The
US Is Becoming A Failed State:
How
Do We Turn This Around?
By
Rev. Paul J. Bern
The
United States of America, if I may risk pointing out the obvious, is
failing. Failing to adequately tackle the systemic problems in our
economic system. Failing to reflect on the deep flaws in our system
of government. Failing to repair our damaged image abroad. Failing to
adequately protect its citizens from violence at home (the plague of
murders by rogue police officers across the US is only one example of
many). Failing in education, in health care, in human rights, in
religious tolerance, and even with regard to incarceration of its
citizens, as the overcrowded and dangerous US prison system attests
to. In fact, we look a lot like the USSR in 1990 – except with a
lot more big-screen TV’s. And we all know what happened to the USSR
during the 1990's.
Of
course, you may well take issue with my central contention. You may
say that we are prosperous because our GDP is so large, or because
America is the richest country in the world. Or that our government
works properly (pardon me for a second while I LOL), or even that we
have a great health care system (laughing even harder), and that
since most of us are Christians anyway, who do we have to tolerate? I
respect your right to those opinions – freedom of expression is one
of the few things our country hasn't managed to screw up in the last
couple of hundred years. But in every case, the data backs me up. I
will try and substantiate my claims first, before putting forth a few
solutions of my own.
The
first problem is the economy. For example, in 2009 alone 131 banks
failed. The 2008 TARP bailout granted hundreds of billions of dollars
– with strings attached – to private companies who then used the
money to short-sell the market, make countless billions more, hand
the government back its money (removing the strings) and pay out
lavish bonuses while Americans lost their jobs, savings, houses and
cars. America's national debt threatens to exceed one year's Gross
Domestic Product. While this is occurring, a record number of laid
off workers are leaving the US workforce forever due to a complete
lack of opportunity to better themselves. One in four US workers who
are long-term unemployed and over age 50 will never work again. I
know this to be true from personal experience because I was one of
those most unfortunate individuals. To this day people find
themselves struggling financially to keep their heads above water.
Meanwhile, the median family income is less today than it was a
decade ago. Our government, as everybody knows, is no longer run by
competing ideologies but by corporate interests (I include both
parties in this category since both are moneymaking enterprises).
There are good Republicans who would prefer that your cancer-stricken
child had health insurance. There are responsible Democrats who are
horrified by our country's spend-now pay-later approach to finance.
But since they are beholden to a higher power – money – they have
to vote with their wallets, not with their hearts. At the Federal
level, AT&T and Goldman Sachs have contributed over $75M over the
last 20 years, and the American Federation of State, County &
Municipal Employees, plus the International Brotherhood of Electrical
Workers aren't far behind.
Across
the world our reputation is tarnished, perhaps irrevocably. We are
seen as an economic and religious bully, and we don't seem to care.
We vilify our political enemies for their human rights records while
we import cheap goods from countries that we know exploits child
labor, while America has more people incarcerated than all the other
countries of the world combined. We are, to much of the world,
intolerable hypocrites! Is it any wonder that they see us this way?
When it comes to medical care, health care apologists will continue
to defend our system at all costs, claiming that so-called
“socialist” states such as England, France and Sweden kill their
citizens at will in order to save money, or they may make you wait up
to thirty years for a kidney transplant. When our kids can't even get
health care, that should be a major 'red flag' indicating that
something is terribly wrong. Any anthropologist will tell you that we
took care of our young much better when we were Neanderthals – so
what's changed? For one in four kids to be dependent on food stamps
at some point in their formative years – and 25% of them are – is
a social injustice of the highest order to the point that it foments
much outrage. As such I think that this issue should have people out
in the streets protesting and being disruptive against the whole darn
system! Why it isn't happening hardly at all is a complete mystery to
me. Is everyone asleep or drunk? Wake up already and smell the
coffee! Revolution is in the air, can't you feel it? The Bernie
Sanders presidential campaign is only the tip of the iceberg, my dear
readers. I am so glad that those exciting but perilous days of
insurrection will soon be upon us. I can't tell anyone exactly when,
but it will happen in the near future, you can count on it. Violence
in the streets will be a sure bet if both outsider candidates get
forced out at the Democratic and Republican conventions this summer
and the American people are only left with the status quo.
