The World Turned Upside Down

Tradition says when Lord Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown back in 1781 the British played this tune as they marched out of the fortifications in surrender to the American army. Whether this actually happened is open to debate but the loss suffered by the great British Empire to ragtag American forces certainly seemed to the British like the world had indeed turned upside down.

Today another great empire is getting ready to bite the dust because the power of its media, military, political and financial establishments are perceived to be in the process of collapse. Our brave new world of instant communications, decentralized resistance, an open internet media, political corruption and worldwide recession/depression is causing Americans and our enemies to rethink the benefits and fear of a broken empire that may well be in the death throes of its existence just like the Soviet Union in 1991.

The establishment print media is now worthless with the announcement today that Newsweek sold for a dollar. Andrew J. Bacevich has just written about the failure of American-style warfare and how a determined guerrilla opposition continues to hold back the massive fire-power of what Washington formerly called "shock and awe." The new internet media continues to report on Washington political corruption, excesses and failures as well as what is really going on with Wall Street, the Fed and the dollar.

All the while the feeble attempts by the establishment media to respond are just laughed at and ignored by knowledgeable Americans and foreign investors. You know the confidence is gone when Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, visited China in 2009, proclaimed a strong dollar policy and the audience laughed out loud.

Although it isn’t time yet for the Marine Band to play "The World Turned Upside Down" in the Middle East, they and musicians in media, politics and banking should start practicing the tune. Freedom-loving Americans should also continue forward to build their own private institutions and means to survive the fall of the Washington Empire because we need to be ready to protect our families, defend our wealth and restore the dream of our patriot founding fathers.

Now how do the lyrics go?

If buttercups buzz’d after the bee, If boats were on land, churches on sea, If ponies rode men and if grass ate the cows, And cats should be chased into holes by the mouse.

The Best of Ron Holland

The Best of Ron Holland