America is a nation that, by all the evidence at hand, has lapsed into a state of lethargy and apathy, a shadow of its former self. What's so different, what exactly is missing? We might describe it as a nation that seemingly has lost its drive and quest for excellence, its creative and innovative motivations, and its vision for the future.
Once renowned as was the greatest industrial power in the world America used its great resources, both natural and human, to accomplish great things. That's no longer the case; while it still retains much of its wondrous natural resources America has allowed the masters of Corporatism to decimate its once highly productive workforce in the quest for greater and greater profits. The power that fueled this nation's economy, derived by combining ingenuity, labor and materials to manufacture products, is rapidly dissipating.
America appears to be in the process of "killing the goose that laid the golden eggs" a phrase that, as Wikipedia defines it, means "an unprofitable action motivated by greed." Or it might be explained as d estroying a source of riches through stupidity or greed; or destroying something that provides a steady, long- term gain for the sake of a quick reward. Yes, that goose is on life support.
Why is this being allowed to happen? Why doesn't this government function by establishing specific objectives and goals? I'm speaking of goals that include addressing the problem of climate change and taking the lead in creating alternative sources of energy. How about rebuilding and restoring our education system, our infrastructure, significantly improving our electrical grid, building high speed rail systems? Why are there no specific plans to resurrect our manufacturing sector, create millions of new jobs and reenergize our consumer-driven economy?
What does this government intend to do about ending its agenda of perpetual war and the massive associated costs? Why doesn't it have a plan to address and eliminate the underlying problems that are causing nearly 50 million Americans to live below the poverty line and about the same number to rely on food stamps to survive? When will something be done to deal with the great inequality of wealth and income that is creating a "have and have not" society that is a major contributing cause of our sluggish, contracting economy?
That's a very long list of very serious conditions and problems that this nation faces but the question is; is there anyone in Washington D.C. who even cares? Why doesn't this Congress have a 5 or 10-year plan to deal with these problems? This country seems to be without a sense of purpose, it doesn't seem to know where it wants to go in the future, let alone how to get there. It is going around in circles, remaining in a state of confusion, not really growing, not advancing in any way, but actually regressing.
What is absolutely astounding is the fact that neither our government, nor our business sector is doing anything of substance to prepare for the future. Problems are not addressed and continue to remain unsolved. Crises come with no warnings or they are created due a lack of preventative measures. Our vision-deficient political slugs don't respond, they continue to vacillate and procrastinate and let problems fester and grow. The terms status quo, treading water, or stuck in a rut or quagmire seem to fit this situation very well. Want a beautiful illustration of this? Just watch John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid "in action" and listen to what they say and you'll know exactly why this is.
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