Quote:We do get the leadership we deserve, for sure. We sell out. Allow them to sell out. Allow ourselves to be blatenly lied to even when American lives are being thrown around. We refuse to hold these fools accountable. We openly refuse to be informed. We allow ourselves to walk around with the "Merica is the Greatest" cliche tatted to our chest, yet not do anything to earn it. We act like every achievement deserves an ongoing Medal of Honor, and insist upon forgetting or ignoring anyone who paved the way or helped us get there. I believe we are content to whine and complain about things while doing nothing to make a difference.
I don't buy the dramatic "we're screwed" notion, although ill have to put some additional thought into the basis for this.
If we are only electing people based on personality, and not on the content of their character, and their position on critical issues that impact this nation as a whole, we are screwed. We wind up with unqualified ideologues who are partisan to the core like 0bama who read a teleprompter competently, but have never actually run a stinking thing in their life.
This country is already well down a path from which I am not quite certain we'll ever full rebound. What's sad is that our president is the one determining that course, and it's as if the American people have fallen asleep at the wheel. They bought the empty rhetoric in 2008, and then again in 2012 despite evidence showing this country was headed in the wrong direction. Polling numbers overwhelmingly supported that notion, but the voters who were polled evidently didn't think a course correction was required as everything remained status quo.
People believe the narrative they're spoon fed by the mainstream media. When the president says the economy is improving, and he touts unemployment numbers that are around 6%, nobody questions how that is possible. Nobody bothers to look at the actual numbers, or the REAL unemployment rate that isn't adjusted before it's released to make it more palatable. Nobody recognizes that the labor market has been shrinking to the point where the labor participation rate is the lowest it's been in at least 4 decades. People have simply given up looking for work, so they're no longer counted in the unemployment number.
The same is true when they tout the fact that the stock markets have continued to grow. Again, nobody is talking about how that whole thing is being propped up by the Federal Reserve.
We've spent the past decades electing people to congress who pay us lip service. They've played the "ordinary man" card to make us believe they're just one of us. Meanwhile, they're doing everything they can to hoard power, and shelter themselves from the realities of the impact they're having on this country. They exempt themselves from laws we must endure, and they scoff at the notion of term limits. And even if the voters do start to wake up and realize they've been scammed, the power base of either party simply do their magic to assure their chosen few remain in office. Just look at the senate race in Mississippi to see what a farce the political process has become.
The electorate has become a population of "what's in it for me" people. They've been conditioned to demand more and more freebies, especially among the younger voters who aren't really out there paying taxes or creating wealth and opportunity. The mindset that we should punish the rich is laughable as the definition of what's rich has been watered down to the point where anyone making an income above say &75k a year is deemed to be wealthy as far as the government is concerned. This administration has done a wonderful job of fostering class warfare, racial animus, and disdain for anything faith based. They do this because their political strategy is to divide and conquer. This administration sees themselves as rulers of sheep, and anyone who opposes them is targeted. Sadly, the idiots in congress on both sides of the aisle are, for the most part, more concerned about perpetuation of their political careers than they are about standing up to an ever encroaching executive branch. And why? Many are afraid to oppose him because they might be labeled a racist, even if their opposition has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with philosophy. Despite one failure after another from this administration, the opposition party you and others think attack this president have shown the tenacity of a mouse when it comes to actually standing up and doing what they think is right.
When I see the way people like our veterans and elderly have been treated under this administration, it's shameful. But, even the most vociferous of opponents to the administration are smothered into submission by the power base of either party because rocking the boat jeopardizes their seat at the table with the "in crowd" in DC. Anyone who preaches that we should reduce the size of government and return as much power as is feasible to the states to manage are chided by good little liberals who live by the mantra that the federal government can never be too big, unless it's the Department of Defense, in which case, slash and burn.
Until we start to identify true leaders who are willing to step up and serve their country and not just themselves, we're going to be stuck in this vicious cycle, and as long as that's the case, we are indeed screwed.
Never argue with idiots. They drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
