of the world in socialist brotherhood. . . .
The Congress continues to wrestle with a health care bill so massive that if it passes, a military coup won't be necessary to transform America into Amerika. A Constitutional crisis will work just as well.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate bill under consideration would force American families making 400% of the poverty level to pay what amounts to a $15,200 federally-mandated annual health insurance fee or face criminal prosecution.
If you are single and make $40k a year, you are covered under that mandate. If you're married, the threshold is $58,000 per year.
I note with interest that not a single member of either House of Congress seems to believe the Constitution gives them the authority to pass the Congressionally-mandated requirement that all Americans buy health insurance.
Some feign ignorance (I hope its feigned) like Blanche Lincoln [D. Ark] who claimed Constitutional authority because the Constitution "charges Congress with the health and well-being of the people."
The Congress is actually charged with 'providing for a common defense and promoting the general welfare'. Senator Mary Landrieu [D. La] admitted to both ignorance and apathy -- she admits she doesn't know, but that's ok, since she doesn't care anyway.
"Well, we're very lucky as members of the Senate to have constitutional lawyers on our staff, so I'll let them answer that," said Landrieu.
"But what I will say is that most certainly it is within Congress' jurisdiction to come up with a way to have a health insurance funded with shared responsibility, is the way I like to, you know--government has a responsibility, individuals have a responsibility and business has a responsibility..."
Some are claiming authority under the Constitution's commerce clause, a claim the CBO called "novel" but not particularly convincing.
Congressman John Dingle [D. Mi] dismissed Constitutional claims by saying "most of what Congress does is unconstitutional anyway."
Constitution notwithstanding, the president called a meeting of Senate Democrats yesterday to warn them that failing to vote in favor of the health care plan will amount to 'political suicide' for them.
So if a Democrat DID decide to honor his Constitutional oath, it would end his political career with the Democratic party.
We will replace them with our vision of the future. The Party will lead us to the new age. There have been those who have tried to stop the new age. They are the corrupt reminder of the past....
What does it mean to the country when its elected representatives are forced to choose between the US Constitution and the political aspirations of a particular party? It means they are at cross-purposes.
Now, what does it mean when the majority political party is at cross-purposes with the US Constitution?
Negotiations are sputtering at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference despite Hillary Clinton's offer of $100 billion to 'subsidize' the Third World. What is surprising is who is most likely to upset the applecart -- and why.
It isn't the freedom-loving United States that is worried about the threat posed to its sovereignty by a global environmental dictatorship.
China is the country making the biggest waves about the proposed monitoring, reporting a verification regime under consideration.
Kevin Fay, executive director of the International Climate Change Partnership of Arlington, Virginia, explained that the Chinese are "worried about the carbon policy descending on their country. To them, it's a question of whether China maintains control of their economy."
China is worried about losing control of ITS economy. Why do you suppose that is? Moreover, why isn't it worrying American leaders?
"You had political freedom, but you lost your passion...How could we not win?..."
In the miniseries, Amerika, the country collapsed because it was too apathetic to care about the loss of its freedoms. In real life, the country is on the verge of collapse because it is becoming too apathetic to care about the impending surrender of its sovereignty and the impending demise of its Constitution.
The health care bill and the climate change treaties are but two examples of American willingess to bend the Constitution. The government purchase of GM is another. The bank bailout is yet another.
The refusal to investigate Obama's legal citizenship status is another. Why doesn't anybody want to take up these questions? Because they fear the backlash. They fear being labeled 'racist' or 'flat-earther' or 'birther' or, worst of all, a 'right wing conservative'.
"Nobody wanted to risk anything for anybody else. Everybody was afraid they were going to lose what they had. They knew it was bad. They were just afraid it'd get worse. That's all they lived for – for things not to get worse."
In 1987 it was fiction too far-fetched to garner an audience. But in 2009, it's become the Amerikan way.
The way the deck is being stacked, how could they not win?
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