The U.S. has rendered ourselves so reliant on foreign countries that we are in dire danger of becoming a second-class financial and industrial power. Thanks to the Bush Administrations policies and the mishandling of economic conditions, we are about to be passed by China in both rankings.
The U.S. is a bankrupt nation. Medicare and Social Security are under-funded, our state and local governments are under-funded, private-sector pension plans are under-funded. How did we get into this mess? Inept politicians, apathetic voters, and rampant greed and cynicism on all levels.
We are becoming increasingly indebted to China and they are buying Wall Street. The very financial cornerstone of our economy is failing and they are taking advantage of it by buying an ever increasingly larger stake in our financial future. Capitalism is taking a hit and its hurting us all. George Bush’s response is as long as money is changing hands and his cronies are getting their share it is all good. Never mind that the rest of us are loosing our shirts, homes, and jobs.
Our dependence on foreign oil has allowed Saudi Arabia to wield a much larger controlling stake over our economy than any foreign entity should ever have. The very greedy and selfish nature of capitalism has brought us to this point. And Americans refuse to curb our driving habits to ease this dependence.
Our greatest chance to reverse these trends is to replace George W. Bush’s policies with something that will return America’s future as top priority ahead of personal gain. We have fallen victim to greedy political power hounds who have distanced themselves from any accountability and in doing so has left this country to flounder due to a lack of direction. The needs and concerns of the citizens of this once great nation have fallen to the wayside while political hacks like Karl Rove, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have decimated and dismantled the constitution. They have, in less than eight years of political circus-acts, the likes of which this country has never before seen, have turned this once thriving, self-reliant nation from an industrial and financial power into a groveling street beggar for foreign oil and money. They need to be booted out immediately. At this point, anyone is a better choice.
Our Congress, the very people who are charged with keeping this country focused on our future, spends countless millions of dollars and expends countless hours pursuing such secondary and tertiary issues as steroids in sports and pointing the finger at each other over who did or said what to whom instead of tackling one of the greatest threats to our sovereignty: illegal immigration.
We have been coerced into funding an illegal war, we have been spied upon under the thinly-veiled disguise of terrorist threats, our dollar is shrinking at an alarming rate, and Congress spends its time on preserving the purity of baseball! The irresponsibility and incompetence is outrageous!
There was a time when citizens would stand up to our government at all levels and demand to be heard and listened to. There was a time when the future seemed promising. There was a time when citizens actually believed that if they did stand up and speak their minds, if they did protest, they would be heard and the future actually had promise. These political dark ages that have befallen us are the direct result of politicians who are more concerned with their own re-election and therefore place more importance on their financial backers than on what the everyday blue-collar taxpayer has on his mind. Public outcry for the common good has been drowned out by special interests so often that we no longer see the point of voicing our opinion. Apathy has finally won out. The ‘Silent Majority’ has grown larger and as a result wealthy special interests now run this country. And look at where it has gotten us.
Lawyers get rich defending insurance companies who back out on their obligations, ad agencies get rich peddling products they try to convince consumers we can’t live without, corporations get rich selling products that help ruin our environment, and our federal government passes legislation to protect them all. What do taxpayers get? We get to foot the bill and the occasional joke of a handout in the form of a $300 tax refund designed to ‘stimulate’ the economy.
Our political system has become a game where the expectations of the voters are acknowledged and then step by step, debate by debate, through name-calling, character assassination, and generally dirty politics, the candidates are whittled down to the smoothest talkers with the thickest skins. And in the end, what do we have? A changeling who is able to bend, twist and re-invent themselves at a moments notice to whoever can get them re-elected. We have given up on using our moral compass as a guide. Political integrity and courage, along with personal pride have taken a backseat to money. Capitalism, perfected.
That ‘Going to Hell in a Hand basket’ phrase I grew up hearing about seems more relevant today than ever before.
