Quote Originally Posted by Reenster
Like many Americans I wonder what has happened to our country. I am a boomer, born in 1953. Time, I feel has given me insight into what I refer to the decline of the US. The first president I remember is Eisenhower, however, the assassination of JFK was the first time politics affected my life. I remember my teacher crying after another teacher pulled her into the hallway to tell her the news. The bus on the way home was somber, granted I did not completely understand what was happening but every adult I encounter was sad, shocked and maybe a little afraid. The hours of coverage on television seemed to continue to go over every detail, it just seemed to make everybody sad, I wonder what it would have been like if we had 24 hour cable then, as it was it looked like every detail had been discussed, what would have been said if they had 24 hours of news to fill. Would any other information actually been discovered?

The 1968 democratic convention was the first awakenings of what became my political foundation. I saw our country in turmoil, "the war" was something that was tearing the country apart. The draft was glue for the 18-25 year old. It had to go, the war was unjust, people were not going to take it sitting down. It still took several years before the draft and the war would be over, however, I feel that is my generation that was the major influence in getting the job done.Why can we not find the fortitude to change this, are we too old and tired? Are we too concerned with ourselves, and without concern for the well being of the country and our world? I saw that those in power would violate the civil rights of a citizen, use force and even kill to stop anyone that was speaking out against their agenda.

Fast forward to the 70's and what I think is the real decline of our political system. Nixon permanently soiled the office of the president. I never felt the same way about any elected official and I am sure that the majority of my generation felt much different. Regardless of Watergate, the country had no war to decry and the draft was over, we as a nation became apathetic. We need something as a society to get behind, something that the majority of people feel strongly about, unfortunately the next subject that the country got behind occurred in the 80's and "greed is good".

The accumulation of personal wealth and power is still the driving force behind our country's population and government. This has caused the great decline of our country. The wishes of the individual has overpowered that of the greater good. The question among our politicians is what can it do for me, not what will it do to the country.

Until campaign reform happens, and I am talking about a complete reconstruction, our situation will not change. There is no voice for the dwindling middle class, there is no money to buy lobbyist to push our interests, no politicians that will support our needs in Washington or even in our state capitals. Like many people I do not feel represented by any politician, and sincerely feel that every single person in political office is influenced by money being channeled into their never-ending need for re-election. It seems that every politicians major concern is continuing to be a politician with little interest or concern for those they are expected to represent.

With the Greed is Good mentality in wall street, in Washington DC and from sea to shinning sea, I fear we have lost our humanity. Unemployment is killing off what is left of the middle class, yet there are politicians out there that say the unemployed are lazy, need to find lower paying jobs, I wonder how these politicians would fair if the wage earner in their family made $7.30 an hour. It is sad to say that our very own industry and economy is the reason the unemployment rate is so high. Profits, profits, profits is the major concern. There is no loyalty to long term employees, there is no loyalty from employees, there is no pride in what we do. The ruler for how well a company or individual is doing, not about humanity it's about how much wealth you have. How you accumulate that wealth is not a concern, how much and how fast is what it's about.

Any company that takes jobs away from US citizens and give them to other countries for the sake of their profit margin should be driven out of business. If the government will not tax or penalize them, we as citizens should boycott them. Unfortunately most families are understandably more concerned with getting by day to day and can not afford to not shop or purchase from a company that they are getting a bargain from even if it is against their long term best interests.

I would like to see a complete abolishment of the current campaign financing. There should be no anonymous contributions to any campaign. There should be reasonable spending limits on what any politician can spend while campaigning for office and there should be full disclosure in where and how they got their money. I would like to see people that really want to enter community service get into office not someone that will support agendas that hurt our country, hurt or citizens for the sake of personal gain. As long as our system supports the attitude that those with the most cash wins, we as a country will lose.

There are factions in our government that will say morale decay is the problem. What a woman does with here reproductive organs, what consenting adults do in their bedroom, how hard working responsible adults choose to relax is not the problem. What is the issue is how the political structure is willing to lie, cheat and avoid the truth to get the end result. To put constant fear into the population to take away our rights so that their best intrests can be victorious is inconceivable and unforgiveable.

We as a society are being manipulated by those with the most wealth. Its not about what is best for our country it's about what is best for political business as usual.

This is not about Republicans or Democrats, nor about Liberal or Conservatives, this is what is rotting at the core of our political system.

Sorry for the rant but until we as a population start to care about things other that what directly concerns us our situation will continue to decline. Continue to vote, continue to write to those in office. Lets start a revolution, we need to let our government know how we feel. I have to believe it will make a difference.
very very insiteful post and you have hit the nail on many heads here. other then being a little older then you, you seem to have crawled into my head and put my personal thoughts to paper...congrats on this post...a very well nicely said.