Excerpt: CHAPTER 1

If You Don't Know What the Problem Is, You'll Never Find a Solution

Most Americans - indeed most of the world's citizens - embrace the idea that, since its inception, America has been a bright and glorious beacon of hope for all the world. This is why the words of William Jennings Bryan, quoted in the prologue, have such resonance for us today. But contained within these words, uttered as they were in passion and truth, is a prescient warning which has crucial significance for all of us today.

You will do yourself an enormous favor by carefully re-reading the prologue, since it is within these words that you will find not only the hope that is still ours but the suggestion of a less well-known, carefully hidden side of our history. This hidden history now threatens to completely destroy America's original promise for the whole of humanity unless we – each of us as individuals - care enough to reclaim our human birthright. Therefore, it is hoped that within the pages of this book you will gain a clear understanding of why Bryan asserted that “the God who reigned over Babylon Is the God who is reigning yet" and what Lincoln meant when he said “We shall nobly save or meanly lose the last best hope of the earth.”

The reflections which are contained in Part I of this book are meant to be a very brief introduction into some very disturbing but amazingly well-argued and well-documented ideas and assertions made by a number of dedicated researchers, constitutional and monetary specialists - and even various government officials. It represents one important portion of the hidden side to our history.

It is no overstatement to say that what is discussed here is of critical importance particularly post 9-11 – not only because it reveals how long and how far we have strayed from the ideals, principles, and foundation upon which our country was founded, but also because it provides crucial insight into how and why our government has for so long willfully ignored the will of the people even as it becomes ever more unaccountable to We the People with each passing day.

Within this context, it should also become very apparent that our government officials - like those around the world - function (knowingly or not) as puppets and pawns in a quickly evolving global system which threatens to enslave and eventually destroy us all. This has nothing to do with left/liberal or right/conservative or Democrat/Republican or any other such methods which have long been used to divide and conquer us. It has everything to do with the principles and ideals upon which our country was founded. Your ideas and assumptions concerning these original principles will more than likely be shaken to the core after reading what is contained here.

As one extremely chilling example of just what it is we will be exploring - particularly in light of what has been occurring as a result of 9-11 - let’s go back to an eleven week period during the Civil War which has been labeled “The Lincoln Dictatorship.” This period was characterized in a special message which Lincoln delivered to Congress on July 4, 1862. In this message Lincoln described the steps he had already taken under the emergency war powers which were given to Congress under the Constitution and then invited Congress to ratify whatever they might think necessary to legalize the actions he had already taken.

Many of Lincoln’s actions circumvented various Constitutional requirements and indeed Lincoln even disregarded the court’s ruling against his own suspension of the Writ of Habeas Corpus. Still, when asked over a year later to determine the legality of Lincoln’s actions, the Supreme Court held that “the president of the United States has the constitutional power, under such circumstances as he shall deem imperative, to brand as belligerents the inhabitants of any area in general insurrection.”

Irrespective of your own opinions of the necessity of Lincoln’s various actions - or for that matter the real reasons and moneyed interests behind the war itself - it is because of this precedent-setting use of “emergency power” that future presidents have been given . . .

almost unrestrained power to act toward insurrectionary citizens as if they were enemies of the US and thus place them outside the protection of the Constitution. This is dictatorial power in the extreme. The constitution can be suspended by any president of the United States who ascertains and proclaims a widespread territorial revolt. . . [Moreover, it was the sum total] of what Lincoln did, not what the Supreme Court said, that set the precedent for emergency powers . . .There is this disturbing fact: Lincoln set the precedent for bad men as well as good.'' (present author's emphasis, Constitution: Fact or Fiction by Eugene Schroder)

So, there you have it. The new - and perpetual - “war emergency” created by the “New Pearl Harbor” that we call 9-11 has provided the perfect climate for (dare we say it) ever-evolving, ever-increasing dictatorial powers – justifiable for bad men as well as good. Moreover and with no public acknowledgment whatsoever the requisite framework for the judicial, executive and legislative foundation began to be substituted long ago.

Thus you have a tiny glimmer of how the arguments and information you are about to explore will shatter any illusion that we are yet operating in the free and democratic republic that we are so unquestioningly inclined to assume. After absorbing what is presented on these pages you will come to see that we are at a crossroads which will determine the future of our country – and as William Jennings Bryan said, humanity itself.