Had a conversation with Mom today where she made a political point to me that caused me to ponder. It was the garden variety Obama is better than Bush comment. If you look, you can find an entire news media pushing the same view (that's not new... historically the news media has never been balanced, fair, or objective. objectivity was a creation of journalism schools of the 60's and 70's). I had to ask myself... is it really "better" or just different?
Looking at what is going on today in our country I can find very little connection between our "leaders" and the common citizen. I see political wrangling and manipulation. I see a President who has the media on his side and an opposition party in disarray. I see Chicago Style politics with a constant drumbeat to forgive the method if it achieves the objective. Don't pay your taxes? You could work for the Obama administration! Against signing statements? Ignore Obama making his, scream about the previous guy. Upset about debt run up by previous administrations? Ignore the debt that my children and grandchildren will be forced to pay from this administration. Upset about the war... vote for the guy who will get us out of it... except he's not going to do that. Biden admitted yesterday that it was all about oil but the administration doesn't have the guts to simply pull everything out and let the middle east be.. isn't that what the left has preached for years? 15 years in EMS has taught me to believe less than 10% of what I hear. It's not what you say... it's what you do... word's mean nothing... actions are everything...
I am surrounded by "shovel ready" projects waiting for Federal Stimulus dollars but 100% democratic party controlled congress instead is building a generational power base based on people needing the federal government. Could it be that the Obama administration lied about money going to "shovel ready" projects? Already the Federal government controls banks, car companies, and other businesses. Under the Obama administration, the US government has actually refused to accept payments on TARP and other Federal tax dollars from companies that received the money and want to pay it back. If they paid it back, the government loses control... can't have that.
I am reminded of world history... the fall of the Roman Empire. The parallels are there and aren't too hard to see...
General consensus among historians are that these factors led to the fall of the Roman Empire:
1. Christianity
Over time, Church leaders became influential and took away power from the emperor. Christian beliefs conflicted with the working of empire.2. Barbarians and Vandals
Rome embraced the barbarian but also lost territory and revenue to them, especially Carthaginian Africa, which they lost to the Vandals.3. Decay
One can spot decay in many areas going back to the crises of the Republic under the Gracchi, Sulla and Marius, but in the imperial period and in the military it meant men were no longer trained right and the invincible Roman army was no longer.
4. Inflation
By the time of Claudius II Gothicus (268-270 A.D.) the amount of silver in a supposedly 100% silver denarius was only .02%. This led to or was severe inflation, depending on how you define inflation.5. Lead
The presence of lead in the drinking water leached in from the water pipes, from glazes, and food preparation could have contributed to heavy metal poisoning. Lead was associated with contraception and recognized as a deadly poison.6. Economic
Economic factors are cited as a major cause of the fall of Rome. Some of the major factors, like inflation, are discussed elsewhere. But there were also lesser problems with the economy of Rome that combined together to escalate financial stress. These include:- Poor management,
- The dole (bread and circuses), and
- Hoarding.
7. Division of the Empire
The Roman Empire was split not just geographically, but culturally, with a Latin Empire and a Greek one, the latter of which may have survived because it had most of the population, a better military, more money, and better rule.
8. Hoarding and Deficit
Causes of the fall of Rome include economic decay through hoarding of bullion, barbarian looting of the treasury, and trade deficit.I can see parallels here in many areas... we are currently in a period of deflation right now but inflation is coming right around the corner... I am left stunned by this comment by one of our founding fathers...
Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." John AdamsWhen morality is lost in a culture or society, poor decision making is the result. And while the left blames Reagan, the right blames Clinton, the left blames Nixon, the right blames Johnson, the left blames Bush, the right blames Obama; the truth is plain. Beneath the partisan bickering we have lost the collective morality in the USA and the things that the country was founded on. We have lost our morality in favor of more easy and seductive populism.
I now am faced with the burden of preparing my children for a world that I know will look nothing like the one I was raised in. No longer is it just "wanting my child to be more prosperous than I". Now it is something else entirely... How do I prepare them for a future where morality is no longer a fundamental understanding in society and going the direction of the populist wind is called leadership?
Rant over...
