Dark Star

Secret defense programs have their place, but surely it is wrong to create secret social programs. The meltdown of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac demonstrates why. Everybody thought Fannie and Freddie were boring old government-sponsored enterprises dealing in nice safe mortgages for middle-class Americans. Only they weren't.

You can understand why President Clinton decided to crank up Fannie and Freddie to deliver sub-prime mortgages in the 1990s. It seemed like a great idea to amend the Community Reinvestment Act to bully the banks into lending more money into inner-city areas. And it was certainly a success in political terms. By the end of his administration, Bill Clinton was wildly popular in the African American community. Of course he would be, after sluicing billions of dollars in mortgage money to the house-hungry women of America's red-lined neighborhoods.

But who really understood what was going on before the whole thing blew up and tossed the nation into a global credit crisis? A few people did, and a few people tried to warn us. A few politicians tried to reform Fannie and Freddie, but they were no match for the lobbyists and the Friends of Angelo.

It is hard enough trying to reform headline programs like public education or Social Security. At least everything is out in the open.

But with stealth programs burrowed into the Community Reinvestment Act our liberal friends are learning to emulate the methods of the cold war Pentagon. They have learned how to keep controversial programs under the radar, and they usually succeed. It's only when a program blows up that people realize what is going on.

We are going to see more of these meltdowns in the future. Fannie/Freddie isn't the only government program adapted to serve a hidden agenda.

But how did we get from open and accountable government to the new era of stealth social programs operating under the radar?

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