'We the people' auctioning our rights

To Editor:

SDLqAre we rolling down hill like a snowball headed for hell---with no kind of chance for the flag or the liberty bell?" (Verse from the 1982 Merle Haggard song: "Wish a Buck Was Still Silver"). Anyone who watched the news on TV will probably agree that we are. Every day the news gets worse. We are a nation in decline, morally, culturally, and spiritually, with a bloated, bankrupt, and out of control government that is saturated with deceit, lies, fraud, greed, corruption, and abuse of power.

History has this nasty habit of repeating itself, and there are plenty of examples of what happens when nations head down the "road to perdition" via socialism. Our nation will be no exception, doomed to collapse under its own weight and join the scrap heap of history. No one can accurately predict when it will occur, but anyone paying attention can see it is on the brink. It could happen suddenly---as early as tomorrow. All it would take is one major event to push it over the cliff. When a government collapses it is followed by a breakdown of society. The "Great Depression" of the 1930's will pale in comparison to one we will see. The vast majority of people will be blind-sided, caught completely off guard and unprepared for the chaotic events sure to follow. Those who think government will come to their aid to feed, protect, and take care of them should think again. Do they not remember or know what happened in the aftermath of hurricanes Andrew in 1992 and Katrina in 2005. People will have to fend for themselves.

There's plenty of blame to go around for what is happening and about to happen in our country. Government growth, overreach, greed, corruption and incompetence began decades ago with President Johnson's "Great Society" programs. I agree with what Will Rogers said of our two-party political system: "You got to admit that each party is worse than the other." But there's no disputing it has been at its worst during the last five years under President Obama, who, in my humble opinion is an unmitigated disaster. You would think that upon realizing he was in over his head he would appoint knowledgeable, experienced, competent people to fill key positions in his administration, but not so. All his appointees seem to be just as incompetent as he. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the nincompoop in charge of implementing Obamacare is but the latest example.

But the greatest share of the blame falls squarely on "We the people" for letting it happen. As the newspaper cartoon character "Pogo" famously said; "I have seen the enemy, and it is us." For too many years the majority of people have voted for the candidates promising the most "free stuff" until finally the takers outnumber the givers. Benjamin Franklin warned of the possibility of just such a thing happening, saying: "When the people learn that they can vote themselves money it will be the end of the Republic." And that is exactly what has happened.

We don't have elections anymore---we have auctions. Politicians at all levels put themselves up for sale to the highest bidders and those with the most money win. Who would blame future generations of Americans, if any exists, if they hate us for allowing their country, which once the greatest, freest, most prosperous and powerful nation that ever existed to decay and rot from within. They would be justified in judging us as the stupidest, laziest, most selfish, unappreciative people in the history of mankind. No doubt they will be just as perplexed as I by some of the insane, illogical decisions our nation's so-called leaders have made. Decisions like ignoring an invasion of our country by Mexico while using our own military to protect other countries from an invasion, or like turning the best health care system in the world into a living nightmare.

Who would have imagined 53 years ago that Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev would be right when he proclaimed: "We will bury you without firing a shot."

Bill Cox

Fairdealing, Mo.