“There are two fundamental problems in American politics. The first is that most Americans do not believe that elected officials represent their interests. The second is that they are correct.” John Gastil

“If you’re caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you’re going to jail … Evidently, if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night.” Elizabeth Warren (the Native American-well, for a while, at least-US Senator from Massachusetts

“Wall Street is ground zero for the rest of the problems in our economy. And when they screw up in ways that hurt the rest of us, even when they blatantly violate the law, the fact that they are never seriously punished means they have no incentive to stop.” Mike Lux

“The mistake our politicians so often make with these industry leaders is in thinking they are interested in, or respectful of, the power of government. All they want is to keep stealing. If you can offer them the government’s seal of approval on that, they’ll take it. But if you can’t, well, they’ll take that too.” Matt Taibbi

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.” Ernest Benn

“Politicians are people who, when they see light at the end of the tunnel, go out and buy some more tunnel.” John Quinton

“The hardest thing about any political campaign is how to win without proving that you are unworthy of winning.” Adlai Stevenson

“The political and commercial morals of the United States are not merely food for laughter, they are an entire banquet.” Mark Twain

I hope a few of the quotes above have caused at least a small fissure of what might pass for a smile. For those of us who care about this great country, the thin line separating a smile from a grimace is barely recognizable.

Alas, over the eons, bankers and politicians have been the fodder for the grist of many media and political mills. And as go the mainstream media and calculating populist politicians, so too go many of the people. Mark Twain once said “if you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re mis-informed.” And therein lies the rub. The democrats and their willing accomplices in the media have turned misinformation (nay, often disinformation) into an art form, and popular opinion has been kneaded, baked, and set on the counter to cool. Where the leaven in this analogy falls flat is that making bread is no longer in favor in the United States of America. Go figure.

The fact  that disinformation and chicanery have been effectively employed for centuries by those whose quests for power know no boundaries does not help assuage the pain precipitated by today’s honesty blight. We who seek honesty, transparency, intelligence, and vision are not mollified by the knowledge that today’s transgressions are merely repetitions of past practices. Indeed, it is that there are no new tricks in politics that is most irksome. That half of our country (young and old, rich and poor, working and not working, any color or ethnicity) fall for this claptrap is what is most galling.

Fade to our title today, and hopefully those of you who actually were made to take Latin in school (I don’t know about you, but it wasn’t an option when I was growing up) will know that our blog title means “Thus has it ever been, and thus shall it ever be.” Latin is succinct, isn’t it?

The Republicans can’t get along; Jeb Bush is a RINO; John Boehner is a schmuck; Mitt Romney an elitist; Barack Obama is a visionary;  Eric Holder is a man of principle; the nation will never be lifted from its morass if we do not tax the wealthy and redistribute those proceeds to those less fortunate; if you work on Wall Street you are a calculating, greedy bastard; race relations are at an all time low; white crackers killed Michael Brown; the police are trigger happy; all Americans are entitled to a guaranteed quality of life; Wall Street and big business are synonymous; they are sinister;  if you own a business, you are not building it by yourself; if you are successful, it is incumbent upon the government to take the fruits of your labor; Republicans want to destroy the planet; anyone who does not embrace the evolving theory on climate change is a flat-earther; any politician who wants to get to the bottom of the IRS scandal is a back-stabbing political hack; if the Justice Department states that a wrong must be righted, it is pursuing justice; the energy business is run by neanderthals and the sooner it is forced into retirement, the better; the future is in green energy; the greatest source of new jobs over the past five years was the energy business; whoops, well then it is ok for the President to take credit for that; money is bad but governmental philanthropy (that is a very nice way of saying “what the government does with your tax payments”) is good; the President is trying to help everyday Americans but those darned Republicans are blocking everything he is trying to do; the only way to eradicate greed and evil (can you say Republican?) is through regulation!

I could go on all day and night. What you see on television and read on the web or in the paper is no more than what someone wants you to see or read; Pierce Wire being no exception. You need to dig deeper and understand the dynamics driving all that meets the ear and eye. Nothing is as it seems. You owe the quest for truth to yourself.

On January 15, 2015, an interview with President Obama will be aired on ABC. In this interview, he will voice support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, and then of the robber barons on Wall Street he will opine “…people who are irresponsible, who are reckless, who don’t feel a sense of obligation to their communities and their companies and their workers that those folks aren’t rewarded.”

Here is a news flash. There are millions of hard working, honest people who own businesses, work on Wall Street, are employed by large corporations, and yes, believe it or not, are elected officials at the local, state, and federal levels. The crooks are very few and far between. When they are caught, they are punished. Most people get up every day and try to go make a positive difference in their lives and the lives of those around them. But this news flash does not make good print or soundbite and it certainly does not help elect Republicans. Because as long as half the country thinks “Wall Street” and Republicans are greedy SOB’s, the chances of recapturing our greatness remain imperiled.

Our predicament is rich with irony. The very philosophies and practices that can lift us from our morass (low taxation, simplified tax rules and filings, free markets and trade, restoring confidence-Reagan may be dead, but those ideas have survived and been validated over the millennia-minimal regulation, strong defense, and clear vision and leadership) are those that are now pilloried by the left and labeled as elitist and greedy. God help us.

Thus has it ever been, and thus shall it ever be? Only time will tell.

More to follow-