Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Reign of Retrogression; Greed, Convenience, and Coattails

“Partisanship is our great curse. We too readily assume that everything has two sides and that it is our duty to be on one or the other.”


-James Harvey Robinson

           It is difficult for even the most stubborn of wills to retain any sense of optimism. Refraining from adopting any form of cynicism is difficult when our nation is staring economic and social collapse in the face and refusing to take on the issues at their core. Nowadays, we'd rather become enveloped in petty partisan politics and sensationalist based journalism. Any state of mind, pre-conceived notion or ideal can serve as a hallucinogen and distorts a person’s ability to view a situation or issue from an objective standpoint, and that is one of the most prominent issues we, as Americans, have today. Our lack of ability to objectively tackle the problems we face in our nation is bringing us to further collapse, while we simply get caught up in the non-issues and flavors of the week. America; once a nation of progression, innovation, world class leaders and self proclaimed crusaders of democracy, have now been disgraced with an image of laziness, impertinence and imperialistic attitudes. We’ve become a sideshow of incompetence to developed nations in the western world, and now the countries we helped foster, have learned of ways to better their American mentors. We’ve truly been left behind.
        We’re quick to label our fellow Americans as “socialists” or “Anti-Americans”, and we speak of each other’s political parties as if they’re akin to football teams and to compromise is treason. We put no emphasis on discipline, sacrifice and education; we fail to educate our youth and in turn, give them the ability to vote on issues that even the educated adults fail to address, let alone reach a compromise that benefits the constituents they are elected to represent. We are selfish enough to think that we must always inflict our personal beliefs, convictions, feelings and misconstrued ideals on each other, hindering the freedoms of who was supposed to be our American brethren, simply so our slumber may be a bit more sound, knowing those we disagree with will have less options and freedoms to do what they feel in their hearts (as strongly as we feel about our ideals) is the most just and beneficial for them. We are narcissists with delusions of grandeur. As Americans, we were not always humble at heart, and we have often been seen as brash and daring, but we came out victors, despite how divided we may have been at the time. However, gone like the snows of yesteryear, is our ability to innovate, flourish, create and improve. Due to our post-modern state of mind, based on the decisions and actions of American citizens and politicians, we’ve come to the conclusion that progression is not the wisest policy, but retrogression is the most moral and correct path to travel. We’ve become a nostalgic nation; yearning for days of former glory and gloating about achievements made by men and women who are now dead, and we are leaving nothing for our grandchildren to be proud of aside from oppressive legislation, a failed economic market, and a narcissistic population that resists the input and application of useful knowledge.
            Gone are the days of American factories, single income households, worker benefits, affordable health care, and atomic families. One of our most prominent issues that is a source of infrastructural decay, is greed. Not to say this hasn’t always been an issue, but now that corporations are larger and have learned a myriad of ways to turn a profit, we seem to be finding ourselves suffering for decisions based only on the dollar (whose value is dropping by the day). Greed has forced our former American workers’ jobs overseas to nations that have both higher educated workers, but also ones that accept less pay for more work. Greed has destroyed our privately owned stores, farms and restaurants and replaced them with large corporations that have made become our only option for acquiring life essentials. Health care has become a luxury of the financially gifted population, and insurance companies have complete legal grounds to use any and all excuses to find ways out of paying for your ailments or injuries. Most households cannot survive on a single income parent, but rather require a dual income, taking away a parent’s option to choose to remain at home raising our next generation properly. One cannot argue against the notion that corruption is fueled by greed, and that greed driven corruption drives our legislation and we have a tendency to turn a blind eye towards the faulty dealings on Wall Street. Americans fail to identify the double standards that permeate the nations streets; if an everyday American citizen of whom is living paycheck to paycheck fails to pay taxes, the IRS immediately takes that individual’s property and acquires what the government is owed. However, if this irresponsibility and tax evasion is performed whilst wearing a suit, tie and a businessman’s grin, the penalties are nonexistent. Prosecutors turn the other cheek. This nation has been robbed and pillaged by investors and corrupt individuals. Americans have been robbed of the currency that was rightfully theirs.
