Out-of-control federal spending. Decades-long monetary debasement. A never-ending violent and corrupt drug war. A perpetual deadly and destructive war on terrorism. A mind-destroying educational system. Bankrupt socialist welfare programs, including Social Security and Medicare. A highly regulated and controlled society. Vicious trade wars. A decades-old immigration crisis. Invasions and occupations. Coups. Torture. Indefinite detention. Fomentation of foreign crises and wars. Deadly sanctions and embargoes against foreigners. Irrational mass killings within the United States.
It’s just all part of the rot at the center of the U.S. government that is slowly but surely taking our country down, from within. The problem, however, is that all too many Americans do not want to face this. It’s much too painful and even scary for them to do so.
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What is the response of U.S. officials to this rot? Distractions and scapegoats.
The distractions include Russia, China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, and many others. Americans are exhorted to keep focusing on things “over there,” so that they will not confront the rot from within that is slowly but surely destroying their freedom and well-being here at home.
Those evil Russkies are coming to get us, once again. It’s Cold War II. Never mind that they can’t even conquer Ukraine. It’s all just a ruse to make us drop our guard, just like during Cold War I. After all, look at how they secretly induce us to vote in their favor in elections here at home. The Russians are coming! Make no mistake about it.
And then there are those Chinese Reds, who are bound and determined to subjugate America and turn the entire country communist. Just think: Public schools being run by Chinese government officials rather than by U.S. government officials. Everyone would have to learn to read Mao in Chinese.
Don’t forget also the Reds in Cuba, North Korea, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. They are out to get us too. And don’t be too sure that the commies in Vietnam aren’t part of this international Red conspiracy to conquer America.
Afghanistan obviously continues to pose a grave threat to “national security” as well. Everyone knows that they’re still harboring terrorists. That’s why it’s necessary to keep assassinating people over there. Moreover, Operation Iraqi Freedom still has a ways to go before finally achieving its goal.
Gosh, I suppose we should add the Muslims to all this. Let’s not forget their centuries-old quest to establish a worldwide caliphate, which would encompass the United States. We need more editorials and op-eds in the mainstream press opposing Sharia law for America.
The biggest scapegoats are illegal immigrants. If only President Biden would “secure” the border. If only he would fortify the Berlin Wall that his predecessor President Trump began building along the border. If only the Border Patrol would do a better job in patrolling the border. If only there were more highway checkpoints in the American southwest. If only there were more immigration raids on private businesses. If only there were more warrantless searches of ranches, farms, homes, and cars along the border. If only more immigrants were treated like trash and shipped and dumped into rich, progressive parts of the country. If only more people were prosecuted for hiring, transporting, or harboring illegal immigrants. If only ICE agents would board more Greyhound busses and demand to see people’s papers. If only Congress would enact “comprehensive immigration reform.”
If only all this were were to be accomplished, everything would be hunky-dory in America. Our woes would be over. It’s all the fault of illegal immigrants. If it weren’t for them, we’d be living in a blissful, prosperous, peaceful, and harmonious society.
Except that even if the United States had perfectly sealed borders that matched those of North Korea, things would not be hunky-dory. That’s because of the rot at the center of the empire in Washington, D.C. It’s that rot — not the distractions and the scapegoats — that is taking our country down.
The biggest problem we have in America is the unbounded faith that all too many Americans have in their federal government, especially the Pentagon and the CIA. The Pentagon is like a god to so many Americans. Who wants to question or challenge god? Oh sure, lots of Americans go to church every Sunday to worship their other God. But the rest of the week, it’s the Pentagon — and to a larger extent the entire federal government — that is their political god.
After all, it’s their federal god that gives them Social Security, Medicare, education grants, farm subsidies, and other welfare. Their Sunday God certainly doesn’t do that. He expects them to work to sustain their lives and to depend on Him for their sustenance. When their federal god is taking care of them with a dole, what are the chances that they are going to look inward and confront the rot at their center of their Empire? No chance at all because everyone knows that what their federal god gives, their federal god can take away. Who wants to antagonize the federal god?
Also, don’t forget that the Pentagon protects us and keeps us safe from the communists, the Muslims, the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, the Cubans, the Venezuelans, the illegal immigrants, the drug dealers, and all the other scary creatures in the world. Who wants to antagonize the Pentagon by examining and confronting the rot at the center of the Empire? What if the national-security establishment gets upset and decides not to protect us and keep us safe, including from the threats that it itself produces to keep itself in business?
Meanwhile, while Americans remain focused on the distractions and the scapegoats, the rot at the center of the Empire keeps eating away at the fabric of American society, just like cancer does.