Tuesday, April 20, 2010

printed in several media, "Still a Rogue Nation"

by Peter Stern

America, the Beautiful ain’t so pretty any more.

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 may be in order.

The majority of Americans should be unhappy with our nation’s growth and evolution — or, if you believe it — intelligent design.

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 may be in order.


The majority of Americans should be unhappy with our nation’s growth and evolution — or, if you believe it — intelligent design.

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 decade 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! The American economy still is failing the majority.

For just a few people to achieve vast wealth and power, generations of our children’s children’s lives have been placed on a back-burner. They will continue to pay the price for our folly, which was to permit leaders to squelch or circumvent constitutional laws to gain more profits. The American people have been deceived and scammed. Here is a list of some of the ways:

* 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 and increasing government intrusion into business affairs
* Permitting increasing health care costs despite curbing “frivolous” medical lawsuits
* Permitting astronomical costs of fossil fuel — gas, oil, electric — while avoiding real investment and progress into alternative fuel possibilities
* Permitting increasing 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 have 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
* Allowing the increase of voter fraud and countenancing lack of voting machine integrity (with these 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 irrational and unneeded toll road plans to generate more profits for special interests
* Freezing gas taxes, which build and maintain roads, and/or diverting gas taxes to other special-interest needs
* Providing loose 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
* Permitting illegal U.S. government spying and wiretapping on private citizens.


The list goes on. These are criminal and/or reckless irresponsible actions perpetrated by U.S. elected officials against the American people. There was a Connecticut “cowboy” in the White House who needed to be “lassoed and reined-in.” Currently, the Obama administration also is failing the American people, families and children. 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. Demanding change of administration members, policy, objectives and actions may be needed.

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.”

America has become a rogue nation and is distrusted by the world and by many of its own citizens.

We should have learned by now that U.S. leaders cannot be permitted to continue to operate as some sort of religious zealots and blatant imperialists. The U.S. must be managed as the nation of, by and foremost for American citizens.

Where, oh where, has America gone?



(Peter Stern of Driftwood, Texas, , a former Director of Information Services, university professor and public school administrator, is a political writer well-known and published frequently throughout the Texas community and nationwide. He is a Disabled Vietnam Veteran and holds three post-graduate degrees.)

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