Is America Going the Way of the Mob?

America is going the way of the mob.

We all know that it takes power to get things done and that's why mob bosses like Tim Geithner are looking to grab more of it.

Geithner now wants the power to target any company that he even suspects could hurt other companies or pose a risk to the financial system, take them over and do things like break contracts, fire people or even dissolve the company.

Sound kind of like the Geithner is in the Corleone administration?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM 'THE GODFATHER')

MICHAEL CORLEONE: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.

KAY ADAMS: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.

MICHAEL CORLEONE: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Geithner already has more power than any other treasury secretary has ever had and yet he still wants more.

The Obama administration claims that if they'd had this power, they would have been able to rein in companies like AIG, the same way the FDIC can do with the banks.

And even though Geithner wasn't able to foresee or stop the banks from going down the tubes when he was in charge of the New York Fed, the Barney Franks and Chris Dodds in Congress — who, by the way, were in charge of oversight for the same problems — think he'll be able to suddenly master that skill and stop non-financial companies from failing.

Call me a skeptic. I picture the three of those guys as superheroes.

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The AIG mess also reveals another mob tactic we've adopted: Getting things done by using intimidation and fear.

The poster child? Andrew Cuomo.

He subpoenaed the list of AIG execs who got bonuses and then threatened to go public with it unless those executives gave back the money — fully aware that there were death threats against these people.

That sounds to me like this classic scene:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP FROM 'THE GODFATHER')

VITO CORLEONE: I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

If you threatened someone like that, it would be called extortion. But when New York's attorney general does it, people applaud.

Remember the way this country was founded: Your rights come from God and you lend them to the government. If you can't do something, neither can they.

So, why are they doing it anyway?

Well, people remember Lord Acton's quote: "Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." But maybe a better quote to remember is from Robert Duvall's character in "The Godfather":

"Mr. Corleone never asks a second favor once he's refused the first, understood?"

What do you think? Send your comments to: glennbeck@foxnews.com

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