Not since Paul Revere rode his horse through the countryside warning the Americans “To arms, to arms, the Redcoats are coming,” have we been so explicitly warned of an upcoming disaster facing our nation.

On August 22, former Riversider Patrick Creadon’s startling documentary, “I.O.U.S.A.,” opened in 10 major cities in the United States, including Piper’s Alley in Chicago.

Creadon, who directed the film and co-wrote it with wife Christine O’Malley, took the Grand Jury Prize in Documentaries at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. The movie picks up where Addison Wiggin and Bill Bonner’s New York Times best-selling book, “Empire of Debt,” left off, and opens with a shot of the White House with “FOR SALE” and “FORECLOSURE” signs plastered across the picture, similar to the for sale and foreclosure signs on many American homes today.

The exciting documentary traces the debt of the U.S. back to its very beginnings. While George Washington was the first president to expose the country to deficit spending, he promptly balanced the budget. In 1776, our leaders certainly could not in their wildest imaginations believe the precarious position the country would be in at the beginning of the 21st century.

The film points out that unless our government (that’s us) takes fiscal responsibility, there is a real possibility that a foreign country could call in our debts. The movie examines the comparison of how a growing national debt can undermine the security of a country, illustrated in the film by the consequences suffered by Britain when the Suez conflict was resolved.

Although the facts, figures and photographs of this film are from our national libraries and from the libraries of many past presidents, Creadon and O’Malley keep the viewing audiences breathlessly interested.

The documentary gives indisputable facts and figures of where our money has gone and where it is scheduled to be going in the future unless drastic changes are made. Today, according to the film, we are using the money of our children and grandchildren to carry on our “hell-bent-for-election” spending patterns.

It was only two years ago that Creadon and his wife won a top prize at the Sundance Film Festival for their documentary “Wordplay,” and they have done it again. The Creadons, who live in California, recently were in Riverside with their three children visiting family and friends.

Kathleen Sullivan, Patrick’s aunt and a resident of Riverside said, “It’s an important and thought-provoking film, but don’t take my word for it.”

Take her word for it ... it shatters our complacency. Beg, borrow or steal a copy of I.O.U.S.A. It’s a shocking disclosure of the true State of the Union.