I've never lived in another country, so I can't say for sure that we are the greatest nation on earth. Perhaps we are. More likely, perhaps we were or if we still are, there isn't much of a bar to jump over these days.
We need to change. We are number one in in the world in regards to some things, but nothing that I would find worth bragging about. In fact, the things we used to be (and should be) best at are slip sliding away and we haven't even noticed, or maybe it's just that we don't care.
As I said to kick this off, I have never lived elsewhere. I'm glad I was born here, but that doesn't mean I have to cheer lead when things are wrong. Love it or leave it? What kind of hillbilly nonsense is that? Without dissent, we'd still be colonies. Dissent and bucking the conventional wisdom is as American as it gets. I'm guessing if 30 people read this (and that's probably being generous), at least half will be pissed off about it. Well.....good. I don't care. Some things need to be said.
First off, we are the best in the world at some stuff. We have more people in prison than any other nation. We spend more on the military than any other nation. We are the world's largest exporter of military grade weapons and often times we have our own soldiers killed by those very weapons. We have more gun deaths than any other nation. We are the most obese nation on the planet. