by Rhonda Brown
We haven't learned.
These men who have led us into an abyss of economic despair speak to us of shared responsibility for this mess. Yes, let us all share the blame for eight years of a private sector run amok on its own greed, manufacturing money that exists only in tablets of elaborate numbers. They expect us to shoulder blame for a national deficit bloated by a war begun on false pretenses, a burst housing bubble founded on inflated estimates, and an a gross domestic product flailing in the waters of outsourcing and non-production.

We still haven't learned.
While Time Magazine writes about the “new frugality” among Americans, we ourselves know that the middle and lower classes bore to brunt of this age of materialism. These charlatans encouraged reckless spending since 9/11, telling us to spend in order to save our lagging economy. Now they hide like those cowards in Revelations, cowering under mountains of their insulated wealth and wondering if the wrath of God will pass them by.

The answer is that it won't.
We see this in the fact that the upper class is now forced to take their mink coats and luxury cars to Wal-Mart parking lots. We see them scurrying to their financial counselors with fear in their eyes and hearts heavy with the possibility of having to live like the rest of us. They feed their pundits these lies that it is the poor and middle class who wanted bigger houses, bigger cars, and bigger wallets. In truth, we have been living off their crumbs as we always have, asking for scraps from the table.

No, we haven't learned.
Now they hurry in their condemnation of an administration barely four months old, harsh in their criticism that President Obama hasn't saved us from the hell they've unleashed. “He hasn't saved us!” they cry, as they continue to shut off our 401k and retirement programs. “He won't do what he promised!” they proclaim while scuttling their money into offshore accounts. “Why hasn't he fixed everything?” they shout, yet their policies continue to reward bankrupt companies for absolute failure with bailouts and expensive bonus packages.
No, my people, we haven't learned that wolves walk as men, wearing Armani suits and brandishing eloquent language. They asked for our trust and our patience while they robbed the coffers of every penny, causing their own to suffer in the process. Now in patriotic speeches they claim that we are all in this together, one nation and one people crushed by trying circumstances.
I say that it is time to point the our fingers back at them.

We didn't cause this crisis. We suffered through a national tragedy, watched our people reduced to Third World scavengers during Hurricane Katrina,and scrapped by during rising gas prices. We didn't start this fire of greed that scorched its way through our planet, spreading American capitalism without care for the human cost. In the end, the Kingdom won't be open to those who made their plantations here on Earth, forcing us to bear the brunt of all their wrongdoing.
And I'll tell you to hold on. These times are here to unmask the powerful as the self-made demigods of unrighteousness. I'll remind you all to keep close to your families and strengthen the ties of love and trust among our communities. I'll encourage you to remember that our faith lies not in our governmental system or in stimulus packages. Our faith rests in the hands of the Almighty, the Creator of all things, who will see us through as always.

Hold on, my people, and learn that materialism has never been our salvation. It has never been our strength. We may not have much. We may face the unemployment lines and go to the food banks. We may watch our homes sold out from underneath us and our loved ones perish due to an unreliable health care system. But we have our courage and our conviction, our faith and our steadfastness.

We have the truth within us as we pray during these dark hours before the dawn. And we will still be here when all their wealth dissipates in the clouds they've created.
Hold on, my people. Just hold on.