In several polls conducted over the past six months, the majority of those Americans surveyed stated that they feel less pride in their country, that the United States is in decline, and that our moral values are decaying. Given the daily headlines and the tenor of the presidential campaign, these negative numbers are understandable.
But does the reality of our situation match the pessimism of so many of our fellow citizens?
But does the reality of our situation match the pessimism of so many of our fellow citizens?
The answer is a firm yes.
Let’s look at some current conditions that produce these polling results.
The US labor force participation rate is around 60%. Of those who are employed, some are working fewer hours because of the restrictions of The Affordable Care Act, an oxymoron also known as Obamacare.
Our national debt continues to climb and is now approaching 20 trillion dollars.
Our borders and our immigration policy—what exactly is that policy, anyway?—are a mess. The media has ignored immigration this election season, but the rate of illegal immigration has surged past that of 2015.
Our military has suffered budget and manpower cuts, and these and other changes have demoralized many in our armed forces.
The federal government continues to enact and enforce regulations that inhibit private enterprise. The Hill (thehill.com) reports that 2015 broke all records for new federal regulations.
The incomes of the poor and the middle class are stagnant, while the incomes of the very rich continue to skyrocket.
Some of the people who run our federal government—Republicans and Democrats—display an open contempt for those of us who live and work beyond the Beltway. What is ironic about that contempt is the inability of these “leaders” to govern effectively.
A woman is running for the presidency who is known even among her supporters as a liar and a cheat hungry for power.
Her chief opponent is a multi-millionaire with an ego the size of Texas, a mouth the size as Alaska, and a sense of prudence the size of Rhode Island. He has never been elected to an office in his life.
Should we be depressed by these melancholy details?
Hell, yes, we should be depressed. It blackened my day just writing the last three hundred words.
So what can we do? (And if you’re looking for a president to solve these problems, you can stop reading here. You aren’t interested in an election. You want a dictator).
We should first turn to our state governments and make it clear that we want the feds out of our lives. We should point out to those state governments the destruction wrought by the federal government in our universities, our public schools, our health care, our free enterprise system, and our military. Some state governments have bucked up against the feds, like those that now allow the legal sale of marijuana or those that have abandoned the Common Core State Standards. We need more of this resistance. We need our state governments to recapture those rights guaranteed them in the Constitution. Many of those national politicians now in power claim the Constitution is dead or dated, but if we forced our government to live by that document we would see a revolution in this country.
As individuals, we need to tell our federal government nannies to get off our backs. We need to tell these meddlers to keep their hands off our guns, our children, our religious faith, and our constitution. We need to tell them to stop incarcerating so many people for soft drugs like marijuana. We need to tell them the money we earn belongs first and foremost to us, not to the tax people. We need to tell them we are no longer willing to pay for waste and corruption.
An old adage proclaims “God has a special providence for drunkards, fools, and the United States.” Right now we have strained that providence to the breaking point. Another old adage states—and it’s not, as some believe, from the Bible—that “God helps those who help themselves.”
It’s time we helped ourselves. It’s time for a revolution—not a violent one, but one in which we rein in our government. It’s time we quit looking to that government for assistance and look instead to ourselves and our communities.
No matter who wins this election, it’s time to make our masters our servants again.