Liberty Maven

These days I’m reminded of  the semi-jingoistic words from “God Bless The U.S.A: Proud To Be An American” by Lee Greenwood. It makes me somber and introspective. Perhaps it should be renamed “Sad To Be An American” to make it more accurate.  I’m in this mood because I’ve come to the realization that Ben Bernanke, Hank Paulson, and almost everyone within our federal government have adopted the main principle of Dr. Gideon Gono. The principle is: Failure is not an option. Who is this Dr. Gideon Gono you ask?

Dr. Gideon Gono is the chairman of the Central Bank of Zimbabwe. He has been instrumental in fighting the threat of deflation in Zimbabwe. In fact, he fought deflation so successfully that inflation is now said to be growing annually at 516 quintillion percent (as of November 2008). Just to show how largely successful Gono has been, here is 516 quintillion shown with zeros on the end:

516,000,000,000,000,000,000 %

Prices are doubling every 1.3 days in Zimbabwe. Certainly that can’t happen in America right? I hope not. Of course, if that were to happen I could pay off my mortgage with about 2 minutes worth of work.

Gideon Gono’s main principle is posted on his website next to his smiling face. Failure is not an option. Our American government has adopted this macho philosophy. Bernanke has professed he and the Fed will do everything possible to defeat deflation at the behest of…  taxpayers. Well, presumably some of them approve of Bernanke’s actions. I haven’t met any, but I suppose they are out there.

Failure made America great. If there was a way to force our elected (and appointed) representatives to stay after class and write those words on America’s blackboard in perpetuity I’d love to see it happen. Without failure we learn nothing. They insist on rewarding failure and punishing success. We free market lovers rightfully complain of the nanny state incessantly. Our nannies are teaching us some extremely bad habits these days.

“What? You made a profit? Shame Shame. Get in that corner for a time out! And on your way give me a portion of your profit!”

“Aww, I’m so sorry you are in the red. You aren’t responsible for your actions. We can’t possibly let you go bankrupt. Here’s some taxpayer money to tide you over until you need more in a few months. There there.”

Tsunami waves made of nationalization, socialization, and globalization are rising up and rolling toward our shores in the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans. Indeed, these are the times that try libertarians souls.

As we make attempts to defend against the collapse of America as we know it I’ll be singing my rewritten refrain from Lee Greenwood’s patriotic classic:

And I’m sad to be an American
where I once thought I was free.
And I won’t forget the men who stole
that precious right from me.

Are the credits starting to roll on the great American experiment? I fear they are.