I have not forwarded this article to the National Security Agency because I assume they have already picked it up.
As I deal with the reality of my own mortality in my 79th year, I often look back at the nearly eight decades of my American experience and ask: Are the dreams, hopes and opportunities that this great country afforded me going to be there for my posterity? Uncounted Americans are asking the same question. I have great respect for what this country has accomplished in my lifetime. It suffered but eventually recovered from the Great Depression, only to answer the call of World War II where, with our Allies we defeated the Axis powers that were determined to enslave much of the world. For nearly 60 years after that brutal conflict American prosperity, leadership and military power, and especially its people were a beacon and noble provider to the world. We proved through the Marshall Plan, the GI Bill and our domestic political cooperation that the American model worked. Of course my country wasn’t perfect. Watergate, the divisiveness of the Viet Nam War, Jimmy Carter, Iraq and Afghanistan tested our national fiber and our governmental institutions once again. The incredible greed exercised by the real estate industry and the Wall Street banks during the first decade of this century created a debacle which caused incredible damage to America and its citizens. Where have this greed and the subsequent growth in the size and spending of the Federal Government taken us? I remain convinced that we are on the wrong road going in the wrong direction. Let me explain why I believe this.
First a majority of voters have twice elected a President who cannot govern this nation effectively. Mr. Obama’s agenda is and always will be strictly political. He despises capitalism, a market economy and cooperation with the political opposition. Mr. Obama sees himself as a rock star President. Scandals, incompetence in much of his administration and failed policies are the norm for this Chicago politician. Benghazi, the IRS, Solyndra, Fast and Furious, his inept and corrupt Attorney General, the national debt, and structural unemployment hovering around 12% are but a few of his incredible failures. One of his top political goals is to return Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the House. A return of the triumvirate of Barack Obama, Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi which brought us the Obamacare train wreck troubles me deeply. America must never excuse the President for exempting numerous groups from Obamacare such as the Congress, the IRS agents who will enforce much of it and numerous other close political allies of this President.
Another wrong way is Mr. Obama’s continued insistence that al-Qaida is on the ropes. The Benghazi disaster and the recent closings of US diplomatic missions in the Middle East and Africa are damning proof that al-Qaida is not only alive and well, but on the ascendency in a major way.
Still another wrong direction is the ongoing and persistent effort by the President and his allies to curb the Constitutional right of Americans to own firearms. That right is clear and inviolate. Certainly, a very small number of Americans abuse that right and do much damage to society. The solution, however, is not to punish people who don’t abuse this Second Amendment right, but to punish severely those who do.
Few wrong roads are more destructive in the long term than Federal debt which is approaching $17 Trillion and very little is being done about it. Mr. Obama’s sequestration is not the solution. The government should cut out the huge sums of pure and corrupt waste and reduce all Federal programs 5-10% across the board.
As a nation, we are increasingly being governed and controlled by unelected bureaucrats. Certainly government at any level cannot function without competent and dedicated public servants. What we don’t need is the excessive growth in Federal employees, especially the rogue ones who write the regulations, or have their own agenda such as those at the IRS, NSA and the State Department. A case in point: The Obamacare law, over 1,000 pages long, has created over 10,000 pages of bureaucratic rules and regulations and 159 new agencies, boards and programs. It is an indisputable truth that government using various means creates bloated staffs. The bigger the staff the greater the power and control, and these create more high level jobs. This Federal bureaucracy must be reduced.
Not in the history of this nation have special-interest lobbies held such political and financial sway over the processes of government. Large political donations to incumbents at all levels of government have corrupted our system. We the people have not had the courage to demand that it be brought under control. Consequently, the people’s business is tarnished by the dual system of money and incumbency.
The moral and social fabric of our society is the family. This critical institution is taking hits from all directions. I do not believe the nation can survive unless we stop these attacks against the family.
America is on a slippery slope. Will we as a people change the direction we are going? We had a chance in 2012 to do so. A majority chose to stay on the wrong course. The American voters will have another chance in 2014 and 2016.
Some dramatic evidence stares us in the face. Presently the most effective governments in America are found in several states where capable and responsible governors of both parties have turned budget deficits into surpluses, taken on public sector unions and their absurd salary and pension benefits and demands and restored growth to their state economies. Are our wrong direction and the slippery slope of the Obama Administration beyond our power to change? I hope not, but I am deeply concerned.