Sunday, February 14 2010 04:50 pm
America, the Beautiful ain’t so pretty any more.
It took decades for us to get this way and it does NOT look like we will get back on-track any time soon.
It is time for the American people to take back their nation from irresponsible and lackluster special interest-motivated elected officials. Replacing top members of the Obama administration and most legislative incumbents is in order.
We desperately need time limitations on leadership positions.
The majority of Americans should be unhappy with our nation’s growth and evolution — or, if you believe it — intelligent design.
Why can't we learn from our previous mistakes?
It doesn’t matter if you are Republican, Democrat or Independent. It is of no importance whether you are wealthy, middle class or poor, religious or atheist. As Bob Dylan sang during the 1960’s, “You don’t need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows."
On the national, state and local levels, generations of Americans will have to struggle to change the last several decades of harm generated by wealthy special interests and the elected officials they have placed in their pockets.
Most Americans, individuals and families, are hurting — big time as the American economy still is failing the majority.
* Starting a needless invasion and war with Iraq
* Determining to install a democratic nation of Iraq, without being requested to do so
* Sending our children soldiers on missions in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were ill-conceived and absurdly planned with no victory in sight
* Cutting taxes for the rich, while spending more than $3 trillion on war costs
* Determining many U.S. policies and actions behind “closed doors”
* Providing false and/or misleading information and intelligence to the American people
* Eliminating urgently needed social programs for children and poorer citizens
* Doing little to prevent the diminishing quality of public education
* Bailing-Out misguided and opportunistic corporations
* Increasing government intrusion into business affairs
* Permitting health care costs to increase despite curbing “frivolous” medical lawsuits
* Permitting astronomical costs of fossil fuel — gas, oil, electric — while avoiding real investment and progress into alternative fuel possibilities
* Removing oversight and limitations on escalating costs of tuition for higher education without improving learning skills
* Outsourcing millions of American jobs and services without providing new opportunities for American workers at home
* Lying to the people of New Orleans and not providing needed emergency financing and services during the Katrina fiasco in a timely manner
* Selling off American public lands and ports for special interest gains
* Permitting only special interests to bid (or not even having to bid) on lucrative service contracts
* Permitting the “sale” of American government to the highest special-interest contributors
* Privatizing Medicare programs recklessly and irresponsibly for special-interest gains
* Pushing to privatize Social Security for special-interest gains and withholding cost of living adjustments [COLA]
* Allowing the increase of voter fraud and lack of voting machine integrity (machines manufactured by special-interest campaign contributors)
* Cutting financing for public education during the past decade and diverting those tax dollars to other interests
* Permitting our infrastructures to decay and become unsafe
* Promoting toll road plans to generate more profits for foreign and domestic special interests
* Freezing and/or diverting gas taxes, which are supposed to be used to build and maintain roads
* Providing lax or no enforcement of immigration laws and policies
* Permitting the corporate sector to remain under capitalism during good times, while enabling socialism during tougher economic times
* Allowing the large number of layoffs without providing companies with incentives for keeping American employees and/or developing alternative jobs
* Continuing to increase America’s debt via wars, tax increases, aid to other nations and corporate bail-outs while doing little for citizens
* Permitting illegal U.S. government spying and wiretapping on private citizens.
The list goes on. These are criminal, reckless and irresponsible actions perpetrated by U.S. elected officials against the American people.
For eight years there was a Connecticut “cowboy” in the White House who needed to be “lassoed and reined-in.” Currently, the Obama administration also is failing American citizens. It seems to be doing so unabashed and without a conscience.
It is time for the American people to take back their nation from irresponsible and lackluster special interest-motivated elected officials. We must demand change of administration members, policy, objectives and actions.
It is time to create stronger campaign finance laws with enforcement capabilities that tell billion-dollar corporations they no longer can purchase “the best government money can buy.”
The U.S. has become a rogue nation, distrusted by the world and by many of its own citizens.
We should have learned by now that U.S. leaders have run amok and cannot be trusted. They should not be permitted to continue managing our nation as if they are religious zealots and blatant imperialists. The U.S. must return to being the nation of, by and foremost for American citizens.
We need to get our nation back on-track. Why can't we learn from our previous mistakes?
(Peter Stern, a former director of information services, university professor and public school administrator, is a disabled Vietnam veteran who lives in Driftwood, Texas.)
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