America's Destruction

I have never been so worried for my country.  This is not hyperbole, it is seriously a feeling I have deep inside my gut.   At nearly 51 years of age I have lived over half a century.  While I find this thought an anathema to my feelings of youth inside, it is in fact a reality that I can now look at the world and time with a sense of perspective.  

America is disintegrating before our very eyes.  Again, I don’t mean this statement to be dramatic in effect.  I simply state it as a realistic appraisal of who we are and where we are as a society.  Our value systems have become clouded and buried under a mountain of lies designed to divide and conquer.  Internationally we have never been weaker.  We as a nation are more vulnerable then we have ever been but like the Roman Empire before us we are literally rotting frown within.  We are sewing the seeds of our own destruction and no one should doubt that our enemies do not recognize this.  

I have been a fighter and debater all my life.  I have agreed, disagreed, argued and conceded.  When I was younger core beliefs and values seemed more similar.  We all watched the same news and considered it acceptable.  It was a starting point for discussions where we shared the same facts.   Deep down inside there was commonality.  It could be on an issue of international importance like the Cold War or a domestic priority like funding a road.  We all knew what had to be done, it was just a matter of how to get there.  I harbored no love for Ronald Reagan yet I respected the man as I did his successor George Bush.  Perhaps I might have chosen a different approach to America’s fights around the world yet I recognized the need for us to stand up as a nation and stand up as an icon to the world.  I understood conservatives and while I didn’t always agree with them I knew that they had vision.  Overtime this started to degrade and by GW Bush things began to fall apart.  Factions split off.  True conservatives were suddenly a minority within their own party.  Like animals feasting on a carcass desperate interests that were once controlled by the party began to rip and tear the body politic apart.  Frankenstein’s monsters that were methodically used as a means of achieving a governing control broke free from their chains and became the Freedom Caucus, the Tea Party, the Religions Right and the Neo Cons.

A primary system designed to allow the party’s most loyal to be responsible for the candidates shattered, and became a tool for extreme minorities to select their chosen supporters to become the standard bearers for the party.  The wise men of American politics were exiled.  

The chief underlying reality of American politics is that as a Republic we have trusted our representatives to govern in our interest.  In many ways this trust has been a detriment to our society and the peoples involvement in that discussion.  For generations we have surrendered our voices to those that represent us.  The compromise guided us well for the most part.  For 75 years our nation moved forward.  Our intelligencia while self-serving, did their best to recognize the need for stability in our foreign policy.  They understood the need to establish a global network of relationships that served not only the American interests but the interests of the world.  Of course they failed at times but overall they established a framework for American dominance.  Our enemies were kept at bay and our sovereignty was seldom challenged.  The left pushed to be a moral conscious that at times was heeded and at times ignored.  That said the world looked to us for guidance and stability. 

Today it is safe to say that America has abrogated our position.  The reasons for this are many but among the largest is that our government has lost all semblance of balance between self interest, greed and the needs of the nation.  Our politics are dominated by fanatical ideologues whose positions are driven by self serving principles.  They govern for themselves and the narrow constituencies that keep them in power.  They are no longer wise with a belief in a greater goal.  Many are opaquely stupid men and women.  People I would not trust my house to let alone my nation.  They walk our halls of power floating upon self serving lies that maintain their positions.  At their head sits a man who embodies them all and that shuns everything our nation has held dear for the last 75 years.  How did we become this?

Every despot knows that devision is the key to power.  If there was a university course this subject would be a 101 class.  You gain power and maintain it by dividing and creating enemies wether real or imagined.  You create a sense of fatalism and predetermined destiny.  You present solutions to the problems that you magnify only to the extent of maintaining them for your own governance and power.  In this exploitation of fear you appeal to the simplistic fears of the masses and exploit them.  You operate on division not on unity.  Unity is your enemy because unity is the only power that the masses have.  

This is America today and with each crisis, with each tragedy, for the despot it is an opportunity to magnify its consequence.  In the past our leaders have chosen a path of unity and fundamental decency.  A feeling that we are more powerful united in common cause and a dream.  When tragedy occurs they speak to our fundamentals as a people and emphasize our humanity and purpose.  They set aside the arguments for the commonality of national spirit.  

