September 3, 2007
by Robert W. Barker

Debt is not the only measure of wealth in a nation.  Morals, agendas, goals, aspirations, and attitudes are also a means to gage the mental and physical standards in any country.

America is broke; bankrupt on almost every level.  We are culturally lacking, spiritually missing, educationally deprived and economically in deep debt. Our trade deficit and debt to China, the World Bank, and Japan are only symptoms of a wider and more pervasive bankruptcy.

Culturally deprived

Americans have lost the old discernment we attempted to admire and emulate - the kind of citizen the founders called Americans were thinkers. Today, the airwaves vibrate with vile hate-mongers that were once marginalized and ostracized as narrow-minded.  Now, for many, they are cultural heroes on American media.

Once the voice of conservatives were the likes of William F. Buckley with his calm demeanor and solid logic. Now the conservative voice has the likes of Sean Hannity Rush Limbaugh - both with little intellect and lots of garish and divisive one-liners. Ethnocentric bigots and bullies rant their vile hatred, and we tune in as if they were voices of reason. Talking heads determined to place America on their base level push agendas that sow the seeds of hate and mis-trust.

How does a man like Rush Limbaugh become an authoritative voice in a country like the USA, when he divides and demeans an entire section of our population, spews racial and cultural bigotry and calls it patriotic? When did half-truths and innuendos become facts, and statistics gathered through flawed methods become policy?

Intelligent discourse is gone - replaced by loud-mouth, anti-intellectual, narrow-minded bullies that yell to make a point or call on some pathetic patriotic zeal that is misguided and misanthropic at best. Belittling their opponents with crisp and rude one-liners, they make their living out of dumbing down America. These people are not that bright - most Americas would shame them in intellect - yet they are admired.  Sure, they know the impact of current events, and how to spin them - that is how they make a living - but do they help or hurt America's cultural flexibility?

Soon, the average Joe thinks screaming and bullying is the way to make a point, and America dies a little more. Logic and use of persuasive facts is replaced by tainted information, half-truths, and outright lies.

Are these people the kinds of folks you want influencing your children - drugs, alcohol, and bigotry all served via the American media? This verbal bashing is contagious, and soon every discussion becomes a shouting match or contest of rude platitudes.

Machismo bullies develop into the role models for American youth - commercials that play on the lower motivations like ego-driven pride are spewing forth from our televisions daily.

Hypocritical leadership

We have watched as a number of the Republican conservatives that are most adamant about preventing gay marriage or same sex unions are proven to be homosexual closet cases with a deep guilt complex. Witness Rep. Foley using the Internet to chase young men while passing anti-porn laws on Internet use. Or Rev. Haggard - the personal minister to Bush - that spewed a constant stream of admonitions against the gay community while snorting cocaine and having sex with male prostitutes.

And recently Republican Senator Larry Craig - the anti gay legislator that voted against every gay equality issue - is found in an  "airport men's room" making signs for sex to a police officer. Then Mr. Craig signs a confession - only to later deny that what he swore to as a lie. He is guilty of perjury or lewd conduct - take your pick.

All this hypocrisy makes Monica's stained dress appear quite normal and far more acceptable.

Karl Rove must take at least some of the blame for this anti-gay policy and the stanch anti-gay positions, as he pushed the cultural conservative agenda on many Republicans.  And, now it backfires as Rove drifts into the background.

The Late Leo Strauss is the philosophical guru of the Neo-Con Agenda, and he taught these followers how to feign Christianity, lie for the good of the nation, appeal to the base human notions, divide and conquer for power, and manipulate the ignorant population for autocratic goals. Rove and the Neo-Cons know what they are doing, and the American people yawn and move on.

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All these people that send us one set of messages and turn around and do the things they zealously rail against, leave us a bit more cynical and frustrated. And, how many more Republican gay-bashing law-makers are really gay people fighting against their own sexual persuasion to cover up for the deep guilt they must feel?  Here too we see the bankruptcy of credibility, the hypocritical nature of many American politicians.  Our cultural debt continues to grow with every lie exposed or hypocrite revealed.

Sportsmanship lost.

Collective sportsmanship - once the most vaunted of athletic attributes - is replaced by a winning is everything attitude.  We see more fights at sporting events from pros to children, we watch as the kids learn to become win at all cost; losers. Our cultural bias is far closer to the surface, as we call for the deaths of any one who stands against us or defies our aggressive and arrogant foreign policy. The globe cringes as we become more narrow and arrogant - a trait that the Bush Neo-Cons have sold as a refreshing beverage to the thirsty bigots of the USA.

