Is this a great country – or what?

Column

After suffering through our President's theatrical reading of the recent State of the Union speech, I was motivated to rework and again present my view of the state of our once-great nation. Here that is.

We are, increasingly a nation of weak-willed, selfish, myopic, hedonistic, undereducated and overweight people. We collectively spend our resources foolishly and carelessly, have mortgaged all that we own, and now are bankrupt, with little or no income, and no apparent prospects of getting any in the foreseeable future. Our lives are avoidably controlled, complicated, and wasted by an out-of-control proliferation of legislation and laws, which serve primarily to enrich lawyers. Yet we continue living as though "happy days" will be here forever.

Although most of us are somewhat aware that the nation is suffering from serious economic problems, far too few are even giving thought to what might be done to rescue us, before our debtors foreclose and put us out on the street. Then, when someone else makes a reasonable proposal (such as the Governor of Wisconsin did) special interests (i.e., labor unions) rally their mindless minions to fight the sensible, but often painful corrective measures. The ship of state is leaking badly; we can see the holes in the hull; but it seems that precious few want to get down there, in the frigid water, and work—really work ─ to save us. "That's the government's job," they say. Yeah, right: government is the larger part of the problem.

Meanwhile, back in River City, citizens clamor for shorter work weeks, higher pay, more benefits and easier work. Out in La-la Land, spaced-out residents, whom have casually mismanaged their state budget for years, expect the good ole Federal Gubbiment to bail 'em out. And all across these fruited plains, masses are clamoring for free college education; tax-supported baby sitting; cradle-to-grave medical care at no cost; guaranteed early retirement; lower taxes; income leveling (i.e., Socialism/Communism); Obama's arugula in every salad, and three SUVs in every driveway.

No, far too few want to actually "get to work" to help the nation. "Work" has become more than just literally a 4-letter word: it is now an unspeakable, bleepable term. Do you, for example, know anyone that "works" for someone, or at something? No one, for example, apparently works for giant retail chains, which employ only "associates." And even the newest hamburger flipper, at Fat Foods For You, is an Assistant Manager.

Which yuppie matron will proudly state that her precious son is a plumber, instead of one of those useless and unproductive lawyers? Leave it up to those illegal immigrants (whom send 90 percent of their earnings out of the nation, thus further adding to our debt) to do the work we disdain. Yes, we, in this once-great country, are well established on the road to financial, and thus national, ruin.

As though the looming economic disaster isn't enough, our moral and political compasses are swinging wildly, and pointlessly. We still seem to naively believe that it is our moral responsibility to spread our values and beliefs to as many other nations and societies as may be possible.

We spend trillions of borrowed dollars, and thousands of our young men's lives in hopeless armed conflicts, from Viet Nam to Afghanistan. We waste more billions on palatial embassies, which do nothing to help our own nation; we even borrow money from less-than-friendly nations (e.g., China), so that we can then turn around and give it to some economically and politically unstable African nation. That is the way a great nation behaves?

Laws may have helped to shape and strengthen the nation in its infancy, but they, and the lawyers that create them for generally selfish purpose, have spun out of control. Think, for example, of the massive size of the Federal Tax Code, or the foot thick bill presented with Mr. Obama's abortive, free health proposal. Think then also of how much we'd save if the present federal income tax was replaced by "All persons shall pay 6 percent tax on everything they purchase and pay for." Thousands of government workers, and many overpaid lawyers, would have to get real jobs, while tax payers would save some real money.

And, overly complex, and usually unnecessary, laws, in many other ways continue to be excellent reasons, by and of themselves, why we are no longer a great nation: look just at the piracy situation, in the waters off the Horn of Africa. You know, that's the place where naïve, or simply careless, unproductive U.S. citizens, fecklessly sailed their yacht into extraordinarily dangerous waters. They were captured by Arab pirates then slaughtered when negotiations for their release apparently went sour.

The 14 scurvy pirates, which were caught in the act, should have been hung from the yard arm on the spot, which would have served well to deter other pirates, but we are too dedicated to laws to do that, so we have now set the rotten bunch up for trial here in the States. They will, with aid of tax-paid lawyers, be defended, using millions of dollars, which you and I will borrow from Saudi Arabia or China.

Then, if and when found guilty, they'll possibly spend most of the rest of their lives in our state-of-the art prisons. It has sometimes been estimated that it costs around $100,000/year to keep one person in such facilities, which comes to nearly $1.5-million a year for 14 pirates, whom might all last for 40-50 years, in the relative luxury of a U.S. prison; thereby bringing their incarceration bill to something such as $65 million. Can you think of a better use for that money? Is this a great country, or what?