M. Richard Maxson
I've picked a random year, that year is 1968, as a basis for our discussion. It was one of the most domestic turbulent time in our modern history. It was a time that America began to stray away from our values, our history, our Constitution. How were times then different than times now?
- In 1968, when Apollo 8 took Americans on their first lunar orbit, 9.7 percent of the babies born in the United States, according to the CDC, were born to unmarried mothers.
- In
2013, the latest year on record, it was 40.6 percent.
- In 1968, according to the Census Bureau, the median household income for an American householder who had completed four years of high school but not gone to college was $52,025 in constant 2013 dollars.
- In
2013, it was $40,701.
- In December 1968, 18,410,000 Americans were working in manufacturing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
- By
December 2014, only 12,301,000 Americans were working in
manufacturing -- a drop of 6,109,000, or 33 percent.
- In 1968, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the real Gross Domestic Product of the United States grew at 4.9 percent.
- The
last time real GDP grew at that annual rate or higher was 1984,
under Ronald Reagan, when it hit 7.3 percent. In the first 14 years
of the 21st century, annual growth in real GDP has exceeded 3
percent only twice. The last time was a decade ago -- in 2005.(under
George Bush. One year later the Democrats took over both houses of
Congress.) It hit 3 percent again after the Republicans took control
over both houses in 2016.
- When the federal fiscal year ended on June 30, 1968, the federal debt was approximately $5,704 per household.
- By
the end of fiscal 2018, on September 30, the federal debt was
equaled about $172,656 per household.
Is
this a normal evolution of our country? We think not. The United
States is on a downward trend. A consortium of think tanks from
almost 90 countries released their Economic
Freedom of the World Report.
The United States is no longer among the top ten countries when it
comes to size of government, rule of law and property rights,
soundness of the money supply, regulation, and free trade. We now
rank twelfth, down from second as recently as 2000. For the record,
we now trail Hong Kong, Singapore, New Zealand, Switzerland,
Mauritius, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, Australia, Jordan,
Chile, and Finland.
How
did this happen? There are a number of reasons and most of them are
of our own making. The politicians are more interested in which
philosophic camp each of them are in rather than furthering America
with compromise and co-operation. We
live in an era now where if you don’t take sides, both sides hate
you. Among other ignored problems.
- Congress has written laws that are too complex for its own members to read and understand.
- Members of Congress in fact rarely read any legislation before voting on it.
- Each political party is controlled by a small leadership group that punishes members who defy it.
- The demands of relatively small minority interests trample the rights of wide majorities.
Our
foreign policy is controlled by others, a.k.a. "The Deep State."
Congress is constantly being duped into passing
almost any legislation that they present as essential for national
security to keep the war machine going such as:
- Laws that Congress has written about the CIA have delegated congressional power to a small secret committee of members from both houses of Congress and both political parties? What if that committee can authorize secret wars in foreign lands conducted not by the military but by the CIA?
- There are multiple examples going on right now. The President wanted to pull out of Syria - it has yet to happen.
- Intelligence agencies selectively reveal and selectively conceal data to manipulate the decisions of the Congress.
- A recent headline reads - Congress Told Publicly They Don’t Have Security Clearance To See Hillary Clinton’s Emails.
- The intelligence community are so far removed from the voters that they don’t know and don’t care what the voters think.
- They believe that THEY are the ones who should run the country. That THEY are the super-patriots and the rest of us don't have the intelligence or allegiance to forward THEIR agenda to be trusted.
Samuel Adams once noted, “A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but when once they lose their virtue then will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader.” Today, it is right before our eyes.
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