Is it even possible to level with each other anymore? Are we so polarized by politics that we can’t agree on anything?
America is in real trouble and rather than face our problems as adults, we’ve turned into something from Lord of the Flies. If Americans don’t put the political battle axes down and realize we’re being poked and prodded to fight each other, then every argument won will be for nothing. It’s time for us to address our mutual problems before they’re irreversible. (This is assuming you consider the destruction of capitalism, free markets, and our currency a problem and not a goal.)
So let’s address those problems one at a time:
1. Spending. Our country is spending itself into oblivion. At some point, common sense and context have to be considered to be able to prevent economics, statistics, and accounting from being abused by politics. And when someone is wrong, it shouldn’t be covered up with “creative” accounting or pushed “off the books.”
Let’s look at health care reform. Depending on which political camp you ask, health care legislation is either going to add to the deficit or be deficit neutral. That’s around a trillion dollar discrepancy. That’s how much math is now being tortured by politics.
The fact that we’re even considering what will amount to universal health care shows just how far off our foundation this country has been pushed with lies and deception. Our current entitlement liabilities have been taken off the books and equal over 106 trillion dollars in what’s called “unfunded liabilities.” This has been done so the American public can’t see how devastating “free” candy and lollipops are when politicians peddle promises every election cycle.
It’s easy to blame Democrats for their creative accounting, but the Republican Congress wasn’t much different in terms of their out of control spending. This is not a party problem; this is a problem of an entrenched political class. Term limits, term limits, term limits.
2. Government Corruption. Is anyone on the political left concerned not just with the massive, unread, outrageously expensive pieces of legislation being sent through Congress, but also with the fact that our representative government has turned into a rogue entity?
Was the Patriot Act only egregious because it was passed under a Republican? Where are all the people screaming about our rights now? Does selling out freedom matter less when it’s your own team who’s taking them away?
If conservatives are the sacrificial lambs now, at what point will government cross another group’s threshold of tolerance? The tea party/conservative movement isn’t about Democrats or “hating a black man in office.” It’s about conservatives being sick of government corruption on both sides of politics.
3. Energy. Energy independence is a part of a peaceful strategy to combat economic and military warfare on our country. It’s also a cornerstone to maintaining our sovereignty. This concern resides on both sides of our politics. So what’s the problem?
It’s hard to say. Some believe America is sitting on a wealth of fuel sources from shale oil, natural gas, coal, and crude oil. Many also believe that the global “oil shortage” is just a sham. Researchers in the natural gas industry believe we are sitting on a massive amount of untapped energy.
Others believe the world is approaching “peak oil” and that worldwide petroleum sources are now approaching depletion. Check out this page from American Shale Oil, LLC; they’re promoting shale oil as a viable alternative after peak oil.
Then there are the global warming “duck and cover” people who believe we have less than 100 months to stop the planet from cooking itself in CO2. This information is based on research from the crack team at CRU who brought us Climategate. My suggestion to them is to simply … step outside.
For those who aren’t on board with selling out our sovereignty over a hoax, I offer this suggestion:
We should continue to research common sense alternative energy sources. That being said, the proposed alternatives are still too expensive and technologically insufficient to stand alone as energy sources (i.e., solar and wind power). Right now, we still need oil and natural gas as our primary energy sources. Our first priority for energy independence should be to lift the ban on oil exploration and allow refineries to be built.
A good, non-fossil fuel compromise is nuclear power. It’s clean, domestic energy that’s available right now. We can even put a couple where all those loud, crowded, and inefficient wind turbines would have gone. Heck, pay states enough and I’m sure you’d have several ready to accept a federal subsidy for providing nuclear energy.
On the astronomical chance that there would be a meltdown, the states with reactors would probably be capitalistic, conservative ones that liberals wouldn’t miss anyway. Sound like a deal?
4. Terrorism and War. Diplomacy is our first line of defense, but it shouldn’t be our last. That being said, it’s important for our leaders to know our history as well as the history of other nations we engage.
Part of the quagmire of our Middle East relations stems from strategic moves during the Cold War (and our uncanny ability to tip the scales to our disadvantage no matter whose side we take). Our other problem is that some of those same Muslim factions just have a deep desire to … kill us (see cultural “imperialism.”) Also, here’s a transcript from an excellent interview with the president of Muslims Against Sharia that speaks to the same point about what drives those hate-filled Muslim factions.
No matter what your opinion is on how our war with radical Islam started, our current situation is our reality now. Jihad has been declared on America by Islamofascists, and it is literally going to be us or them from here on out.
If your opinion is that we created this monster called “radical Islam” and unleashed it on the world, then it is our duty to stop it. If you believe we’re the innocent victims of cultural and religious rage, then it’s our duty to protect ourselves and to stop it. We don’t have to agree with one another to actually do what’s in our mutual best interest.
5. Guilt. Some Americans are still apologizing for things like broken Indian treaties, slavery, and every slight from then until now. Misplaced guilt is not the same as compassion; it’s a form of self-hatred. The best way to rectify our nation’s times of tyranny is not to bellyache over the past, but to move forward and allow all of America to succeed by giving its people the freedom to fail.
The alternative involves a time machine. Got one?
The unrealistic goal of a utopia leads us to fear failure and punish success in the name of equality. Unless perfection means uniform mediocrity, then it continues to be unattainable by nations. No nation has or will ever be perfect, and to have the audacity to apologize for our nation’s imperfection is arrogant.
Wasn’t the whole reason for a transnational apology tour to make the world respect us? “You can’t respect somebody who kisses your ass,” to quote from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
We’re Americans first. Our obligations to our family and country come before our political ideology. If our ideology involves “fundamentally transforming America,” well … that’s just insurrection. We are not Marxists. We are not socialists. We are not victims. We are and always have been a Judeo-Christian nation. We are capitalists. We are a constitutional republic, not a democracy. We are free people. We don’t want to be transformed. We want to be restored.
What do you want?
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