In pondering the current financial-congressional scandal, the following quotes from some of America's early leaders might help shed light:

"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies." -- Thomas Jefferson

"If ever again our nation stumbles upon unfunded paper, it shall surely be like death to our body politic. This country will crash." -- George Washington

"I am firmly of the opinion that there never was a paper pound, a paper dollar, or a paper promise of any kind, that ever yet obtained a general currency but by force or fraud, generally by both." -- John Adams

"Of all the contrivances devised for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes him with paper money." -- Daniel Webster

Those are some of the reasons they put this in Article 1, Section 8 of the Constitution: "No state shall make anything but gold or silver coin a tender in payment of debts." That clause was negated in 1913 by the Federal Reserve Act, which was most likely passed by congressmen, like congressmen today, who received large donations from bankers. When this Act passed, Charles A. Lindbergh, Sr., father of the famous pilot, said, "When the President signs this Act, the invisible government by the money power will be legalized."

As Andy Naylor put it in an article titled "Federal Reserve Fraud," when Woodrow Wilson signed the Act into law, he gave our country's money system "to a group of private bankers and allowed them to create money by making bookkeeping entries, loan it at interest, and take title to real property as collateral. Because of this, the citizens of the United States have lost control over their money system and their government."

Over the years, critics of this new system were increasingly villified, marginalized, lunafied, and silenced. Of all the Republicans and Democrats who ran for President this year, only one, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, understood the relationship between our Federal Reserve ("Fedzilla," as some call it) money system and America's financial crisis. He was derided by the establishment media and other powerbrokers, which reminds me of something Gustave Le Bon said in his study, "The Crowd:"

"The masses have never thirsted after truth. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim."

But the truth is a stubborn thing, and the current financial crisis is helping to reveal it.

Most of us who opposed his candidacy are now praying that God will bless Barrack Obama with good health and sound judgement. And, as we look towards Washington with our hands outstretched and hope in our hearts, let's pray also that the new administration, in redistributing the wealth of rich Americans to improve life for the rest of us, will make distinctions between those who earned their wealth honestly and those who didn't.

I can see the common good of confiscating the wealth of rich crooks, which would include many congressmen as well as some of their cronies in high finance. However, redistributing the wealth of those who earned it fair and square through hard work in school and on the job could have unintended negative consequences. For example, it might encourage some of our nation's top producers and job providers to flee to countries which reward success rather than penalizing it -- a flight of the golden geese, so to speak. This could result in a loss of freedom, prosperity, and opportunity for those left behind.

As we pray for our new leaders, let us pray also that we don't go so far down the road to Socialism that we can't turn back. The road is paved with golden promises, but it ends in dependency and mediocrity. God bless Barrack Obama, and God bless America.