How The Republican Debt Default Stunt Is Threatening Every Dollar You Own

The Ron Paul faction of the Tea Party has one thing completely correct: The value of our paper money is a total fiction. It’s based on nothing.

Well, not nothing — it’s based on mythology. As long as people believe that the US is a stable, rich, rational, well-governed, well-functioning country, they’ll keep believing that our money is worth something.

That’s really important, especially given the debt situation.

You see, right now everybody in the world invests in America’s debt, by buying a little bit of it in the form of US Treasury bonds.

We give them pieces of paper, and a promise to give them a few more pieces of paper at a later date, and then we use their money to buy bridges and roads and spaceships and education and whatever else we decide — REAL stuff, stuff you can touch, and see, and use.  Stuff that makes us a stronger, more economically prosperous nation.

Do you know how many other nations would like to be able to sell their debt like we do?

All of them.

100% of every nation on the face of the Earth wishes they could take a printing press and some ink, and run off pieces of paper that everyone would take in exchange for steel and gold and cars and everything.  They all do this already, but since we invented the mythology everyone else is following — since the US is essentially the Vatican of Cash, the Mecca of Money — we rule this particular religion.

Way back in the Dark Ages, the Holy Roman Empire used to rig a giant statue of a horse and chariot inside a Catholic cathedral so that it appeared to fly.  This awed the people, and made them believe that the church was indeed backed by the power of God.

America’s flying chariot is our Almighty Dollar (and our Treasury bonds).

The ‘gods’ pulling the strings are the board members of the Federal Reserve. Many people (including yours truly) have been critical of the Fed, but it is hard to argue with results: In the 100 years since the Federal Reserve was created, we have become the preeminent financial power mentioned earlier.

But the true priests in our Temples of Mammon — the faces we present to the public — are in congress, and the White House.

Arguably, the most important job of members of congress is to smile brilliantly and say to the world, with all of the enthusiasm of a game show host, “Everything’s fine here! Humming right along! Keep on sending us money — we got you covered, with interest!”

America is essentially the world’s bank.

Have you ever seen a bank commercial on TV that begins with, “We’re Citibank. We’re unstable, and perhaps going to collapse. Perhaps you should think twice about banking with us.”

This is the public advertisement that the Republican party is now broadcasting to the world. In terror of ‘debt slavery’, they are screwing with the tethers that make our magic chariot fly.

You want to see debt slavery? Let our mythology crumble. Let the world start thinking that we are “ungovernable”, and “becoming a banana republic”, as some of the international credit ratings agencies have suggested.

THEN we get to become Greece — up to our eyeballs in debt, and no one buying our bonds.

“Well what can we do?” you ask. “Republicans control the House.”

Yes, but they’re not all mad as hatters.  It might behoove you to get on the phone to your non-political red state friends, and beg them to call their Republican congresscreature.  We know what the left is saying; we know what the right is telling congress. That’s an even split of opinion, 50-50.

If we are to beat them by the numbers, through constituent phone calls, that mushy middle is going to have to weigh in on the side of basic sanity.

Suggested script (they can literally say this word for word, filling in the blanks): “Hi, I’m (your name), a voter here in (your representative’s) district. Please tell the congressman to reopen the government, and to stop threatening national default. It is hurting our economy. Thank you!”

This is the number: 202-224-3121.

We can speak now, or forever hold our … well, whatever comes after Armageddon.

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Sean Shealy is an activist, columnist, and the author of Corruption & Cover-Ups of the Bush White House Unmasked and the novel Killing Limbaugh