Economically challenged

American workers are losing their financially viable advantage due to lobbyists, the outsourcing of feasible employment, and wage freezes that last for decades.

Unions - once the springboard for a stronger middle class - are now marginalized and weakened; for corporate-controlled workers do not stand up to the boss, and the middle-class American suffers.

Media - once a fair source of information - are now talking heads for the corporate agenda, or bigots that cause the death of human compassion. Economic viability is lost in huge debts to cover wars without end. The American dollar - once the measure of the economic standard for all nations - is now headed for the flushing toilet. Our US dollars are now worth less then 67 cents compared to the Euro.

Spending by the Bush bunch has reached new levels of irresponsibility, and the debt that William J. Clinton sought to control is now the largest in America history.

Sub-prime Loans and variable interest rates that rob us of our property have perpetuated a new string of foreclosures and bankruptcy for middle class Americans and new home owners. Standard banking practices are abandoned for the sake of the numbers that affect the stock options and American taxpayers are left holding the bag. Real Estate prices are dropping like icebergs in Greenland, and there is no global warming or economic problems in the Neo-Cons' eyes. Our wonderful middle class that separates us from the Third world is strangled by these Neo-Con economic practices and fake Laissez-fair principles.

Spiritually lost

The separation of church and state, the grand paradigm of the USA, is losing its grip on the soul of this country to greedy evangelist with political agendas, and billions in American contributions. Matters of the sprit or religion were once personal and not worn on the sleeve. Job discrimination, social isolation, and cultural pressure have driven many to seek acceptance in these churches that send the lost sheep further into the desert of desperation

Today, our churches have become the platforms for political right-wing diatribes aimed at killing this separation of church and state, and forcing their morals on the entire country and beyond. Misanthropic preachers with wealth and power on their minds bend the ears of America to become more theocratic and less compassionate. Churches - once the realm of Christ - are now meeting places for political right wing hate and power. We hear well-recognized ministers calling for the deaths of heads of State, or screaming that gays are an abomination to the nation; when it is really many of the preachers that hurt American psyche with constant hate speech.

Education In America

Here is, for me, the crux of our problems.  Without an educated public we are lost sheep with nuclear power; a very frightening thing in this tense world. Once the best in the world, we now struggle to stay ahead of the Third World countries. The cost of collage tuition rises faster then a cock on chicken Sunday, as our abilities to lead suffers and the middle class fades away.

Our American education system, once considered one of the best, has slipped into the bowels of ignorance. This lack of general education brings us a population without critical thinking skills and discernment, so we accept this vile hate spewed from far right pundits as news or information and the country grows weaker, with every hate filled speech.

Geography, history, the founding fathers' intentions, and our awareness of these things are all lacking. Many Americans cannot find Iraq on a map, our reading skills and comprehension is diminished, and only the discipline of science is still strong.

We drop billions in Iraq as our population slumbers in ignorance. We watch our infrastructure deteriorate while the sands of Iraq sucks us dry. Some of our best people are wounded, killed, and neglected when their tour is over; we owe them more then that.

America has a chance.

America is not gone.  She is still here, but we are losing the attributes that once made us great.  Our demise is imminent unless we change direction very soon. Personally, I love this country and her people too much to sit back and watch these miscreants and common criminals bring her down for the sake of profits for a few corporations and powerful elite families.

We do have options America, and strict codes of democratic conduct and electoral control to the people is tantamount to restoration of the USA. Demand a Senate and House that Americans control - not lobbyists and corporate payoffs.

Invest in our future - not Halliburton's, and focus on our strengths. Remove us from unnecessary wars and false tensions that create hostile environments which lead to war. Spend more on infrastructure and Americans, and far less for the sake of a few war profiteers.

These single-minded people currently in power have ignored all International agreements and treaties; and have tortured, imprisoned, invaded and occupied, without rights or reason, and arrogantly walked on all International standards. We need to reaffirm our commitments to treaties and accords that assist the globe, and bring back the sense of pride we enjoyed in the past.

Most importantly, we need to point out the fallacies and poor logic that has been used to deceive our people, and America can rise from the dust of apathy into the light of a new day.

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Robert W. Barker [send him email] is a writer, professional photographer and travel aficionado from Eureka Ca. His work is carried on many web sites around the globe, a first novel recently copyrighted in the library of Congress, is soon to be published.