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OpEdNews Op Eds    H3'ed 6/27/12

As Empire Consumes America, a Pervasive Silence Engulfs Our Society

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Message Michael Payne

 

Sooner or later this government and the people in America must make a choice; either the U.S. military empire must be dismantled or this nation and society are going to go down. There is no way that both the monumental costs of maintaining this empire and the financial stability of this nation can be sustained. So there are only these two options: end the empire or watch as this nation continues on a road leading to financial collapse.

 

Let's begin this discussion with this premise. To make this nation of ours safe and secure we do not need a military empire. This ever-expanding, financially-draining empire was the creation of those who are in control of the Military-Industrial Complex, whose primary objective is to build the foundation for a perpetual state of war in the world by which they would be guaranteed an endless stream of profits. And, so far, with little to no objection from any quarter of this society, they have been wildly successful.

 

America is in the business of war and the expansion of its empire, that's no longer any secret to the American people or the nations of the world; the facts and evidence are everywhere as we see the U.S. military engaged in invasions, occupations, the launching of drones and numerous clandestine operations in various nations. And, at the same time, the profits of the corporations who create the monstrous weapons of death and destruction are skyrocketing. That's great for the war profiteers but tragic for many millions of Americans who can't even find a job.

 

Many experts in world affairs and political science have repeatedly warned that a nation can be a democracy or it can be imperialistic but it cannot be both because the two are entirely incompatible. History has proven that fact time and time again but these greedy, shallow-minded people in control of the American war machine refuse to acknowledge it. They think that they can create the first empire in the history of the world that will last infinitely and they are dead wrong. But they are more than willing to risk the entire future of this nation and its people to try to prove that point.

 

We have a president, together with the members of his administration, 100 U.S. senators and 425 members of the House who by their support and continued perpetuation of this empire, will be recorded in history as being directly responsible for the crippling of this nation and its financial collapse. And the legacy of that group, Democrats and Republicans alike, will be that they failed their country in its greatest time of need. If there is one or more of them that contend that they should be exempted from this group, then why aren't they shouting at the top of their lungs that these wars and this empire should be shut down right now?

 

America has established this world empire and with it comes an empire of debt that is crushing it financially. The current total U.S. national debt is $15.784 trillion or $15,784,000,000,000. That represents the amount that the expenditures of this government, from its very beginnings to the present, exceed its total revenues. This national debt is increased each year by the amount of government spending that exceeds its annual budget, i.e., the deficit. In 2011 this amounted to a $1.3 trillion deficit that was added to this total national debt, and in 2012 the amount is estimated to be $1.2 trillion.

 

What we're seeing here is a situation that is spiraling out of control; to better illustrate it let's say that a married couple, both of whom work and have two children, have a combined annual income of $120,000; but they are spending a total amount of $150,000 per year; the $30,000 per year of excess spending comes from their credit card borrowing and other sources. So they, in effect, are running an annual household deficit of $30,000. Let's say that they continue doing that, because of their extravagant tastes, and in ten years their total personal debt has reached $300,000; and further, that they can no longer meet their monthly payments.

 

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