The Fall Of The U.S. Government

Every government eventually falls. History offers no exceptions. Often it is from from arrogance, corruption and from endless wars that lead to moral and fiscal bankruptcy. This is what is happening now to the U.S.

Sick of President Bush ruling by fiat using special powers he gave himself, and fearful for the repercussions of the Iraq War, in 2006 Americans turned control of Congress over to the Democrats.

The Democrats promised to end the Iraq War, which they could easily do for under the Constitution only they could declare war, a declaration they never made, and then cut off its funding. They were also going to reign in President Bush.

But once in power, the House Speaker instead declared, "Impeachment is off the table," in violation of the Constitution. Congress then continued to be a rubber stamp for the President and escalated the War funding.

It also continued spending vast sums of money on anything the Pentagon demanded and it expanded its earmarks, which are massive rewards to campaign contributors. Meanwhile, America's finances were falling apart.

If that wasn't bad enough, in 2008 when the U.S. economy began its collapse from all of the reckless financial speculation and gargantuan sums wasted on war, President Bush began an unprecedented staggering size corporate bailout. And it was done on the backs of working class Americans, which is most of America, the people who pay the lion's share of the taxes.

Where was Congress? As usual, rubber stamping whatever the President wanted. And at the same time paying off with bailouts some of their major campaign contributors, those very same companies who led us to the edge of disaster.

Of course none of the people who headed these firms was ever held responsible for their actions and their big bonuses continued as if none of this had happened.

During this time, a charismatic Presidential candidate made a series of promises. From the time he took office, he promised "change," meaning this corruption would end, as would the Iraq War and we would have "transparency," meaning Americans and people everywhere would know what was going on.

But despite his promises, President Obama has continued President Bush's practices and Congress remains clueless. Lobbyists are now so powerful, that after Wall Street's wild speculation nearly brought the nation down, there is no new powerful regulatory body to oversee them. It's business as usual and the game is rigged.

And the Wall Street huckster's call out to investors all over the world, you better get into the stock markets now before its too late for you to make the big money on the rebounding economy. Meanwhile, they continue their secretive insider trading in what they call "dark pools" as their wild speculations and big payouts to themselves go right on. It's disgusting!

To pay for this Mt. Everest size spending on bailouts, weapons and wars the U.S. government has been borrowing money at record levels. So much, that the global credit markets won't absorb it all. So the Federal Reserve has been buying hundreds of billion dollars of these borrowings by printing money out of thin air.

This has alarmed the U.S.'s major creditors who are afraid the value of their record level investment in U.S. debt will be lost in hyper-inflation, the usual result of a government printing currency out of thin air.

If hyper-inflation happens, just imagine the impact it will have on working class Americans who live and save exclusively in dollars. How long do you think the U.S. government will exist when most people are robbed of everything they've worked for?

Of course as America's finances continue to crumble, politicians promise no new taxes and as incredible as it may seem for a nation that can't pay its bills without borrowing (or even printing) the money, some even discuss a "middle class tax cut."

They do that for the same reason we now for the first time in our history have a huge standing army of mercenaries rather than conduct a draft to fight the wars. Without higher taxes, which will be necessary to pay our bills and a draft, most Americans don't pay attention.

Most Americans are unaware that because of our government, we now owe about $40,000 per person or $200,000 for a family of five. Nor do they know that our government has no idea how it will ever pay it back.

Most Americans haven't even noticed we are now fighting endless wars. There are no exit strategies, just new potential enemies, terrorists everywhere. That helps to explain why America has 737 military bases outside the U.S., all over the world and a bloated military budget bigger than the economies of most other nations.

How can events have gone so badly? Because most Americans haven't paid attention and instead rely on the two party monopoly. It's easy to vote for a Democrat and if that person doesn't correct the problems (which is consistently the case), then vote for a Republican, and once again not solve the problems.

But how could they solve the problems when for the most part, they don't address them, for both parties are deeply corrupted. Lobbyists buy them easily. This means your vote doesn't count for as you've seen, it doesn't matter who is in office or what is promised, it's business as usual.

But this government doesn't belong to the lobbyists and their politicians nor to the Pentagon and their contractors, it is yours and mine. The question is, what are we going to do about it?

In Iran, we've seen protesters find the courage to take to the streets to challenge their government, risking their lives to do so. We've seen the same thing in Pakistan, which brought down the military dictator Musharraf, a U.S. government puppet. It's even happened in Iraq, although each time it was censored in the U.S.

In America, we've seen 75,000 homosexual people recently march on Washington to demand that President Obama honors his campaign promises to them of equal rights. And last Spring, we saw tax protesters gather across America.

Now its up to you and me. Do we have the courage to raise our voices to try to save the U.S. Republic? Or will we do as our government expects and remain silent.

If we unite we could bring a rebirth of what made America the envy of much of the world, a representative democracy in which no-one is above the rule of law and the government answers to its people.

We can also rebuild our finances and then offer a helping hand to those in poverty and hopelessness, which is the path to peace. And we can provide our children and grandchildren a prosperous society in which they can grow and thrive, the nicest of all gifts to future generations.

Dick

10/27/09 Dear Reader, Nations run much like your household. You must pay your bills or face the consequences. So must the U.S. government, which for now is running amok using your credit cards, making you liable for its grossly irresponsible actions.

But it's not yet too late for America if only its citizens will assert control. This piece was written with that hope.