The Octopus Chronicles Arm 4: Economic Reach of Globalism By Debra Rae

Pioneer sociologist Max Weber reasoned that the Reformation played a major role in the economic revolution that brought unprecedented affluence to America (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 1905). Clearly, the triumph of America’s economic prosperity is her free market system based on these Judeo-Christian principles: respect for rule of law, individual effort, and fair dealing. With no national debt until the 1980s, America once boasted the largest middle class in the world. Since the 1960s, however, household debt is at its highest level as a percent of personal disposable income. The nation’s debtors have, in essence, consumed the entire investment value of the United States!

Until 15 August 1970, U.S. currency was backed by gold, but no longer. Once we became a debtor nation, the dollar increasingly lost its undisputed primacy as an international currency. Today, America’s economy has become one of false appearances. As long as the Fed can set interest rates and print money at will, the value of our dollars remains subject to whims of politicians and powerful special interests. Shouldering over five trillion dollars of debt, America takes the prize for being “largest debtor nation in the world.” Analysts predict that devastation resulting from collapse of this bloated debt system likely will exceed that of 1929, when the U.S. was a creditor nation. Clearly, there is no way of escaping globalization. Without open borders, free commerce, and international collaboration, the entire world economy would topple.

Defined by strategic global alliances, collaborative commerce creates a new hierarchy of concentrated economic power. With this global economy comes a new level of economic participation and political agreement—in short, a New World Order. Economist-author William Greider fingers multinational corporations collectively as “the muscle and brains” of this New World Order. Most agree that national interests no longer guide actions of finance capitalists and multinational corporations; however, successful globalization degrades control of governments by global industrial regulations, weakens labor, and threatens our coveted middle-class lifestyle (One World, Ready or Not: The Manic Logic of Global Capitalism, Simon & Schuster, 1997).

George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Henry Clay, and Abraham Lincoln opposed the global theory of free trade that siphons off America’s wealth and brings her economy to the level of others (socialism). You see, socialism serves as steppingstone for expanding bureaucratic controls, tightening regulations, invading privacy, and confiscating, then redistributing wealth (classic Marxism). Mirroring the Marxist/Leninist maxim of “earning one’s keep on Earth,” sustainable development guides the global economy by this socialist principle of State-managed development. While top-notch university research demonstrates the value of market-based principles, trendy eco-socialists work hard to supplant private with public ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange.

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National sovereignty, decentralized government, rugged individualism, and private ownership of property distinguish our common heritage as Americans. But "times, they are a-changing." Deep ecology activists, pandering politicians, and moneyed foundations are pulling strings to effect what Tom DeWeese of the American Policy Center calls an "ecoligarchy." Far fetched? I don’t think so. The scientific community has reached no consensus to warrant need for nearly 300 environmental treaties already administered by the United Nations; moreover, no less than 1/3 of all federal laws focus on the environment. Thanks to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Wildlife Fund, and the World Resources Institute, what historically has been celebrated as the American dream is fast becoming a global nightmare.

A multi-billion dollar industry, radical environmentalism is no small player. Why else would elected officials try to convince Congress that federal land-grabs are needed to help solve the nation’s obesity problem (Get Outdoors Act, HR 4100)? Why else would the "endangered" sucker fish (a bottom feeder) be given priority status while some fourteen hundred Oregonian farmers are given nothing but the boot? Face it. Environmental extremists bypass good, old-fashioned common sense. There’s a word for this, but it’s not the first one that comes to mind. Movers and shakers tuned in to the UN agenda call it "sustainable development."

Let me explain. To merit the coveted status of "sustainable," a community must limit growth, eliminate suburbs, establish ethnic/economic equality, and curtail consumption patterns consistent with America’s affluent middle class. All are deemed necessary to protect Earth, giver of life, from us irksome human ingrates called "humanpox" (and with a straight face at that!). In 1982, British atmospheric chemist James Lovelock expounded the basis for sustainability in an Oxford Press publication. Lovelock’s Gaia Hypothesis warned that, unless humans halt their technical assault on Earth, she cannot heal herself and, for that reason, faces destruction. You see, Gaia-Mother Earth is perceived as a living, interconnected eco-system. For damages inflicted, she deserves human apology; and a "world brain," consisting of the United Nations and its agencies, will see to it.

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http://www.changingworldviews.com/GuestCommentaries/DebraRaearticle4.htm

The Octopus Chronicles
Arm 2: Educational Reach of Globalism
By Debra Rae

With emphasis on academic subject matter stressing order, discipline, and individual effort, the old paradigm for America’s early public education was notably “Christianized.” Having begun in 1789, and reaching its peak the first decade of the 20th century, the Sunday school movement set the standard.

In 1850 Horace Mann sold America on the fanciful notion that, in one hundred years, secular education would solve crime and poverty; thereafter, reform under the likes of Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield took a dive.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the liberal theology movement captivated the mainstream. Although secularism evolved slowly, it effectively fashioned John Dewey’s Progressive Education Movement. Organized in 1919, the Progressive Education Association denounced rote learning, recitation, and conventional textbooks. At the same time, it promoted affective and holistic curricula, cultural relativism, and cooperative consciousness. By Dewey’s death in 1952, the Protestant character of early public schools had disappeared. No longer was public education “Christianized.” It was “secularized.”

As we enter the 21st century, a new course is being charted. The mission of today’s educational reform was best stated by Dr. Shirley McCune at the 1989 National Governors Conference—namely, “What we’re into is the total restructuring of our society.” Eventually, “change agents” (teachers) will train all “human resources”(students) for placement in specific, pre-determined, entry-level vocations with the best interest of our global economy in view.

Senior director of the Mid-Continent Regional Education Laboratory, Dr. McCune currently serves the State of Washington as federal liaison for learning and teaching—specifically, as the Superintendent’s designee in contracting with Carkhuff Thinking Systems, Inc. A Theosophist, McCune co-wrote The Light Shall Set You Free. In it, she quotes her demonic mentor Kuthumi, a self-proclaimed “World Teacher” and “spokesperson for enlightenment and education for the Galactic Command.” Talk about bizarre. When consulted, alleged spirit guides Mother Mary, the Archangel Michael, and—no kidding—Walt Disney ostensibly expressed pleasure in her work! McCune is not alone in furthering this disturbingly esoteric new paradigm. In The Possibilities Mind (HRD Press 2000), her colleague Robert Carkhuff identifies “god” as “the possibilities mind” that co-processes with us to illuminate his mysteries. How? By “phenomenalizing his universe.” (So where are separation-of-church-and-state proponents when we need them?)

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