Why
do I think so? We deny basic human rights to our own people, and
Americans of good conscience everywhere are fed up to their eyeballs
about it. Women still make 79 cents for every dollar a man earns in
the workplace. The overwhelming majority of those who are
incarcerated are people of color. Moreover, whom anyone chooses to
marry is not a matter for the government, it is a matter for the
individual as well as for the churches. Speaking as a mature
Christian man and Web evangelist, although I am not in favor of gay
marriage personally, I adamantly refuse to judge same-sex couples for
getting married (that's between them and God, or it had better be).
Forgiveness is at the heart of the Christian doctrine, and it is
central to the self-identity of every true believer. As to what
religion to follow, since I am a full-time ambassador for Jesus
Christ, I will lead any and all toward Christ who want to go, and
often with plenty of encouragement along the way. Although some may
not like or agree with the choices others make, they are inalienable
rights of choice, and you should be free to exercise them as you will
because that is the law of the land (see the 1st Amendment
in the US Constitution).
As
far back as 2005, statistics showed that hate crimes against Muslims
were increasing 50% year-on-year. Even so, the FBI reported that in
2015 hate crimes against homosexuals had increased 9% from 2014, and
those motivated by religion had risen by 12%. This is discouraging to
say the least. The track we have taken over the last fifty years has
been the wrong one. We have let corruption, greed, fame, intolerance
and a stubborn refusal to acknowledge our problems almost ruin our
nation. We are failing to live the American Dream, and if we don't
start now our children will never even know what it was.
I
have eight common-sense but fairly radical ideas, and I'm sure you
have some of your own. I have chosen not to expound on what I
personally think the consequences of these actions would be, as I
would be diving headlong into speculation that could easily (and
should be) challenged.
[1].
Immediately and totally stop all corporations from giving money to
political parties.
[2].
Acknowledge that, when it comes to government, politics and religion
do not mix.
[3].
Make a promise to our children: you will be well-educated, and you
will be well-treated when you are sick.
[4].
Change the game. Capitalism is a debt-based economic system combined
with a federal republic system of government. It is a system that has
run its course for all practical intents and purposes. So much debt
has accumulated throughout the world that there isn't anywhere nearly
enough money in the entire world – all the combined world economies
– to pay it off. At some point in the near future, more and more
countries are going to find themselves insolvent. When no one can pay
back their debts, the whole thing comes crashing down, and that
includes the USA. Are you prepared?
[5].
Take a leaf out of the Bible and just treat everyone else with
dignity and respect. “Love your neighbor as yourself”. If it was
good enough for Jesus, it should be good enough for you. Leave the
gays alone because you're a sinner too, you just commit different
sexual sins than they do. Leave the Blacks and Latinos alone, because
racism has no place in church, and because equality is scriptural.
Leave the Muslims, the Jews and the Christians alone. When respect
departs, lawlessness is the next train along.
[6].
Pay for it. Child labor is inexcusable. If it costs an extra ten
bucks, or extra hundred bucks, to buy something that was made by
willing workers, pay it. And the same goes for government. You want
health care? Pay for it. More troops? Pay for them. Tax breaks for
corporations? Ditto. If you have to raise taxes to pay for it, raise
taxes. Stop acting like giddy schoolkids with mom's credit card, and
pay for what you consume!
[7].
Form coalitions based on issues, not parties. Not every NRA member is
anti-abortion. Not every tree-hugging hippie thinks that owning a gun
is wrong. When a party tells you how you should think, and what
issues should be thrown together into what bucket, you're a lot
closer to communism or fascism than you think you are.
[8].
Buy American products whenever possible. From what I can tell, the
great empires of yore – from Egypt to Rome to England – were
'first-to-market' with some manufacturing innovation or other, that
led to more innovations, and greater strides, that in turn led to
them becoming the largest producers of goods in their region. This
happened to the USA from the dawn of the twentieth century until the
'fifties. Then we began to transform into a service economy, just as
those others did. Producing goods is what is making China become a
world powerhouse, and if we are to compete, we must produce our own.
American isn't always the best, and it's almost never the cheapest,
but if we are to reinstate our status as the world's greatest
country, we need to start by supporting our own businesses and
workers. To refuse to do so is to commit an injustice. Enough said!
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