I loved my country enough to give her 11 years of my life, and would have given more if my choices hadn't been becoming more and more limited as I was climbing to the top as fast as my talents and abilities would allow. Notice I said I loved. Now it's only like. Something is happening to this great experiment called democracy that would have our founding fathers outraged.
When I was growing up, honor, patriotism, and sacrifice were the cornerstones of this experiment called democracy. We were given a birthright in blood by the 418,000 Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War Two, and the 683,000 who were wounded and the 130,000 who are still listed as missing in action. I was proud to wear the same uniform and I never had a day that I considered it a sacrifice. Nor did I see myself as a hero just because I heard my country's call as a whisper, not a shout. It was a time of war, as it is now, but nobody called us heroes. There was a draft but I was deferred so I went completely of my own choosing. I was lucky in that I had a profession that allowed me to have a more civilian mindset than most. I wasn't worthy to even walk behind those who stormed the beaches of Normandy which saw over 2,500 die in the first 24 hours. That number could be as high as 7,000, as many are still listed as MIA. Or those who fought tiny island by tiny island in the Pacific.
Flash forward to today. We have sold that birthright to China and anybody else who will buy our Treasury Bonds. We are paying about 22 percent of every tax dollar to pay INTEREST on the debt. Like when you take out a mortgage, very little in the first 4 years goes toward principal. But in the case of China, they are more than happy to loan us money because every dollar you spend on something that says "Made in China" goes to the government and they, in turn, can loan us our own money.
Right now, every taxpayer is on the hook for 181,000 dollars. That's your share of the national debt. I remember when the debt hit 4 trillion dollars and the outcry to cut spending. At that time I was only on the hook for 36,000 dollars. There were cries for fiscal reform when the deficit hit 400 billion. But instead of cutting, they expanded. The new cry is for high speed rail and green energy. The federal government can't get Amtrak in the black, so how is high speed rail supposed to help. Thousands of miles of new track will have to be laid to handle speeds of over 100 miles per hour, but they'll have to push 150 to get people away from air travel. And green energy is decades away. Incandescent bulbs are being outlawed but the new CFL bulbs, although they save energy, contain dangerous amounts of mercury. God forbid your kid breaks one and releases mercury vapor into the room. If out read disposal instructions, you all but need a HAZMAT suit.
Then there's the entitled. I watched the worst come out of America in Wisconsin, the home of the 159,000 a year bus driver. Collective bargaining doesn't belong in the public sector. They hamstring government's ability to conduct the people's business. And now the day of reckoning has arrived. We must now pay for the sins of the past. The salaries of state workers are paid by taxpayers who don't have family medical plans for a pittance, or retirement before 65 with no contribution. And most of those who pay for those salaries and benefits are struggling to provide those same "rights" for their own families. Bad teachers are destroying their student's futures with no fear of repercussion. School districts would rather keep them on knowing they don't deserve to be in the classroom because it takes too long and costs too much to fire them.
Assuming the court's let "Obamacare" stand, the ramifications to the future of medicine will be profound. First, where are the doctors who will treat the 35 million or so uninsured who will suddenly swell the rolls of insured. And, as with any new benefit, they will overtax the system getting health care they didn't have before. Many doctors are quitting their practice due to malpractice insurance costs. Med schools will have to start accepting marginal applicants, new med schools will spring up like "The Famous Artists School". Now it will be the "Famous Doctor's School". Send us 200,000 dollars and we'll make you a doctor at home. Maybe there'll be online courses. Now I'm being sarcastic, but nobody knows what the impact to health care it will be or the cost once it's implemented.
I remember when the price of a gallon of gas was 30 cents. And I remember the gas wars that would break out that would see the price as low as 19 cents. We didn't have OPEC or how and where the gas came from. We just knew it was there. How times have changed. I remember not so long ago when gas spiked at over 3 dollars a gallon. To listen to Democrats, it was because President Bush was making his rich oil buddies richer. This time, those same people are deathly silent as we watch the price of everything that has to be trucked in or is made from petroleum products skyrocket. The only upside on that one is there may be an increase in the cost of living so Social Security recipients may get a cost of living increase for the first time in 3 years. But then again, if they do, (or even if they don't) Medicare increases will wipe that out.
People are starting to compare America to the fall of Greece, Rome, The British Empire, and other great civilizations that fell because of greed and excess. I don't know where this road leads, but for now, it looks like it's over a cliff. I hope I'm wrong. Too many people have given too much to give us something nobody else has..the once great country called the UNITED states.
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