Out of Control

The elections are over, and the Democrats won. Good for them. The Republicans forgot why they were elected, and they needed to be reminded. But the polarization problems are not getting any better. Everywhere you look in America today you see a country that has lost its moral compass. Half the country seems to believe America is the cause of world problems, not the last line of defense against murderous tyrants, dictators and despots. Half the country thinks more government bureaucracies and higher taxes is the answer to economic problems, not the roadblocks to prosperity.

Journalists no longer report the news but slant it in such a way as to turn the public against their elected leaders by ignoring the good deeds and magnifying the bad through misrepresentation and clever editing (maybe that will change now that their boys and girls are back in charge). There is close-minded devotion to questionable causes, with blind hatred and demonization of those who dare to think differently. There is a large portion of the population who view themselves as victims of society, and become dependent on government welfare instead of taking advantage of the opportunities that exist to educate themselves and improve their lives.

Capitalism has lost its focus. Financiers and corporate leaders no longer believe in creating great companies with innovative new products that benefit and improve society while providing meaningful and satisfying jobs for American workers. Instead they now believe capitalism means to maximize their own personal wealth at the expense of everyone else, by doing deals that put millions of dollars in their own pockets while destroying the jobs and lives of competent, dedicated workers.

Good high quality companies with superior products and services no longer attract investment capital. Professional investors, in the guise of unaccountable and unregulated hedge funds and private equity funds now play high stakes games with leverage and derivative securities to attack, acquire, restructure and destroy perfectly good companies in order to obtain obscene profits for themselves.

There is no longer personal responsibility for one's actions. If something bad happens it must be somebody else's fault, and all one has to do is file a lawsuit and get rich. In fact, that attitude has evolved into inventing a grievance and getting rich by accusing somebody of something and filing a lawsuit.

Something is very wrong here. America no longer seems to believe in personal responsibility, freedom, democracy, capitalism, free markets, ethical behavior and respect for others? How did that happen? Perhaps the fault lies with We The People. We have fallen asleep at the switch. We have let the mud-slinging politicians, opinionated journalists, slick lawyers, clueless educators, airhead celebrities, greedy financiers - the people who control the money and information in America - poison our brains with politically correct bullshit and condescending instructions on what we are to believe and how we are to live our lives.

And maybe a lot of us are perfectly happy with that. After all, they are the elite and obviously smarter than us. And we don't want to do anything but watch "reality" shows and Dr. Phil, see what Hillary or Oprah are wearing to the next gala, hear what George Clooney or Barbra Streisand have to say about important issues, listen to Howard Stern or read check out line tabloids anyway.

If that is true, then it may be too late. But the next time a nuclear or biochemical weapon destroys an American city, a company goes bankrupt because of a frivoulous lawsuit, your federal tax payment skyrockets, you lose your job because of an unnecessary corporate takeover, a freed criminal kills again, or your social security check is cut in half because the government has run out of funds to pay for both your retirement and somebody's abortion - then some of us might realize we have been taken advantage of.

I have never heard anyone on the editorial pages of American newspapers, in the ivory towers of academia or the beautiful people hangouts of Hollywood explain why we have an immigration problem if America is such an evil place. Obviously people throughout the world still know that the United States of America is the land of freedom and opportunity. Too bad that so many who have spent their whole lives here have fallen victim to the incessant brainwashing from those with the poison pens and films filled with falsehoods. But when you have your head up your ass, you can't see the light.