While the markets are in chaos and everyone thinks the sky is really going to fall this time, I think that recent events may be the best thing that could have happened to America in the last 50 years.

The markets are going wild right now.  But, very soon, things will get back to normal.  Nothing has really changed.  America is the same; the economy is the same.  The only real change is that this has been a wake-up call and Washington and American are on notice.  Change our ways or things will only get worse.  Americans don't like worse.  Americans like better.

Since Roosevelt and the last depression, America has been on a leftward drift.  At times, when the Democrats were in charge, we would lurch further toward the socialist state than at other times.  When the Republicans were in, the drift was a little slower, but, still, drifting leftward.  Steadily, the country made commitments which the then-current politicians pushed ahead to the next Congress or next decade or next generation.  The Social Security trust fund was raided.  The Social Security system was expanded to include benefits for the disabled, junkies, and the poor.  At each step, more unfunded liabilities were added to an ever-growing mass.  For every human need, the U.S. government has tried to create a program.

The final great idea finally has started and will continue to sink the socialist state.  Housing for everyone who wanted a house.

The media is pretty silent about this, but the real estate crisis which has plagued us for the past 3 years and will hang over us for the next few was caused and promoted by none other than the U.S. government.

In an effort to get poor people into housing, the government coerced banks into giving loans to people who would never qualify under other circumstances.  They did this by threatening banks with loss of their charters if they did not make more loans to minorities.  However, to sweeten the deal, the government agreed to guarantee these loans through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  With a wink and a blink, the banks made the loans and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac guaranteed them.  Banks were not overly greedy; they simply wanted to stay in business and make a profit.

When the rest of the world got wise to the substandard loans, the real estate bubble burst and the rest is history.

Well, it's time to pay the piper.  The bailout, the recession, the massive debt, the demographics, and an incompetent president have formed the perfect storm which threatens to sink the most amazing economy and country that ever existed.

"Never waste a crisis" may be this administration's modus operandi, but, this crisis may save us all.

The Tea Party, the impending financial crisis, and the unsustainable course of our country's social policies have all combined to have the great potential of changing the course of the last 50 years.  Everyone knows that no person, no family, and no organization can spend more than it makes forever.  The time has come, and Americans know it, when we have to change our leftist ways and change direction.  This is the first time in my life when changing the direction of government is a distinct possibility.

People have seen their retirement dreams go up in smoke.  Their children's and grandchildren's futures are being mortgaged and opportunity that America once promised suddenly disappear.  The 2010 elections were a sea change in the way Washington does business. America wants smaller government, more freedom, and a less burdensome future.

The 2012 election will seal the deal.  I cannot imagine unemployment falling below 8.5% before November 2012.  The housing market will not have come back, and there will be no new stimulus package to fool people into thinking things are going to get better.  America now knows we can get better only by getting more Tea Party ideas turned into reality.

This recent debt ceiling debacle is just a harbinger of things to come.  This is the first time in my lifetime that the tone of the public is "smaller government."  The people are finally realizing government is not the solution.  Government is the problem.  This is the best opportunity conservatives will ever get to change the tide.  It's a great day in America!  Change is coming and this time it will be a change for the good!

Note: authorship earlier was misattributed to Vincent Emilio. Carl Calo is the correct author