WINNING

by Neil F Garfield

With the midterm elections over and the mixed results virtually a guarantee of more Washington gridlock, the celebrations of victory can only be regarded as personal victories for winning politicians whose only objective is to get elected again. Reviewing the slate of candidates across the board — those who won and those who lost — I see mediocrity. They can celebrate but the rest of us must trudge on, trying to make sense out an increasingly Orwellian world of lies, deception, sound bites and intimidation. The only people of vision and dynamic ability are neither in government nor in business. Those people must be coaxed out of their privacy into making a difference for all of us.

There is a positive lesson in all of this election stuff. Things can change a lot in two years. If we as taxpayers, homeowners, consumers and yes, borrowers, stand our ground and help each other we can make a vast difference. That’s why I do this. I believe I can make a difference because I believe you can make a difference. I started out on an improbable journey to convince our society that it had been co-opted by banks and big business who were draining the life out of us and then blaming us for the negative consequences brought about by their outright fraud, criminality and a failure of government to protect us.

I said the mortgages were neither viable nor legal nor enforceable. I said things about forgery and fabrication and deceit in court and I was one of only a few voices barely heard above the wind of rhetoric coming from politicians and businessmen with their hands in each others pockets. Now we know these things are true or at least probable in nearly all instances of nearly all securitized loans, whether they are for real property financing or any other kind of financing. The proper legal outcome of the mortgage crisis is the evisceration of the mortgage encumbrances and corrections of mortgage terms, and other loans to represent what was originally promised. This alone will lead to improving employment and restoring dynamism to the American economy.

A great effort is starting on all levels of government with lobbyists pouring the other 51% of the money they got into “issues” advertising. It is in this context that bills will be slipped into packages and made to look like simple advances and fine tuning that the Wall Street crowd will attempt to defeat justice. We must be vigilant but we must be more than that. Whether you have a loan that is current or you are behind 30 months, the assumption that “you must be liable” or “you should do the right thing” must be offset by the immorality of the banks and companies that were responsible for putting us in this position.Take the plunge. Go for making your life better and your finances back in your own control.

If you want your children and grandchildren to have that better life you dreamed they would have you are going to be required to model behavior that they can follow: to stand and fight for your rights, whatever they are and to get the best possible deal you can. THAT is the American way — and when individual consumers do it there is no more issue of immorality than when businesses do it.

Winning takes time and perseverance and relentless pursuit of justice and truth take their toll on our time and our resources but they also produce results. Winning means getting a just result and not giving up just because the other guy looks bigger to you. Winning is the answer to those who exercise power entrusted to them to enhance a few of their friends instead of improving the prospects of our nation. Winning means getting ahead not getting even. Who wants to be in the same position we are in now in 10 years? You want it different? Then focus on making your stand and winning. Don’t settle for deals that leave you entrapped in economic slavery. Don’t accept the notion that you must be wrong. Reject losing as an option. Win your rights back in every way you can.

In this democratic experiment we often have chaotic moments of confusion. Slogans replace thinking and fear replaces judgment. Crowds of people are sometimes swayed to vote or act against their own interests. We have a dynamic adversarial society that was planned that way by people smarter than us, who understood that we would never agree on anything, but that if the mechanism was there in staggered terms and basic human rights, we would work it out and make it through to another day, another era of the best of times and the worst of times. Demonizing our opponents is basic human nature and our founding fathers knew that and experienced it while the Federalist Papers were written and countered. Capitulation to power is also in our nature with the old expression “you can’t fight city hall.”

And yet, in our American history we have periodically endured hardship and unity, sloppiness and chicanery, lofty speeches and hateful dialogue, only to come out the other end with something a little better. I believe in that better life and a finer future and I define winning as making one more small step to a better world. The better we work at it, the faster it will come. In our society the ultimate boss is the people without whose consent on a daily basis, there could be no government or commerce. Mostly people will endure great hardships and suffering before they are moved to take action and reclaim their basic human rights. We now approach a turning point, one of many, in our American history. Whether this ends up right or reduces the power and dignity of our country is up to the boss (that’s you I’m talking about). I think that time is now. What do you think?

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