        However, looking into such monetary crimes and patterns of corruption is not entirely in the priorities of our proud patriotic people. We retain a strong affection for a Constitution that we don’t even understand, largely due to the fact that it is not featured on any reality shows that we Americans love so much. Americans have adopted an itinerary of buzzwords that they associate with what is American and just; two terms they forget can be mutually exclusive. These buzzwords (capitalism, free market, unconstitutional, democracy, ect…) are words of which most do not know the meaning of, however, they toss them into an argument, debate, anecdote or exclamation of opinion in order to sound like they’re literate in what is American or what has happened in our past. They equate the forefathers and framers to the twelve apostles; they raise them up onto God-like pedestals, buying into American hype which fuels American arrogance, and they proceed to bury their heads in the sand upon hearing anything to the contrary, no matter how factual. However, opening a textbook is something of an inconvenience and difficult thing for many Americans, and if we Americans were not so addicted to what is easiest, then we likely would be a more productive and intelligent nation. Instead, we’re plastered to our electronic devices, lifeless leeches of consumerism shuffling through a shiny shopping center. 
         We avoid instilling any ideals and morality into our children, as it is too much of an arduous affair to raise proper persons of potential. We ignore any source of information unless it comes from a representative of what political team we apply to (Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Keith Olbermann, ect…) and we buy into the searing sensationalist statements made by individuals like these, or even by our own politicians. Our politicians have learned how to play us, and will sell themselves and their agendas using whatever tactics necessary. If it wasn’t too inconvenient to take the time to peer through the murky visage of corrupt conceit, this nation may have improved by this point. Americans desire quick fixes and don’t grasp the concept of patience, and our addiction to convenience is a hindrance to our progression as a nation.
        Our nation is under a strong influence of post-modern patrons; bent on taking the United States back to times of which many of our fellow countrymen and women would be under persecution and denied the basic freedoms that we take advantage of and let be taken everyday. Many of our own fellow Americans desire a new nation that is reconceived in the liberty that they believe some should have as opposed to all. Our nation’s ideals, principles, practices, beliefs and legislation reflects how we’re taking steps back; our retrogression is becoming our downfall. No rights are easier to take then the ones that we’re willingly ridding ourselves of. We’ve stopped attacking the higher up aggressor and those that destroy freedoms and attack each other; asking the higher up aggressors to take away their freedoms as well, instead of fighting for it for ourselves and our fellow Americans. America  is not progressing; our economy no longer has traction, foundation and does not prosper. Our legislation is becoming more oppressive, we are still engaging in wars that are draining our monetary sources and causing us to rack up debt, and our politicians play politics whilst avoiding making any changes in both legislation, government and management that would benefit the country instead of crippling it. Our citizens are unmotivated and are products of poor education, our youngest generation (even the oldest generations) have become parasites of privilege, we avoid looking at issues in an objective/constructive manner and we’re turned against the men and women that are supposed to be one of us. 
        If America  does not find a way out of this pattern of non-progression, we may find ourselves being a debtor nation to even the poorest of countries and becoming nothing but mere property and our great grandchildren will be writing checks to buy our individualism and monetary independence back. And we will leave those great-grandchildren a poor environment to live in as well. We must rid the nation of the corporatism that lengthens the class gap in order to re-establish feasible capitalism and free-market. We must abandon the prejudices of our parents and politicians and embrace each others’ race, color, creed, sexuality, religion, and ideals rather than spit in the face of our different countryman by passing legislation that denies them basic rights. And lastly, we need to abandon the bigotry that masquerades as morality. America needs to refrain from riding the coattails of the achievements of past generations and understand that each generation's achievements are theirs to gloat about and theirs alone, and to be proud Americans we need to take the reigns of the nation's direction and do something that we can take pride in. This is our calling in these times of tentative turbulence.

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