Disappearing America
I’ve been thinking about the “industrial trades problem” — attracting, and keeping, new employees. Besides the obvious pay and creature comfort differences between blue collar workers and many of the new high tech jobs, I think I have detected a deeper and more insidious reason that extends far beyond the obvious.
Since most of my readers live and work in the United States, I will restrict my observations to our system of government. To my overseas readers, take note; this could happen to you, or, maybe it already has. Although we live in a representative democracy, rather than a true democracy, most people still consider our form of government a democracy, so for simplicity I will address that.
About the time the thirteen original states adopted our new constitution in 1787, a Scottish history professor named Alexander Tyler wrote about the fall of the Athenian Democracy nearly 2000 years ago. I think I can safely quote him, since he’s been dead for a couple hundred years and his words are a matter of public record. He said:
“A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will exist up until the time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority will always vote for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by dictatorship. The average age of the worlds greatest civilizations from the beginning of history has been about 200 years.”
During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. From bondage to spiritual faith; think of the subjects of King George in the ‘colonies’ They had an existence, if not a true life of freedom, yet some saw the future and yearned for better things. To rise from bondage without power requires great faith.
2. From spiritual faith to great courage; remember the Declaration of Independence? The men that signed it pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their honor to the cause when they signed that document, yet by law, at the time, they were automatically branded as traitors who could be hanged on sight. As a side note: A great many of the signers of the Declaration of Independence died destitute, having given their lives, their fortunes, and committed their personal honor to a cause greater than themselves.
3. From courage to liberty; the revolutionary war took 11 years! That required an attention span that most Americans lack today, they can barely sit through a half-an-hour episode of the Simpsons. During most of the war, it was only supported by about 25% of the population, but they were the ones that were willing to stand up and be counted. As an observation on human nature, I will add that once the war was over and victory achieved, the number of True Americans shot up once they realized they didn’t have to get their hands dirty. A small number went home to England to live under domination of the king, neutered of goals and ambition. Good riddance!
4. From liberty to abundance; In the 19th and first half of the 20th century we built the greatest country history has yet recorded. It was accomplished without many regulations and NO income tax. Such achievements as the transcontinental railroad, the worlds largest steel industry, the Panama canal and the development and exploitation of the worlds most abundant energy source were accomplished mostly by just getting out of the way and letting the drive of free men toil on their own behalf.
5. From abundance to complacency; After world war II we knew that we could do pretty much anything we put our minds and back to so we rested on our laurels, which of course led to the famous sixties. I know, I grew up then. We didn’t have to worry about much, the future looked bright indeed. By the time the cold war ended in 1989 we were so comfortable that it led to the next step.
6. From complacency to apathy; by the ‘90’s people didn’t bother to vote much, and didn’t really care much, or research the people they voted for. All was well with the world. Even the president had time to fool around with the hired help rather than address the problems of the nation.
7. From apathy to dependence; Professor Joseph Olson of Hemline University School of Law, St Paul Minnesota, estimates that fully 40% of the population have reached the “governmental dependency” stage. He adds that if congress grants amnesty to twenty million criminals, which is what illegal aliens were before political correctness fogged our brains, and they vote, then we can say goodbye to the USA within 5 years.
8. From dependency back into bondage; We are on the cusp of this today. We have voted ourselves ‘rights’ which are not in the Constitution, nor anywhere else in the history of successful civilizations. We keep expanding our consumption of the public coffers without equivalent contribution. We seek, and receive, permission for behavior that will not lead to a harmonious outcome. Consider: In the eyes of government, that which is permitted will eventually be required.
My point is: The pool of replacements to continue to build and maintain our society is shrinking. Too many of the next generation are sitting on the porch like Katrina victims in New Orleans’s ninth ward, waiting for their next government handout. Which will no doubt include rights without responsibilities.
The people we elect presently require nothing more than a room temperature IQ, a pocket full of money, and promises of plenty of someone else’s money in your pocket to get elected. I think it’s time for a change before the inevitable happens. Apathy is the greatest danger to our freedom. The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.