Tears For America

“The bureaucracy relished their own inflated titles while they paralyzed the empire with antiquated and time-consuming procedures that resulted in masses of paperwork. People were promoted based on seniority rather than competence, and the enormous complexity of the system led to rampant corruption. Government officials expected bribes for the smallest transaction.
 
“Both Diocletian and Constantine greatly increased state control over the lives of Roman citizens. Both believed that the disorder of the 3rd century demanded a larger army, central economic planning, and an expanded bureaucracy to collect the taxes and monitor an increasing number of regulations. They tried to maintain order in the empire through the detailed management of Roman society. Local officials could not control trade and economic planning, so the government divided the provinces into smaller units and sent separate military and civil administrators to enforce new regulations.
 
Authoritarian rule permeated every aspect of Roman life as the government bound farmers to their land and craftspeople to their trade. The government required the sons of bakers or shipbuilders to follow their fathers' careers. The emperors even established a secret police, and the old unregulated economic system yielded to a planned economy. The emperors often appealed to the public good when they suppressed individual rights, requisitioned goods, or increased taxes. In the words of one writer of the period, the empire became a prison."
 
-“Roman Empire” www.crystalinks.com
 
 
America is the greatest nation on earth. There is no doubt in my mind that America has become the land of opportunity for millions upon millions of people. The freedoms we enjoy here have caused us to not only influence the course of the world’s history, but also to set examples of how the world should strive to govern. Which is why it pains me so terribly to see our nation begin to collapse.
 
Whether through deceit or pure ignorance those in charge of our well being in government have changed fundamentally the duties and powers of government. This new set of values and goals will kill whatever remains of America’s spirit and nature. It will not be in my time or my children’s, but I fear that my grandchildren will live to see the collapse of America and all that she has come to stand for. I fear for them because so few can see the inevitability of this collapse.
 
No longer do our politicians govern out of love of country. They govern out of fear of re-election, out of love of money and power. Our politicians have no duty other than to those that stuff their election campaigns with donations, no respect other than a love of the bureaucracy that has made them powerful. 
 
Their beliefs change with the mood of the country. For politicians, the slightest change in polls determines their views on a given issue. All that matters is that their hair looks good for Larry King. They stand for nothing, and the media, supposedly our last means of control, entrusted with finding truth, stand aside as the charlatans wave their wands. 
 
Career politicians are elected not because of their competence, but because of their so-called “experience,” when in reality they have done nothing but linger in a facade of inaction for a decade. They have no experience in the real world, have no concept of what is important to the American people.
 
Those whom bear our name and whom represent our voices no longer do so. They act to better themselves and their pocketbooks.
 
The government now functions only to make itself larger. With a Republican President, Senate and Congress, the large, overbroad bureaucratic behemoth still eats away at what is left of America’s self-responsibility. We border on entering Marxist values, coupled with the Big Brother mentality of Orwell’s legendary 1984. Politicians call for expanded welfare, more regulations, more restrictions, and more intrusions into our daily lives then ever before.
 
Big Government is a thing of the past, my children will only know “Bigger Government.” Unbelievably the average middle class family must now work until JULY, just to pay off the government’s taxes. They keep no money until August. Do you hear of this travesty in the news? Or has it just become so ingrained into our daily lives that we refuse to care?
 
This is not the freedom our forefather’s intended. This is the unfair government we have worked so hard to avoid.
 
Worst off, children are now being brought up to disrespect America. There is no sense of loyalty to our country; we do what is best for ourselves, in every case. Duty, honor and sacrifice are anachronisms in our world. Rare is it to hear of someone standing up for the United States, even in our own country.  Negative reporting of America and our people dominates the airwaves in other countries, and we say nothing. The silence of good men is the worst curse anyone could wish on our country.
 
As the government continues to expand, and as we have politicians like Kerry and Edwards who vow to raise taxes and increase government spending, the corruption of not only our government, but our society will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. This is not a reflection on Kerry and Edwards character but merely an unavoidable truth. 
 
This is not the America I want. Rome was the foundation our forefathers had in mind for our country at its founding. It is sad that it will be the portend to our destruction.
 
 
 
Can you step? Email me.
hckyfn15@aol.com