By Robert Amoroso

First, let me extend my congratulations to President-elect Barack Obama, and Vice President-elect Joseph Biden, for running perhaps one of the best campaigns in modern American politics, and while there are profound differences in our philosophies, and within our ideology, I sincerely hope and pray that he governs successfully. We’re all Americans and we all have a stake in this great and fruitful country.

However, we are also a fickle nation, as President Bush can attest too, and although I suspect that the honeymoon phase for Obama will last a bit longer then most, the reality is that the President-elect will be presiding over a critically ill nation, and a government created financial crises that has changed forever our perception of what the role of governing in America should be about.  

Astoundingly, within a few short weeks, the American Dream seems to have ended, and our perception of capitalism and a free and open market has forever been altered. In its place, social engineering, ineptness and finally forced government intrusion of private industries, the likes of which, has never been seen before.

It is almost unimaginable to think, that we have changed our form of government and have slipped ever so slowly into a hybrid form of socialism, without so much as a protest or a shot being fired. No revolution, no foreign invaders storming our beaches, no terrorist attacks, just us as a nation and our foolish inept leaders and of course greed, have all contributed to the mess we’re in today. 

We have changed forever the delicate balance between the role of government and private industry, and we can no longer claim to be a “free and open market”.

We’ve sold our sovereignty for stability, and in so doing, we’ve set a dangerous precedent.

“BAIL OUT” has now become the new buzz-word for American industry, and we can no longer claim economic superiority, we’ve squandered away our influence, our prestige, and I fear a bit more of our freedom.

To make matters worse, we now accept and even reward, misdeeds and mismanagement, among our so called political leaders and the titans of industry, with our votes and billions of dollars of taxpayer money, with little accountability, as to how and why we got here.

Have we learned anything from our mistakes? Apparently not! Astoundingly, the likes of Senator Chuck Schumer, and Rep. Barney Frank, who still heads up the House Financial Services Committee –which has key oversight over both Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac, have been reelected, and Senator Dodd, still oversees the banking committee, irregardless of the sweetheart deal, given to him by Countrywide Mortgage in the form of two low interest loans, and in my home state of New York, the growing ethical misdeeds of Rep. Charles Rangel continue to mount, day after day.

For those unfamiliar with what is taking place in New York City, Rep. Charles Rangel is the well known and flamboyant Harlem congressman and chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee which writes the nations tax code, has been accused of numerous tax and ethic violations on rental properties he owns.

Incredibly, no one…not the Ethics Committee, the Congress, President Bush, Senator McCain or President-elect Obama, has called for investigations of these powerful individuals, worse yet, there seems to be no outcry among the populous, to hold anyone accountable.

Is it any wonder then, why our elected officials, can be caviler with their responsibilities, take questionable gifts, usurp the law, and pilfer the treasury of hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money, under the guise of an emergency bailout, and then once the bill is passed, do with the money, whatever they so choose?

However, my concern isn’t the now, but rather the future of this incredible experiment called America. Our founding fathers believed strongly in the separation of powers within government, they believed that the power of government lied with the individual and not with a central entity. What we’re seeing today is the opposite of what our founding fathers believed in, and why we fought a revolution…that “taxation without representation” would not stand.

Perhaps, that old adage “what goes around comes around”, has finally come true for us as a nation

In April of 07, I wrote an article entitled The Invisible “Americans” Among Us. The article briefly outlined the devastating plight that Native Americans have suffered, at the hands of this very government that now finds itself at the brink of financial ruin. Ironically, what has been done to our Native American brothers has once again come to pass; only this time we’ve become The Invisible “Americans