I'm officially a dinosaur. I guess if you wanted to give me a scientific classification it would be Bitchosaurus. The reason for my constant complaining is that I see what used to be the greatest country in the world sinking into mediocrity. We're not there yet, but the elevator is definitely going down. If the present trend continues, the United States will have drifted so far away from the principles and ideals of our founding fathers that they would not recognize the country they fought to establish. What has brought us to this state? Mediocre leadership, an increasingly ignorant and apathetic citizenry, capitulation to policies of the "politically correct", and finally, the abandonment by individuals and government of the fundamental rules of financial responsibility. Let's take these in order. 
America has produced some of the world's greatest leaders, starting with men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Abe Lincoln. In the last century we have elected strong leaders like Franklin Roosevelt, his cousin Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan. These were men of principle who had a clear vision for this country and acted decisively to do what they thought was right. We are now saddled with a President who has no moral compass. He governs by consensus and seeks not to build on the policies that have made this country great, but to avoid giving offense. When events call for decisiveness, he waffles. The crisis in Libya is the latest example of the United States sitting on the sidelines while other world leaders step up to the plate. We are losing respect in the eyes of the world. 
Our educational system is failing because it strayed from a proven curriculum of English, History, Math and Science to a dumbed-down menu of socially relevant, self-esteem building claptrap. (There's a dinosaur word for you.) Many parents have abandoned all responsibility for educating their children, and dumped it on the schools. As if that was not bad enough, they insist on interfering with educators by demanding changes in the curriculum based on no other justification than their belief that it is the right thing to do. This fiasco has resulted in people growing to adulthood with no foundation in the skills they will need to cope with life. Their ignorance spawns a lack of interest in government, and allows the same crooks and incompetents to keep getting re-elected. All they have to do to keep the people at bay is to provide more freebies like welfare, endless unemployment insurance, and free health care. In ancient Rome this philosophy, which was referred to as 'bread and circuses for the masses' led directly to the collapse of the empire because people no longer cared what their government was doing. We are on that path. 
The PC police are everywhere. We can no longer speak the truth because it might offend somebody. Every human failing is blamed on someone or something else. If someone stands up and says that a disproportionate percentage of crime in this country is committed by African-Americans, they are labeled as racists. When courageous African-Americans stand up and acknowledge these truths and call on their leaders to recognize the problem and take steps to deal with it, they are vilified and called 'Uncle Tom'. Phonies like Al Sharpton have a vested interest in the status quo. If there were no 'downtrodden and misunderstood' young thugs terrorizing our streets, he would have no reason for being in his self-appointed role as their guardian. Men like Sharpton, who steadfastly deny where the blame for the high crime rate among blacks rightly belongs, have done more to hold back African-Americans than any white man. 
Finally we come to money. The current national debt in the United States is $14 trillion dollars or about $128,000 per taxpayer. That number has grown by an astonishing $4 trillion since President Obama took office. When I can't afford that new car I want, I look wistfully at a picture of the shiny car in a magazine and say: maybe next year. Our government, and many individuals, show no such restraint. The housing mortgage crisis that plunged America and the rest of the world into financial chaos was the direct result of such behavior. Illegal immigration costs taxpayers an estimated $113 billion annually, and those costs are on the rise. When will it stop? As Margaret Thatcher said: "The trouble with Socialism is that sooner or later you run out of other people's money." Well guess what folks, we're there. I wish we were leaving our children a better world. The only slim hope I see is for people to wake up and, like the news anchor played so beautifully by Peter Finch in the movie 'Network', holler out: "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore." I guess that's what the Tea Party is trying to do. Like the group of patriots they are named for, they are demanding radical change in a system that has lost its way.
SEE DATES ABOVE RIGHT FOR OTHER POSTS FROM "BRAINDROPS". ALSO, READ MY OTHER BLOG: SPALDEEN DREAMS
1 comment:
What it comes down to is that we have tossed the idea of self-motivation, one that worked for our grandparents when they came to this country, and replace it with convenience and complacency, coming from liberalized misconceived concepts and our hard-earned money!
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