By Al Colombo

The other day I received an e-mail from a gentleman regarding my 1997 commentary on the Federal Reserve Corporation. He took exception to my comments regarding the FED's unbridled control over this nation's money (who's money?) without oversight by the Congress of the United States. He brought up several issues, one of them which I happen to agree with, but the others I do not.

First, he stated that the Congress has become so politically minded that to place control into their hands over national money matters would be a fatal mistake. Perhaps he is right to some extent here. Then he stated that since the Congress is unable to do anything worthwhile, one must skirt the Constitution to get anything worthwhile done. Well, maybe he didn't say it exactly like that, but what he said can be boiled down to just that.

With this kind of mentality, the demise of our Democratic Republic is almost certain. Whenever we place the agenda of any special interest group ahead of that of the people, we have skirted the U.S. Constitution. The FED is, above all, a special interest group, especially since it is not actually a governmental body, but owned by private individuals/families, some of which reside out of country.

Most of the time the FED's decisions are sound and serve the best interest of the people. After all, what is good for one is usually good for the other. However, when it comes to a choice between the peoples' best interests and that of the elite families who own the FED banks, you can bet that the people lose every time, hands down.

Unfortunately, today the same thing can be said about many of those who serve in the Congress. Corruption allegedly abounds and illogic and special interest continues to grow as we move ever forward into this new economy and new world order. The decline of morals and ethics in government is only surpassed by that of society itself. I'm not entirely sure which came first: corruption in government or that of society. Does it matter?

It does, in fact, matter because when a barrel of apples is rotted at the bottom, it takes far longer for that rot to gravitate upward than it does for the rot to gravitate downward from the top. In this case, the "anything goes" attitude that this administration and White House have clearly exhibited over the past 7 to 8 years is a clear indication that something is very wrong at the top.

If we sit back and look at the big picture, and if we're honest with ourselves, it is quite apparent that the rot has traveled downward throughout government and ultimately throughout society at an alarming pace. For example, the Congress has voted to limit the time that our troops can remain in Kosovo. But, there are very powerful folks, globalistic folks, who would rather the United Nations have total control, not limited control, over our men and women in uniform. Read the writing on the wall:

"The House voted 264-153, to withdraw U.S. peacekeeping troops from Kosovo unless the president certifies by next April 1 that European allies have met their pledge to help fund a rebuilding program there. The Senate has passed a similar measure with a deadline of July 1, 2001. Defense Secretary William Cohen said he would recommend a veto" (House votes for Kosovo troop deadline, 5/18/00, Paul Leavitte, USA Today).

You can bet that this President will, indeed, veto that measure, despite the fact that it's the peoples' representatives that voted to establish this deadline. Tune in Monday and find out why.