United we stand

I think we are on a dinghy and we were cut from the ship. It doesn't even matter who had the knife, what matters to me is what we plan on doing now. Is this the beginning of the decline of this nation? Is this the beginning of the downslide of the empire?

I think it comes down to greed, and myopia. We have made choices to get ahead of our parents, and the Jones', and even our own humble dreams. I mean really outside of the military, do you really need a Hummer? I think we have forgotten what it is to be an American.

We blame first now, in the past we fixed things first.

We looked out for each other, now we use each other as a stepping stone

We used to give BEFORE we were asked, now we can't be bothered

We used to believe in courage, now we simply complain and wallow in mediocrity

There is so much more. Debate has become a series of personal attacks. I thrive on new ideas and opinions, but it seems more difficult to find someone who isn't going to jump in with a personal cut if you don't blindly agree. We once were tempered and even with everything we had, now it seems like we have become splintered, divided into a cast system that can only accelerate deterioration of the fabric of this country.

We seem to all want the same thing, but we won't allow anyone to move forward because nobody can seem to agree on who to get out of the way for. We all want change, but panic, and stubbornness is clogging the system. We forgot that without patriotism, party lines mean nothing. America is falling behind, and we do nothing about it. We continue to allow outsourcing, as the unemployment rate continues to rise slowly, and the education system suffocates due to a lack of attention, and funding. Bridges and roads are crumbling, but that isn't important enough to deal with, that is minor. We complain about wall street, but spoon feed them and big banks, without making them accountable for their actions. If I tried that nonsense I would have been in jail for the very least fraud. Politicians debate gay rights, forgetting about the idea that they are losing funding and votes by arbitrarily deciding who is worthy in this country to the entitlements this country offers,instead of protecting ALL Americans. We complain about a lack of jobs, but won't legalize marijuana, a guaranteed gold mine, because of special interests of the few. We let people starve, and die from curable illness, because we allow greed to dictate who deserves to be saved with a shabby arcane health care system, introduced by the most corrupt President in my lifetime; Nixon.

We are so much better than this, so why are we degrading ourselves with myopia and panic? We should be circling the wagons, not killing doctors who give abortions, or beating someone to death because of who they choose to love. We are better then that.

We are Americans. We are smart. We should not bow to greed. We should praise common sense and gut instinct. We should save this country, protect it, cherish the idea of personal freedom. That is America. That is the exclusive privilege of being an American. We help a hurting person, not step over them because your not in the mood to help. We are equal, We are good, individual, caring people. We are Americans. Let's get back to what we turned our backs on. Let us be civil, smart, common sense filled beings who know the good life is a simple life. That is how you beat the Jones'!