Those that travel the land report a people not so angry and embittered as we are taught to imagine.  While I believe this, when the curtain is drawn they vote their self-interest among all else.  I watched a forum of supporters for our president justify their love of him.  Every statement made was rooted in their self-interests.  In a sense they have become reflections of our leadership.  No longer the balance demanding accountability and voice they have joined the spirit of self-serving achievement.  While they might show pity for their neighbor anyone beyond their sight is simply beyond their comprehension.   Like our politicians they embolden they no longer care for greater purpose or for our nation and the world beyond our borders.  

Every successful society in the world is successful because the citizens and their leaders feel something greater than themselves.  They are willing to sacrifice for the good of all over the needs of themselves.  Our greatest generation understood this when America went to war yet as they aged they forgot it.  They became complacent and looked after their own needs.  They failed to instill this obligation in their children and as the wise voices of our leaders faded away so did a part of us.

A large segment of our society prides themselves for their guns and their ‘frontier spirit’ yet they forget the underlying spirit that made us what we are.  They forget that most of us are the products of immigrants.  They forget the reasons why their families came to America.  They forget the spirit of nation and sacrifice.  They forget the moral and religious code that we are built upon, one that celebrated diversity and freedom.  They forget the concept of freedom of belief and thought.  They forget that the world once looked to us as the shiny city on the hill as Ronald Reagan once said.  They forget the thousand points of light that George Bush told us united us.  They forget the concept of personal sacrifice for the good of all, of taking less to give others more.  This can be measured in money or in values.  The realization and acceptance that maybe they don’t need a bigger tax break or perhaps they can live with less access to a gun.  The concept that by making a society that is safer or more healthy it will afford all of us a stronger nation and ultimately better themselves.    

Today America is under attack.  Our adversaries are stronger than ever yet our only response is to spend the bulk of our money to build walls and buy weapons for a military that is the most powerful in the world. Aside from our love for weapons of war we have no answer.  Sadly our leaders can’t even agree that we are vulnerable let alone under attack.  Incidents and actions that would have enraged our society 20 years ago go unnoticed and excused.  Russia is violating our sovereignty daily and slicing away at what is left of the underpinnings of our democracy yet we have no response.  We sit like a feckless child being pummeled by a bully.

As Americans we were always taught that the one thing we all had was a vote yet today that is under assault.  We are doing our best to reduce the power of this single weapon to insignificance.  Our elections are being manipulated, our people are being discouraged.  Take your pick, voter id, voter access, restricted time, gerrymandering.  Few districts are even contested.  Our elected leadership understands they have little accountability for their decisions or actions.  We are manipulated to become single issue voters ignoring all else.  The Citizens United decision has created an environment where politicians are beholden to the very wealthy that fund their elections.  Our education system does not teach civic responsibility.  What courses we have are often taught by coaches masquerading as teachers.  We don’t even attempt to teach ethics.  

Our society is failing.

When I raise these issues with my countrymen and women I am often greeted with a nod or a smile.  An agreement in spirit yet politics is an interesting beast because it seems no matter what the rational or reality the vast majority are called back to the support of team but at what cost? In America we have little education or belief in the nation.  Instead we are taught to support teams or tribes.  In sports there is little in the way of a national identity.  Everything is regional or local.  Seldom if ever are you an “America” fan.  Within our national construct this same dynamic has been realized in a tribal sense.  A Republican is a Republican a Democrat is a Democrat.  There is little thought to what these labels mean, they are simply incorporated into an identity of self.  The label is intended to speak more about who you are as a person in a general sense.  Even the very attempt to create in intellectual definition is frowned upon and derided by many.  Ignorance is celebrated, intelligence and intellectualism is not.  Anger makes a statement, rational thought and explanation does not.  

There was a time when political needs vs. societal ignorance was managed.  The governing class recognized the thoughts and needs of the masses yet balanced it with a super ceding knowledge of what the nation needs.  It leaned to the left or right but the ship of state stayed on course.  While corruption existed it was managed to allow progress.  There is a story once that was taught to me to provide a vivid example of this.  It was to illustrate life outside of America.  Two young students met at Harvard University.  One was from Africa and another from Asia.  They became friends and were from the power elites in their respective countries.  Years later the African visited his old friend in Asia.  Now the leader of his nation the man took the African to his house.  The African admired his lovely residence and garage filled with expensive cars.  In the distance the African could see highways and trains moving traffic and a skyline of office buildings.  The Asian winked at the African as if to say I have my cut but look at what I have created.  At the African’s invitation the Asian visited him in his own country.  He took him to his house.  It was a palace filled with opulence.  Fancy cars were parked in a garage and a private plane was at his call.  There was no limit to his comfort.  In the distance were empty fields and shanty towns filled with poverty.  The African looked at the Asian as if to say look at me, I have it all.

