THE THREAT FROM WITHIN by Tim Siggia

THE THREAT FROM WITHIN

By Tim Siggia

October 05, 2007

The time has now come, not only for conservatives but for all concerned Americans, to start thinking the Unthinkable. It could happen. Sean Hannity says it probably will. Rush Limbaugh gives it an 80-percent chance of happening. And all over America, powerful forces are hard at work to make sure it happens. Preposterous as it once may have seemed, and disastrous as it certainly will be if it ever comes to pass, Hillary Clinton -- Her Royal Most Imperial Majesty -- could become the next president of the United States.

What Americans are now witnessing at work is the impending climax of the work of a lifetime. Ever since her husband's presidency, every word uttered and every deed performed by Mrs. Clinton has been carefully calculated to the end of obtaining the White House for herself. Note the last two words of that sentence. Not for her country. Not for her fellow Americans. Not even for her party, the Democratic Party. For herself. Even her acquisition of a seat in the United States Senate was intended not as an end in itself, but simply as a necessary ticket to be punched on Hillary's march to the White House.

Consider the following: Hillary to date has raised $27 million in campaign funds, and that's just for openers. Powerful financial forces including Goldman-Sachs, billionaire George Soros, and the far-left MoveOn.org are casting their lots with Hillary. Her husband is also a significant factor. Slick, fast-talking Bill Clinton, with his charismatic oratory, has a proven ability to spellbind and mesmerize that borders on the satanic. He can totally convince otherwise intelligent people that down is up, left is right, black is white, and wrong is right. He can literally make many people believe anything he wants them to, and behave accordingly. Like a legion of programmed automatons they will go to the polls and vote for Hillary simply because Bill has spoken. Such a capability is downright scary, and Bill Clinton knows exactly how to use it. In addition to that, Hillary will also have the unconditional backing of virtually the entire American news media, which have long since dropped any pretense of being fair or objective, and will actively campaign for her. The broadcast media in particular will grant Hillary all the airtime she wants, under the guise of news, whereas her Republican opponent, who will be a man since the nomination of Elizabeth Dole at this point is considered extremely unlikely, will have to pay for his. Even in the South, Hillary will have backers, as black voters can still be counted on to come out nearly unanimously for her. And rest assured that the infamous Twin Reverends, Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, will work the South aggressively to make sure those voters turn out. Even many Democrats who say they don't like Hillary and hope somebody else gets nominated also say they will vote for her if she does get the Democratic nod -- which, at this point, is all but assured.

Add to this a particular mystique about the Clintons which even their admirers cannot fully explain: They always -- always -- get what they want. And God help any who dare stand in their way. By now most of America already knows Hillary Clinton to be a ruthlessly ambitious, power-hungry woman who is above nothing when it comes to getting what she wants -- and she wants the White House.

Should the Unthinkable happen -- should our next president indeed be Hillary Clinton -- it will be the end of America as we know it, especially if she has a Democratic Congress at her disposal. Enactment of Hillarycare II will be only the first step as America's new queen steers us away from a free-market economy and puts us firmly on what Barry Goldwater once called the Suicidal Slide to Socialism. Like Hillarycare I would have been, Hillarycare II will also prove to be a budget-buster. As a campaigner, Hillary tells us that we will not all be forced to use the new entitlement, but get this: under her plan, job applicants will have to produce proof of medical insurance before they can be hired. How does an unemployed man or woman, who obviously cannot afford a health care plan, get one before he is hired? Answer: Hillarycare II, for which all Americans will pay whether they want to or not.

More revenue will naturally be needed to support this government behemoth, and from where will that revenue come. Two ways. First, money will of necessity be diverted from other government budgets, and what budget is most likely to be hit? You guessed it: the Defense budget, especially considering that our men and women in uniform will now be at the mercy of a civilian leadership that despises the military and everything it stands for. As the military thus becomes underfunded, and military personnel become demoralized, recruitment and retention rates will accordingly go down, with the armed forces eventually having to once again resort to the draft to fill their ranks. Is it any wonder that America's enemies look forward to the prospect of a Clinton II presidency with such relish?

Second, taxes will of necessity be raised, and as they are raised to the point where private industries will no longer be able to stay in business, the government will of course be right there to take over what private industry once did so well. As the left then becomes further emboldened, we'll then begin hearing serious talk of something no Democratic candidate dares suggest right now -- the formation of a North American Union consisting of Canada, Mexico, and the United States, thus rendering our borders irrelevant. Mexico will almost certainly go along with this idea. Canada might prove a tougher sell, but they have already proven themselves a people disposed to socialism. Witness their own government-run health care system. Once this objective is accomplished, the Europeanization of America will be near complete, and the new North American Union might as well be called the People's Republic of America. It won't exactly be the classless (not to be confused with no-class) society once envisioned by Karl Marx. Instead, we will have two classes: those at the top, and everybody else. It shouldn't take a Ph.D. in political science to figure out who those at the top will be.

Bill Clinton sought the presidency with two objects in mind: to make himself rich on the taxpayers' dollar, and to make himself into an idol to be worshipped by adoring sycophants. He became president and achieved both goals. Now his wife would add to the family legacy by one-upping her husband in remaking an entire nation to suit herself. Conservatives saw the danger when she first ran for the Senate from New York, a state of which she was obviously no native, but were unable to stop her. Now, with the general election just a little over a year away, we once again see the Clinton machine in operation working to orchestrate yet another victory for this undeniably dangerous duo. The question is: Will it be 1996 all over again? The Clintons are banking on it, and so is the majority of the American left.

It doesn't necessarily have to be. We can take a lesson from the last election, in which candidate John Kerry tried to capitalize on what he perceived as the general unpopularity of his opponent, George W. Bush. Offering nothing positive, Kerry tried to run on the platform of "I'm Not Bush" and ended up losing. So far, it seems that our current crop of Republican hopefuls is repeating Kerry's mistake. None of them -- not Fred Thompson, not Duncan Hunter, not any of the current front-runners -- is giving America so much as one positive reason why voters should vote for him. The only one who has done this so far is, ironically enough, Hillary Clinton, with her proposal for a system of universal health care which, odious as it may be to conservatives, nevertheless has a definite appeal to entitlement-minded voters. For a Republican candidate to simply classify himself as the Un-Hillary won't cut it. Neither will a simple regurgitation of traditional conservative positions. Either of these strategies will guarantee a Clinton victory in 2008.

What is needed here is something along the line of the Contract With America: a solid statement of intent, a list of good, clear, positive reasons why voters should vote for the Republican, and not merely against Hillary, or whomever the Democratic candidate might be. History is replete with example after example of how positive thinking works. Perhaps more than any other candidate, Hillary Clinton is a gold mine of negatives for a Republican to exploit. However, it is good to remember that such negative campaigning works only up to a point, after which fair-minded voters get understandably disgusted with it. There are plenty of good reasons for a voter to vote Republican, of which national security undeniably heads the list. It is these positive reasons that Republicans should be carefully examining, not only to hold the presidency, but hopefully to retake the Congress.