The Mustache Revolution is brewing. It is not a fashion statement; it does not even involve hair. It is the revolution that is happening in America, Right Under Our Noses. It fits right in between Marx’s model of government overthrow and Bernstein’s democratic socialism. This is elected officials distracting the electorate that begs them to act unconstitutionally. Here is how it was done.

A Little History
Karl Marx advocated a violent revolution to nationalize industry, redistribute wealth, and create a proletarian dictatorship. This would be very difficult for the American left, since they are anti-gun, anti-violence, and tend to dislike noncompliance. Edward Bernstein came around after Marx’s death and advocated democratic socialism. His goal was still to nationalize industry, but to accomplish it democratically. What is happening today is the Mustache Revolution; it meets the standards of both socialist ideologies. The US has elected our President and Congress democratically; most of the legislation has come about democratically; the problem is that the boundaries set by the constitution, make the process too slow. Therefore, in the name of Crises, Necessity, or Protection the limits on government are quickly removed.

Bailout Big Banks
Step one, use tax dollars to keep private businesses afloat. This gives government, not total control, but the ability to regulate finance in order to protect the interest of the people. Step two, make an enormous legislative blunder, and blame it on the banking industry. Let us not forget that the clause about the executive bonuses was removed, not forgotten, not left out, but removed. After there is a huge public outcry over executive bonuses, the next step is to levy a 90% tax. This tax of course is not limited to the bank that gave the bonuses, nor is it limited to the banking industry; the plan is to levy a tax on all executives who have a high salary and receive bonuses.

Stress Test
Of course, the wealth redistribution is not enough. The remaining step is to take major services, such as banking, health care, or auto manufacturers, and make them national industries. The first and most important of these is to take over the financial industry. The Financial industry is essential, because all businesses run off of the availability of credit (hence capitalism). Once all industries are getting their loans from the government, their nationalization will happen quickly and with little protest. So, after bailing out the banking industry, the next step is to create a stress test; this serves two purposes; 1) it asserts government power over the industry (no other industry needs to be deemed “strong enough to survive” in order to exist in the US economy), and 2) it makes people think that the government should step in when the test is not passed. Third, after the failure of the stress tests, the government will claim that the banks need to come under temporary government control. Since government has never improved a business after taking it over, temporary can be a very long time.

Not Under My Nose!
Things that stink are not meant to pass under your nose without notice! This revolution cannot continue to be ignored simply because we are in an economic downturn. Recession is not an excuse to jump from crises to crises without thinking out the political consequences of our actions. The hardest thing to regain, once it is lost, is freedom. And freedom is blindfolded on its knees in front of a gun named socialism.

The question of whether or not some law or action being taken by U.S. political leaders is constitutional is always showing up in the news. Such coverage begs the question, why pay attention to a piece of paper written over two hundred years ago? What relevance does this document have to politics in the modern world? And how does it affect my life?

A Contract

The U.S. Constitution is a contract between citizens and their government. It divides government into three branches. Each branch has certain powers, but none of them have total power. This prevents too much power being concentrated into the hands of one or a few people (despite popular consensus, Hope, Peace, and Change require more than one man). Concentrated power leaves a nation of millions subject to the whims of one individual. The Constitution prevents such a situation.

Protection

The Constitution states clearly what the government cannot do. Nearly all of its amendments begin with the phrase “Congress shall make no law…” Similarly, it delegates many powers to the states. This gives each state the freedom (each having varying demographics) to make laws that suit its own needs. This increases personal freedom by giving individuals the ability to make their own laws locally, rather than submitting endlessly to politicians in Washington DC (which is not even a state).

One Line between Freedom and Tyranny

The Constitution is inviolable because it restrains government. Without such a document, we have to rely on politicians to restrain themselves. This is obviously a difficult task even with the authoritative help of the Constitution. It is imperative that we do not allow politicians to break this contract, even when claiming national crises, emergency, or necessity. If we allow the Constitution to be ignored, then there is no stopping the control the Federal government will take over our lives. The Declaration of Independence declares that “all men were created equal;” therefore, we cannot allow ‘the few’ to rule over ‘the many.’