Gentlemen, I speak to you today not as a Democrat, nor a Republican. I speak as a fellow American citizen who is very concerned about the future of our beloved United States of America.
Situations currently exist concerning our nation which create the potential for conditions to develop which could mark the end of life in the United States, as we know it. This situation has evolved over the past twenty-five years as a result of many, many decisions made by our leaders which were bad for the country, but were personally or politically expedient. Too many of them have repeatedly put their personal or political party desires and benefits ahead of what was good for the United States of America. This has occurred at the Federal, State, and even local levels of government. It has been a practice of both Democrats and the Republicans. It Has To Stop!
Remember the “Sucking Sound” predicted by Ross Perot? Remember his flip charts depicting the terrible prospects for economic doom which was being created by our national debt and imbalance in international trade? Remember his blasting of the pork creating, influential lobbyist in Washington and at State levels which were enticing weak politicians to do bad things? Well, ole Ross didn’t get elected….but he was certainly a wise soothsayer. The doomsdays he predicted are within clear view at the moment.
These undesirable national situations include:
● National Peril #1 : An accumulated national debt which threatens to consume a huge portion of our Gross National Product and any hope for sustained growth and improvement of our standard of living. The weight of this debt can lead us into a state of depression if not corrected.
● National Peril #2: A total dependence on the Middle East for oil, while our politicians have discussed programs for obtaining energy independence for over 25 years.
Meanwhile they have responded to the liberal environmental extremists and blocked all attempts to increase drilling in perceived environmentally places, all increases in refinery capacity, all new nuclear power development, and mining of oil shale in the Rockies.
If a Middle East war develops, or if those nations act as an anti-American block, they can force our weakened economy into a depression. This is a dangerous vulnerability which we should all force our politicians to eliminate immediately by utilizing ALL available energy resources and overriding the politics of the issue.
● National Peril #3: A critical U.S. dependence now exists on China for funding of our debt This is a condition which can force us into decisions which further weaken our nation. Since China has become our primary “banker” we must now always assure they are happy with the relationship between our nations. This can impact decisions on foreign policy, trade regulations and restrictions, internal economic decisions, and many other critical aspects of managing the nation. We are very vulnerable in this regard, since China could take economic action which could force our nation into bankruptcy, ….and depression. We must restore a firm belief and conviction within our leaders for fiscal responsibility….even if it means replacing most of them.
● National Peril #4: The ever widening gap in our international trade balance has an effect similar to leaches slowly weakening the host animal to which they are attached. This constant, growing outflow of U.S. funds results in a weakening of the US dollar on the international market. This weakening in value of our dollar causes us to have to pay more for things we must buy from other countries…..such as OIL!
The imbalance in trade causes you to pay more for gas at the pump. This leaves you less disposable income for other purchases for yourself and your family. These lessened purchases weakens local and national businesses which you would have purchased from if you had not been forced to pay extra for gasoline and electricity….and thus our national economy is pushed towards recession or worse…..Everything is inter-connected, and it all is working against our national interest, and our standard of living.
● National Peril #5: Another critical aspect of the situation in the US today is the fact that we have evolved into a dysfunctional form of government. At one time, both parties were comprised of a healthy mix of liberals, moderates, and conservatives. This then led to opportunity for compromise and negotiation between the parties….and led to reasonable, non-radical legislation and management decisions. This is not the condition of our nation today. Our society and the political parties have evolved toward extremism in opposite poles of the spectrum on almost every issue. The nation is almost evenly split between liberal-ism and conservative-ism. This has led to extreme, unhealthy actions when either group gains total power over the politics of the nation. When neither party has total control, gridlock prohibits any progress. Our government has thus degraded into an ineffective failure at a time when we most need good government.
In my opinion, all of the current focus over health care is very, very unfortunate. I agree it is a social and economic problem which should be attended to and corrected….however, it has totally consumed our national attention for almost a year, while these other, more critical problems have only worsened.
