Our country faces more serious problems now than at any other time in its history – and that includes the world wars, the war on the South, differences over civil rights, and any other challenge to our republic that you can list – with the possible exception of the War for Independence. Here’s a partial list:
1. Our illegal Federal Reserve and its cohort-in-crime, the central banks, have printed fiat (by government edict) dollars without end, causing chronic inflation – and possibly explosive inflation.
2. Our congressmen have acted in their own self-interest and in the interests of their donors or their political parties rather than in the interests of the American people, with the result that we have lost constitutional government. They are addicted to spending money we don’t have; each year our current accounts balance gets worse and worse, and the amount of foreign-held government debt continues to skyrocket – that amount of money is now by far the highest ever in the history of any country.
3. A socialist/welfare state has been created that is expanded without end, leading to widespread demand for more handouts, a loss of work ethic, and a “baby-boom” among the least-desirable group of citizens, further perpetuating the “I’m a victim” mentality.
4. The war on drugs has caused a tremendous increase in the crime rate.
5. The war in Iraq drains us daily of dollars and lives, and aggravates the challenges associated with terrorism.
6. Our executive leaders have demonstrated no capability to lead, preferring instead to look out for their own and their friends/donors’ interests.
7. The education system is a mess; the fastest growing demographic group in our country is the least educated. And these people vote.
8. The efforts of congress and the executive branch to make America a bilingual/bicultural country, to in effect establish a doctrine of “victimology,” and to refuse to enforce immigration laws are sowing the seeds for disaster.
9. NAFTA and efforts to implement the North American Union (NAU) could be the next step toward the final dissolution of the United States through the so-called harmonization of our law, our sovereignty with that of Canada and Mexico.
10. The Social Security system and interest on our debt are our two biggest budget items. Medicare will soon rank alongside them. We are broke.
11. Our infrastructure is crumbling. Bridges, roads, buildings are getting older and less reliable; and we’re spending money foolishly elsewhere.
12. Our manufacturing base is gone. We cannot produce the goods we need ourselves. We must rely on foreign manufacturers, particularly China.
13. Latest evidence of the chronic loss of individual freedoms is the effort by our government to increase its ability to spy on people and private entities.
The list could go on and on. But the USA may now be at a crossroads, a “twilight time” where our republic is irreparably damaged or ceases to exist. What can go wrong?
1. Should the Chinese and others, who hold trillions of US dollars, decide to start selling, the value of the dollar will plummet. The delusion that the US is “the world’s sole superpower,” whose currency is desirable regardless of its excess supply, reflects stupidity, not reality. China and others will dictate US foreign policy, not Mr. Bush – the threat to sell dollars is a chilling scenario. Americans in this case would be hit either with huge tax increases or with large cuts in income security programs. When we went to shop at Wal-Mart, the new prices would make us think we had mistakenly entered Tiffany’s.
2. The liquidity crisis and the losses reflected in the stock market and in derivatives, hedge funds, and other huge leveraged funds can cause failure of one or more of the big banks. In that case, our entire financial system will be tested to the extreme.
3. Bush could decide to attack Iran. In that case, all bets are off.
There are, of course, many other things that can go wrong. The USA has gotten itself into one hell of a fix. We face years ahead when our standard of living will steadily decline. Prepare, as best you can.
In 1787, Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor, stated, “Democracy is always temporary in nature: it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury.
“From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a dictatorship.”
VICKSBURG SPEAKS 
Now that we face hard times ahead, it is probably best that you know as much as you can about money (fiat money). This is a good article, and check out this report on fiat money; I found it very useful.
http://dailyreckoning.com/rpt/fiathistoryWP.html
-Cheers!
America is ever evolving and the constitution was designed to adjust to that evolution.
The best hope for America is a viable third party. One that is organized for the benefit of Americans, not party loyalty. The cards are stacked…no, the cards are marked for the incumbent. With the election laws and the benefits available to an incumbent for a federal position in an election it is near impossible to remove one from office if they have the support of their party. Witness Mr. Jefferson in Lousianna who was caught with $90,000 in ill gotten cash in his freezer as an example. He was reelected because his party stood behind him (read he got the money).
With the cost of a congressional seat at $6 million and a senate seat at $42 million one must be well heeled to get into office. For a new party to organize and actually gain a controlling margin the cost is 1.31 billion to control congress and 2.15 billion for the senate. These numbers are at current cost and go up adjusted to inflation each year. Also factor in the reality of both existing parties increasing their spending to overcome any attempt at a coup. The Presidency alone is projected to spend $4 billion in the upcoming election in 2008.
If you ever had the notion America is not about the money the above should clarify the issue for you.
Ross Perot was the last one to attempt a credible run for the White House. He had massive support but really didn’t want the office, he wanted to make sure George Bush didn’t get reelected. It worked. Perot also took a great amount of personal harm for his attempt. His family was defamed, his character was assassinated and his business holding suffered from a loss of Federal contracts.
The real question we should be posing is not based in the woes of America, but the next hope for America. Where is the next Ross Perot who will lead America out of it’s current lack of leadership.
Regarding Bush attacking Iran.
Here’s some interesting information on the Bush family.
