I once held great hope for America. Before Obama, Bush, 9/11, tax cuts/hikes, war, death panels... The list goes on and on. I remember a day when I believed that the United States of America was the greatest country in the history of civilization and that may have been true. I am not sure when or how it happened but, in my opinion, America has passed the point of no return.
Some would say that, politically, it is no worse that at many other times in our nation's history and they may be right. However, something feels different about this new age in which we live. We live in a time, and I use this expression often, in which one side is burying their heads in the sand and the other is placing their hands over their ears and screaming with closed eyes. Neither can see, hear, communicate, or find the other. This is where our hyper-partisan two party political system has brought us to.
Our country needs they very medicine it is not willing to take, truth. We refuse to acknowledge truth, on both sides. We skew facts to fit our opinions and damn those who even questions our beliefs. We cannot handle criticism of any sort and call those that do, un-patriotic. We watch our President, whomever that may be, stand before congress every year and declare that "the state of our union is strong". These are lies, our union hasn't been strong for some time. We tell ourselves this to help us ignore the elephant in the room, America is growing weaker by the day and not one politician has the guts to say it.
It is not because of our dwindling economic or political influence that America will one day fall. It is because our two political parties care more about making the other look bad or taking a quote out of context than they do about strengthening our union. They would rather see the other party lose an election than see true progress happen that would make our country truly better. The very thing that created this union and caused it to flourish, the will of the people, will also be its un-doing. We no longer base our lives on reason and fact but on opinions and gossip. We would more quickly lie to someone to have them leave us alone than tell them a cold hard truth. We are a nation of spineless automatons and we like it that way. We are Americans and we cannot fall, we cannot fail, and we will not be denied our way. We believe it is our right to run the world as we see fit daring any who would question us. We refuse to see how wrong we really are. God have mercy on us...
I hope that we will soon turn away from our ways and do what is truly best for our nation. I fear, however, this will not happen and we will continue down this disastrous road we are on. We will want our collective conscience soothed until the very end. And when that day comes, the last day, we will look back and say "My God, fellow citizens, what have we done?"
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Abraham Lincoln
"Politicians are a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men" - Abraham Lincoln
"Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling" - Abraham Lincoln
"A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections." - Abraham Lincoln
Some would say that, politically, it is no worse that at many other times in our nation's history and they may be right. However, something feels different about this new age in which we live. We live in a time, and I use this expression often, in which one side is burying their heads in the sand and the other is placing their hands over their ears and screaming with closed eyes. Neither can see, hear, communicate, or find the other. This is where our hyper-partisan two party political system has brought us to.
Our country needs they very medicine it is not willing to take, truth. We refuse to acknowledge truth, on both sides. We skew facts to fit our opinions and damn those who even questions our beliefs. We cannot handle criticism of any sort and call those that do, un-patriotic. We watch our President, whomever that may be, stand before congress every year and declare that "the state of our union is strong". These are lies, our union hasn't been strong for some time. We tell ourselves this to help us ignore the elephant in the room, America is growing weaker by the day and not one politician has the guts to say it.
It is not because of our dwindling economic or political influence that America will one day fall. It is because our two political parties care more about making the other look bad or taking a quote out of context than they do about strengthening our union. They would rather see the other party lose an election than see true progress happen that would make our country truly better. The very thing that created this union and caused it to flourish, the will of the people, will also be its un-doing. We no longer base our lives on reason and fact but on opinions and gossip. We would more quickly lie to someone to have them leave us alone than tell them a cold hard truth. We are a nation of spineless automatons and we like it that way. We are Americans and we cannot fall, we cannot fail, and we will not be denied our way. We believe it is our right to run the world as we see fit daring any who would question us. We refuse to see how wrong we really are. God have mercy on us...
I hope that we will soon turn away from our ways and do what is truly best for our nation. I fear, however, this will not happen and we will continue down this disastrous road we are on. We will want our collective conscience soothed until the very end. And when that day comes, the last day, we will look back and say "My God, fellow citizens, what have we done?"
"A house divided against itself cannot stand." - Abraham Lincoln
"Politicians are a set of men who have interests aside from the interests of the people and who, to say the most of them, are, taken as a mass, at least one long step removed from honest men" - Abraham Lincoln
"Let us at all times remember that all American citizens are brothers of a common country, and should dwell together in bonds of fraternal feeling" - Abraham Lincoln
"A statesman is he who thinks in the future generations, and a politician is he who thinks in the upcoming elections." - Abraham Lincoln