Immigration policies, the drug problems, abortion legislation, health care, cap and trade, environmentalism, union issues, and even expansion of entitlements seem to have been placed ahead of the REAL issues which threaten to destroy our nation. We can not afford another year of inattention to our real problems.
We must immediately force our leaders to focus on:
● A REAL quest for energy independence. This must include developing all available sources of supply, while setting aside politically inspired, foolish environmental protection barriers. The needed resources can be reaped with a deep appreciation for the environment, which is the area of needed compromise.
● Forcing fiscal responsibility on all governments. We as a citizenry must no longer casually accept inappropriate and wasteful actions by any government agency, at any level. We must force Washington to only spend within the limits of revenues, and only work under a balanced budget format. No further growth in the national debt can be tolerated. This will mean elimination of uncountable unnecessary expenditures for pork projects and programs, unnecessary regulations, unnecessary agencies, questionable entitlements and “hidden welfare” programs.
● We should modify our “free trade” policies and encourage enactment of fairly developed restrictions to trade with nations who are not competing with us on a fair and equitable basis. If their government has special subsidy programs to encourage their industries to ship overseas, if their government ignores reasonable labor laws, if their government ignores environmental regulations on their industries, if their governments provide special financial assistance for international trade, ….then the amount of these advantages at the retail level in the US should be determined, and that amount added as an import tariff. If their industries are essentially working under the same constraints as their US competitors, then no tariff would be rendered on their products. This level of fairly conceived protectionism will help bring back some of our lost jobs, reopen closed factories, and restore some industrial support to our sagging economy. At the same time, for US goods being shipped abroad to these “unfair trade partners”, the government should enact special subsidies to our exporting companies with actions which pay a portion of the shipping costs and any tariffs rendered against our products as they enter their markets. This will lessen our sickening balance of trade deficits.
● We must force our leaders to enact legislation which will loosen credit for our small businesses. As is normal with the “knee-jerk” reaction of government to a problem, they have over-reacted to a problem of not enough banking regulation, into a set of rules which are over regulatory and are choking the banks and preventing normal loans from being made to qualified and cash hungry businesses and individuals. Reason and intelligence needs to be applied to lending rules, appraisal procedures, and definition of qualifications. They have been shoved from the area of foolish looseness to suicidal tightness.
As a voting, tax paying population we must demand more for our money. In my opinion, those politicians and party leaders who have been in their positions of authority for over eight to ten years must be held accountable for our current state of the state. They must share in the blame, and should be held accountable.
● I feel that almost every politician with tenure should be voted out as soon as possible. We should then only elect qualified candidates, Republican or Democrat, who recognize the problems, understand how they came to exist, and are willing to make the hard choices before us which must be made.
I firmly believe that the American spirit is still glowing as a bright ember, ready to be inspired into a burning torch. If the American population felt that our government was impregnated with true patriots and wise, unselfish leadership, the citizens would rally to the needs of our nation. Through this sort of motivation, our people would be willing to make the necessary sacrifices to eliminate our national debts, restore the vitality of our economy and thus assure a better life here for our future generations. We would all be willing to double our taxation for a defined period of time if we knew the funds were only going to save the nation instead of into a system of corruption, favoritism, foolish pork spending, vote buying, and self serving political actions. We must sweep all who condone and participate in those actions of the past and present into oblivion, and bring forth a new form of inspired politician and a new era for our nation.
With good leadership and focus on what has to be done, our population could be moved to make the sacrifices which must occur in order to save our economy and our nation. Without that leadership, future sacrifices will also occur, but they will be involuntary and much, much worse for us all. It will be the “Economic Armageddon” for America.
We must all answer this call to action NOW. To hesitate or remain inactive will lead our nation to doomsday. It is time to “Get It Right”!
Rudiments: Odds and Ends Worth Mentioning-
My one rudiment this week is to keep my resolution to always say something nice….We should all appreciate the actions of Al Lawson, Marti Coley and Brad Drake in Tallahassee as they work to keep ACI open and operating in Jackson County.
Note: The opinions stated in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Hatcher Publications.
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