You probably agree that lying to others is sometimes forgivable. But how do you explain lying to yourself?  You see a country bleeding like a gut-shot deer. You see a country that has abandoned its historic virtues. And whom do you blame? Why, who else? You blame the millions of citizens who allow themselves to be brainwashed by television and Hollywood — the gang that systematically hypnotizes Americans to act like the good little sheep in Far From The Madding Crowd. There they were, mingling and bleating happily, when a deranged sheep dog stampeded them to their deaths over a nearby cliff. Well, you’re no sheep, not you. Oh, no, nobody’s herding you anywhere because you’re too savvy. Ingeniously, you saw the brainwashing start a long time ago. It was a gradual thing, like moss growing on a rock. You were never fooled by innocent, clever and sometimes hilarious sitcoms that taught you life’s important lessons. Promiscuity is preferable to sexual abstinence. The more partners the better. Better still if they include both sexes. Career women are divas; housewives are drones. Good English is dull; dumb is cool. Christians are recidivist morons; atheists are intellectual giants. You were among the first to notice the advent of social engineering in TV dramas and movies. All authority figures  – police chiefs, judges, department heads, etc. — were (and are) black or female. Clint Eastwood or Harrison Ford seldom have white bosses; and if either does, they are always as corrupt as a white Charles B. Rangel. Big business? Evil. Wealthy white industrialists exist only to rape the environment and pillage the poor. You were quick to learn that movie scripts without the F word deserve little, if any, respect. In fact, the true excellence of any script is in direct proportion to the frequency and diverse use of a word that apparently merits the admiration of the truly cool among us. Any movie that doesn’t play the race or gay card has not a whit of redeeming value.  And, unlike many of your enlightened peers, you never fell for the avant-garde practice of piercing your tongue or nipples or tattooing your skin to improve on God’s design. Nonetheless, like the incessant tide, mass media continues to knock at your door. Drum. Drum. Drum. “C’mon, join the rest of us. Dumb it down, baby. You won’t feel a thing. Be happy. Just give Rap a chance. Rap is cool. It really isn’t as monotonous or juvenile or brainless as it seems.” But you resist, right? You simply won’t take one ounce of credit for the rule of insanity. You didn’t contribute one iota to the corrosion of the American Miracle.  If anyone’s been brainwashed, it certainly hasn’t been you. Right? Right?

The realization appeared like the sun at long last peeking from the edge of a black cloud. You can call it tyranny, despotism, oppression or persecution – even terrorism. On a global scale, tyrants obliterate the weak and fearful. On a schoolyard, bullies abuse the meek and timid. But the venue isn’t the issue, is it? No, the realization is that all forms of tyranny – from dictatorships to organized crime to neighborhood gangs — operate under the identical model. It’s called extortion. The toughs visit storeowners and “offer” protection for a fee. Mafia organizations “persuade” city officials that they are best equipped to handle essential services. The Federal Government, in its benign munificence, decides it will “help” uplift the fate of Mankind by assuring that all citizens share in the Nation’s wealth. Comparing a democratically elected government to the Mafia surely is a baseless, if not slanderous, accusation. You should be ashamed, even condemned for the implication. Comparing hundreds of members of Congress to hoodlums goes beyond the pale of civil discussion. Anyway, criminals – hoodlums — use force to confiscate your wealth; they tell you what you must give and what you must do. Surely, the Federal Government doesn’t invade your liberty and garnish your wages at the point of a gun. Surely not. Surely, all the Federal Government does is control what it must to make life fair for everyone. Some decisions are just too important to be left to American citizens – decisions about health, about education, about energy, about housing and about gun control. In fact, on your behalf and for your protection, the Federal Government must rightly take control of certain private businesses. You must realize that government can’t provide protection in all of these vital areas without having the resources – your money – to do a proper job. If you leave all these decisions to individual Americans, the country inevitably would flounder and millions would suffer. You see, then, that comparing Washington to Organized Crime is only true in the sense that both offer protection using your money. You must concede that Organized Crime and other gangs use coercion, corruption, bribes, intimidation and even physical violence. That can’t be true of your elected leaders. You admit that many of them are known to be guilty of perjury, tax fraud, adultery, bribery, plagiarism, malfeasance in office and other such human failings; but you’re confident they would never condone violence or threat of violence. Then, as the cloud passes by, you see more clearly and remember the conversation between The Godfather’s Michael Corleone and his beloved Kay:
MICHAEL
I’m working for my father now, Kay. He’s been sick — very sick.
KAY
But you’re not like him, Michael. I thought you weren’t going to become a man like your
Father. That’s what you told me…
MICHAEL
My father’s no different than any other powerful man — (then, after Kay laughs)
— any man who’s responsible for other people, like a senator or a president.
KAY
You know how naive you sound?
MICHAEL
Why?
KAY
Senators and presidents don’t have men killed…
MICHAEL
Oh – (now) who’s being naïve, Kay?

In case you haven’t noticed, you’ve been had. You, being you, enlightened and savvy, above the fray, reject that assertion out of hand. Yeah, sure, nobody can lay any blame at your feet. As the divinely inspired American experiment slides into the abyss, you’re confident the descent has little or nothing to do with you. Anyway, you won’t be around to see the outcome, just as the Founders couldn’t survive to see what became of their historic courage and passionate sacrifice. Just as the tens of thousands lying at Normandy and all across the globe couldn’t survive to know that their last full measure of devotion was wasted on generations devoted to self-gratification, corruption and ignorance. On March 21, 2010, you remembered the term “the enemy within.” That’s the day when 219 traitorous citizens, empowered by your vote, trashed The Constitution. These are the Congressmen you elected to uphold one lofty ideal – to support, protect and preserve your most sacred treasure. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; (and) that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same . . .” (laugh or cry here). Who are these people? They are your sanctioned leaders who have robbed you of the very freedom they vowed to protect. Are you through laughing? They are bureaucrats who, with your approval, have won the lottery — a lifetime of wealth and privilege paid for by you and those yet unborn. They are slugs who create nothing, produce nothing and contribute nothing. They are nobodies compared to the farmer, the mechanic, the businessman, the craftsman, the physician, the homemaker and other individuals who live purpose-driven lives. Yet you allow them to dishonor the memory of those who gave everything to see that tyranny would never visit this land. And now that tyranny is here, you understand that America’s real threat was never ruin from without, but rot from within.