Today our nation is no longer governed by compromise

or morality.  There is no higher ground.  We have a president that is void of empathy and embodies the very worst elements of greed and abuse.  He is a liar, a cheater and morally bankrupt.  He is a manipulator and a showman.  Worst of all he is an enemy of the nation.  There is no line he will not cross to turn our society to his advantage.  Worse still are his enablers.  They are every man and woman that works for him and every politician that voices support for him.  Each is ignoring the nation and walks a line of treason that would stun Ronald Reagan.  They are self-serving cowards that care nothing about what they destroy only what they gain.  Be it the environment, our international standing or the moral fabric of our society, none has relevance to them.  

At the core of it all is a segment of our society that has succumbed.  They are simple people and in many instances good people yet they have been brainwashed into an alternative reality.  Don’t misunderstand me, I am not simply talking about the poor and the rural.  I am talking about people from many strata’s of the society.  If a person never learns to think for themselves or to consider rational argument are they to really be blamed when they are manipulated?  Are the people of North Korea at fault for following a leader whose words are the only ones they know?  If they only listen to one channel, follow a single news stream or view the same talking heads how could they know anything different?  

We all bear responsibility because we have allowed this monster of self-destruction to grow.  It is a Hydra.  We have enabled a media with elements that serve only one interest.  We have allowed a self-serving political system to develop because we didn’t want to pay attention.  It was easier to let others do that.  We have allowed money to rule our society and call it capitalism yet make no rules.  Capitalism has no morality and without rules money becomes the singular objective for those that pull its levers.  It’s like a football game without a referee.  In the end it will simply become a battle for who will live and who will die.  

In many ways the left has equally lost touch with the people.  They make ivory tower pronouncements but forget to practice what they preach.  They ask for the patronage of people giving lip services to causes they never actively support.  In truth the nation hasn’t had a real left in nearly 100 years.  That left was long ago branded as socialists and exiled from the society.

Our nation is pulling apart at the seams and we are looking to a political system that no longer represents us.  Antiquated notions enshrined into law like the second amendment or senatorial representation no longer represent the will of the vast majority of the nation.  Frustration is building and the very fabric of our society is being stretched so thin for the first time in my lifetime I can truly say I can see an end to the American epoch in sight.  The sad part is that we are bringing about our own destruction.

I am progressively coming to believe that the only hope for our society is the death of the political parties that are enslaving us and our minds and the reformation of a political identity based on shared values.  

Americans love to believe that we are the best at everything.  It has been built as a core pillar of our society.  Unfortunately, metaphorically speaking, we as a people are becoming so small we can no longer see around it.  We are unable to learn from others.  We used to point our fingers at the Europeans and laugh at their chaotic multi representational parliaments.  Truth be told those parliaments act as relief valves giving single issue voters outlets but not big enough ones to govern the country based on a singular idea.  Their elections are far more democratic and inclusive than any held in America.  Their societies are not racked by violence and their children are not afraid to go to school.  Few homeless wander the streets and social networks reach out to their citizens with the spirit that the preamble to our constitution has always represented.  

These are not perfect societies and lord knows they have their faults.  A democracy without fault is likely an illusion.  America simply must open its eyes.  We must accept what is happening to us and what our future will be if we do not change course.  If we have to do this around an enemy why can’t the enemy be those that lack a moral foundation and belief in humanity and our society?  Is this too hard?  Can we not agree on basics like children should not be frightened to go to school.  That humans should care for each other.  That we need a clean environment to live.  That we should not allow other nations to violate our sovereignty.  That when faced between greed for a few vs. prosperity for all we should chose the latter.  That funding educations should not break families.  That business should not exploit society for its own gain.  That people should be free to express themselves.  That we should encourage thought and intellectual learning and discourage ignorance.  That violence against others is bad.  That humans are all equal and should be treated as such.  That the interests of society must come before self-serving interests of our own.

Rise from the ashes America, your sun is setting and the world will soon pass you by.