Samuel Prescott Bush is the patriarch of the family and worked his way up the ranks until he became head of a steel company in Ohio in the early 1900’s. He parlayed this position into great personal wealth. The greatest part of his wealth came from his appointment, leading up to WWI as the chief of the Ordnance, Small Arms, and Ammunition Section for the Federal Government. This appointment put him in a position to purchase from his steel company the implements of war on behalf of the government.
His son, Prescott Sheldon Bush took over the family business after his fathers death in 1927 and expanded it to include banking and finance activities. Prescott got himself into deep trouble as WWII began because he was selling arms to Germany. So much so that the Federal Government seized his assets on October 20, 1942 under the Trading with the Enemy Act.
Prescott was implicated for supporting financially the propaganda machine of Hitler during the war. His assets were returned to him after the war and his family used that money to begin oil investments in 1951.
George H.W. Bush was involved in the Nicaragua arms scandal and of course the first war in Iraq. George Jr. defended Americas righteously against the Taliban in Afghanistan and then began the quagmire in Iraq.
I said all of the above to substantiate this:
The Bush family are warmongers. Their wealth was derived from weapons manufacture. It is not ironic that under a Bush we have been in one conflict or another, it should be expected.
I supported and voted for a Bush every time I could. If I only knew then what I know now I don’t know that I would have voted differently because of the available options. We should have more available to the presidency than the lesser of two evils.
Your comments are very candid and insightful, David. Thanks.
In a sad commentary about where we are as a country, U.S. Comptroller General David Walker was quoted Tuesday in the Financial Times as follows: “Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr. Walker warned there were ‘striking similarities’ between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including ‘declining moral values and political civility at home, an overconfident and overextended military in foreign lands, and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government.’ “
Mr. Walker’s comments are dead on.
I think we can site the last quarter of 1963 as the beginning of the end. The Kennedy assassination, coupled with the removal of God from the schools and the rise of the NEA in schools over the next decade combined with the Vietnam War in color, a meddling government and then peaking with the Nixon resignation.
Since then our sense of Nationalism has been in decay. Nationalism made a brief comeback after 9/11 but this Presidents pursuit of Iraq served to kill that brief resurgence.
We are in decline. The great thing about America is that our decline can be overcome with just one great leader. Where is he/she?
It makes one wonder, will that great leader appear or will we become another Roman empire, well remembered in history.
Out of the current crop of Presidential hopefuls I sure don’t see that leader. I see the same old groups presenting another version of the same old thing. We need a viable third party with a strong leader to shake up the stagnation. It’s a shame someone like Colin Powell, Ross Perot or even …man, who else is out there?
The two party system means that someone has to kowtow to the party first, the PACs with the money second and their ideas third (when do the people come in?). The parties have the power, they have formed the laws in their favor and we continue to feed from the trough of distraction.
Issues like Gay Marriage, gun control and swift boats are tertiary to National Security and National economics. But those distraction issues, the “Willie Horton-esque” items are what determine National elections. Emotional issues confound our nation and we are spoon fed the sound bites of appeasement and it works.
On a local level we speak our displeasure with a Mayor who has accomplished great things for our city because he is not a ‘good ole boy’ who tells jokes and slaps you on the back. If he could combine a balance of ‘good ole boy’ personality traits into his rapporteur we would be challenging him to run on a National stage.
It is exactly this mentality that is taking us down. We want the flashy and fun, not the sensible.
The Survival of Humankind, and Improving the World, Society, and Yourself!
Yet who can the world trust to be idealistic and moral enough to help all of humanity and the environment, and at the same time, be practical enough to make extremely difficult decisions that can and will harm a great deal of people?
Humanitism is a philosophy for the continued survival and perpetuation of the human race. Humanitists (people who believe in humanitism) do not have the luxury of trying again after failing. Humanitists must be more vigilant than environmentalists, because we will not have a second chance at survival.
The survival of humanity is more important than the well being of our environment; however the environment is necessary for humanity to survive. That does not give the right for big businesses to continue doing whatever they want with only minimal or no consideration for the environment, so long as our surroundings support human life. We need to protect the environment for the continued survival and future well being of humanity. Keep in mind that without the human race, there would be no one and no need to protect the environment. Therefore, humanitism is more important than environmentalism.
It seems that in the past 50 years the human race has pursued the money train, that such desire for financial gain has caused society to ignore and abandon honesty, values, morality and candidness etc.
The race to financial gain has caused our leaders and the executives of the corporate world to disregard laws, ethics and the caring for each other and humanity as a whole. Deception, fraud and outright theft are their new motto all for the sake of financial gain, fame and success.
It seems that for the sake of success and profit people will step on anybody, family friends, co-workers and anyone who stands in their way or take advantage of anyone that could help them achieve what they want.
That is not to say that honest and compassionate people who care do not exist, where honesty and integrity is a way of life for them, but they are a very small minority.
As we begin the year 2008, we should all look at the past and decide with determination that everyone will from now on contribute to the betterment of humanity, society and mankind.
We should all learn to live with each other and respect each other for the sustainability of mankind.
Compiled by: Yehuda Draiman – 1/30/2008
PS
The human survival instinct prods us to outlast afflictions and, if circumstances permit, to reach old age. Nothing, of course, could be more quintessentially natural than aging.