The frozen bodies of Sir John Franklin's Northwest Passage Expedition were found about 160 years ago. After their ships had been trapped in Arctic ice, the men attempted to "walk out" to safety. They didn't make it. They starved and froze to death. They resorted to cannibalism. They had made a huge sled for the journey, not to carry food and supplies, but for the men to pull a grand piano instead. They were insane.

It was determined decades later that the men suffered from lead poisoning. Just as lead poisoning caused those men to go insane, the poison of Progressivism and Liberalism has caused this country to go insane. It may well destroy us, just as it destroyed the Franklin Expedition. Examples of it are everywhere:

A United States Army Officer is known by his superiors to be communicating with terrorists. He hands out "business cards" saying he is a "Soldier of Allah", a known terrorist designation. Because he is a Muslim, instead of being arrested, he is promoted; progressive political correctness at its worst. He kills a dozen unarmed men and women soldiers.

Our new "strategy" in Afghanistan is to announce to the Taliban where we will be attacking next. Most of the enemy leaves the area after burying land mines/improvised explosive devices. The remainder set up as snipers, knowing that our new "rules of engagement" prohibit our soldiers from firing back if, after shooting at our troops, they simply set down their rifles and walk away, laughing and waving at our boys . . . to repeat the process at another location. If your son is shot dead by one of those killers on another day, who is more responsible, the shooter or our policy makers?

President George Bush doubles the national debt from $6 trillion to $12 trillion dollars. Future generations will be born in debt and for the first time in our country's history they are likely to have a lower standard of living. What's the current administration's solution? Stimulus! Unprecedented spending! Doubling the national debt again to $24 trillion (at least) in the next ten years!! According to Vice President Biden "We are going to spend our way out of this". Rational, or like the Franklin Expedition, is Joe Biden sitting on the "piano" urging American taxpayers to "spend, onward to safety and financial security"?

Since 9/11 we have had an impressive record of preventing terrorist attacks here at home. In large part this was due to men and women in the CIA capturing and interrogating monsters who would kill every man, woman, and child in this country if they could. What is their reward? Our government is looking into prosecuting them! What about the terrorist in charge of the 9/11 Operation? He gets rights reserved for American citizens.

A judge in Vermont sentences the rapist of a four year old to probation. He says it's all about "the rights of criminals to be rehabilitated". The child in effect gets the life sentence, the rapist goes free. News reports indicate that known pedophiles are now moving to Vermont in large numbers. That progressive state's motto"Vermont is for Lovers" has taken on a whole new meaning.

Laws have been enacted that can put your clergyman in prison for citing the Bible regarding homosexuality but homosexuals dressed as nuns can invade and interrupt a Catholic mass in San Francisco with impunity. Every single American tradition from Christmas to marriage has been attacked. Tyranny of the few over the many now prevails.

America was founded on a belief in the God-given rights of individuals to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness (happiness through your own efforts and limited only by your own ability to succeed). Following those tenets the United States became the greatest force for good in the world and the most successful and powerful nation on Earth. The antithesis of this is Communism, where government determines what, if any, rights the individual is entitled to and how much of the fruits of your labor you can keep. Communism and its kin, Socialism have never worked economically and are the single greatest sources of evil in the world, claiming hundreds of millions of innocent lives in the Twentieth Century. How then can we have a President who allows a Christmas decoration depicting Chairman Mao Tse-Tung, communist murderer of 80,000,000 men, women and children to hang from the White House Christmas tree? A President who had a Communications Director who says Mao was one of her two favorite "philosophers". A President whose former Green Jobs czar is a communist. A President whose most frequent visitor to the Oval Office is the founder of ACORN; the man who now heads SEIU and says he wants "global redistribution of wealth". The man who says he will attain his goals through the "power of persuasion" or if that doesn't work, through the "persuasion of power"?

All these examples of a progressive mindset are considered "evolved" by such Progressives as the liberal media, most Hollywood personalities, many academics and Ivy League elites. If you believe in traditional values you are labeled as stupid and ignorant bigots or rednecks or their favorites, RACISTS and HATERS.

This poisoning has invaded almost all aspects of our lives and both political parties. One party is controlled and run by these Progressives. The other party does little to stand up and tell the truth about this evil. Which is worse? The last election is a good example. Hillary Clinton, a "proud Progressive", lost the nomination to Barack Obama, a man even more extreme in his views about the role of government. On the other side you had John McCain, who would not tell the American people the truth about his opponent; a genuine, courageous Viet Nam war hero, yet a man who called another man (John Kerry) whose portrait hangs in the North Vietnamese Hall of Heroes "his good friend" .

There are precious few, if any, elected officials standing up to the insanity going on in the United States today . . . and too few ordinary citizens as well.

WE HAVE GONE INSANE. IT MUST STOP. It is the responsibility of each of us to stand up against this debasement of everything truly American. We must confront those in power every day on every issue. We must elect to office, at all levels of government, men and women of courage and principle who believe in the Constitution and the vision and wisdom of our Founding Fathers. If we do not, we are not just insane, WE ARE CRIMINALLY INSANE.

I make this assessment unapologetically. If you are among the growing number of Americans who want some form of "redistribution of wealth", if you are too lazy to work or to get an understanding of the issues, or if you have some vested interest in the status quo, I have this quote for you from Samuel Adams, a Founding Father and signer of the Declaration of Independence. . .

"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animated contest for freedom, GO FROM US IN PEACE. We ask not your counsel or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and MAY POSTERITY FORGET THAT YOU WERE OUR COUNTRYMEN!"

The time to act is now!


Ernie Albanese
Barnesville, Ohio