I was born and raised in this country, and I hopefully will die and be buried here. But this country scares the hell out of me. I do not look forward to this country’s future. Even my 30 year old daughter states that she is not all that hopeful that America will last.
“America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we lose our freedom, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.’ — Abraham Lincoln. It looks as if he was right. Here are just a few of the things that lead me to feel this way.
Our current political system is a joke. The basic idea of separation of power between the president, Congress and the Supreme Court was and still is a great idea. But because of judges legislating from the bench, the Republicans and the Democrats refusing to cooperate with each other on just about everything, and the president using his power to force his ideas (the recent E.O.’s, which I personally agree with) upon the American public, the general public is caught in the middle. I cannot remember the last time a legislative bill was passed by Congress and signed into law by the president that had a significantly positive effect on the country. It seems like we legislate by emergency. In other words, we only get something done when the consequences of not doing it would be an even bigger disaster.
The standards of performance have steadily gone down hill since the early sixties. Instead of saying “No, we will not reduce the current standards. You will have to work harder to meet them,” we have given in to almost every single special interest group that has come along. I do not doubt that in the years leading up to 1970 our public schools might not have presented minority students with an equal opportunity to compete for “The Good Life”. But a large percentage of today’s parents would have you think that nothing has changed.
I hear constant complaints that children who sit in the same classrooms at the same schools in front of the same teachers and use the same exact books as the rest of today’s children are not getting the same quality of education. My reply is, if that is true, then it’s your own fault. If you are unwilling to take an active role in your child’s education then you have no one to blame but yourself. And based upon what I see walking the streets every day, there are very few parents who act like parents. They are more interested in being their child’s best friend. It seems like, if they take this attitude, then it gives them more of an opportunity to concentrate on their love life, their social life, or their professional life.
Along the same lines, we have lowered the standards for who we select to be our firefighters and police officers. It is a rare week that goes by when I do not hear at least one news story about some police officer who has been arrested for breaking the law themselves. I have not one ounce of doubt that we also bring this upon ourselves by hiring people of lower caliber. In fact there was a news story several years ago about a Texas city that refused to hire a recruit because they claimed his IQ was too high.
I understand why they say what they did. I can’t speak for anyone else other than myself, but, if I give a badge and a gun to someone, I want that person to be as smart as I can get them. A person of higher intelligence is far less likely to pull that gun and use it in a highly charged situation. A person of higher intelligence and more training has the capability to come up with a less violent means of defusing the situation, whatever that may be. They are less likely to go on pure instinct.
Our system of taxation is so far out of control that there is virtually no one who can even begin to completely understand it. Not even IRS agents are completely versed in the code. Along with this is our national debt crisis. Make no mistake about it, it is a crisis. The current national debt level exceeds 25 trillion dollars, and there is virtually no hope that it will ever come down. The Democrats seem to think they can spend our way out of this crisis. The Republicans have been forced into raising the national debt because of the irresponsible actions of another country.
One final point. We have gone absolutely berserk with the idea of political correctness. What in heavens name is wrong with calling a janitor a janitor instead of a domestic engineer? This just goes along with the American attitude that everyone has to have a title. Something to make them seem to be more important. We have become a society of deception. You cannot trust anyone anymore to be who and what they say they are. It seems like fabrication is more important that just plain old fashion honesty. A perfect example of this is when someone drives a car that costs more than the home they live in. That is just plain, old grandiose.
Now maybe you will understand why this country’s apparent future makes me very uncomfortable. I’m willing to bet that you can also think of some issues that I haven’t addressed.
