The only thing we have to fear is fear itself - THAT'S NOT TRUE!!

Every American has over and over again heard this FDR Great Depression mantra. It's considered gospel. It's considered wise. I'm not convinced it's accurate at all.

I believe arrogance and ignorance are to be more greatly feared. What we must fear is the mistake of putting our faith in something not worthy of our faith. An example:

João Torto
The small European country of Portugal has a long history of aviation: Attempts at flight go back as early as Medieval times, and the Portuguese Air Museum dates back as far as 1909, only six years after the Wright brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, N.C.

One famous attempt, however, made the wrong kind of history, ending up in failure.

The man who took the hit for Portuguese aviation history was João Torto. A true Renaissance man, Torto was a man of many trades: He was a nurse, a barber, a certified bleeder and healer, an astrologer and a teacher.

Unfortunately, Torto a­lso had a big head about his well-rounded education, and decided he wanted another title added to the list -- aviator.

Using two pairs of calico cloth-covered wings attached to his arms and an eagle-shaped helmet, Torto jumped from the cathedral tower in St. Mateus square on June 20, 1540 at 5 p.m. (in front of a large crowd, of course) and fell a short distance to a nearby chapel.

Unfortunately, when he landed, his helmet slipped over his face and obscured his ­view. He fell to the ground, fatally wounding himself.

Torto had faith in the wings he created, he had faith in his own ability, he was arrogant, he was misled and it cost him everything. Somewhere there is an old black and white movie of a man who wearing a pair of wings is going to try them out by leaping off a cliff. I tried to find it. Just before he leaps off the cliff (to his death) he is seen pacing around, going to the edge of the cliff and looking over, taking a couple false starts, and being very nervous about the whole thing, as he should have been. He had doubts about the faith he was putting in the flying apparatus he was wearing.

That's exactly what is happening with people who are trusting themselves and have faith in the new stimulus plan that should be called the TORTO plan.

We need not fear FEAR. We must fear arrogance and ignorance. That's what the dimwits that came up with this abomination are made of. Now we will all leap off the castle wall and hit the ground. I hope we survive. I'm not sure we will.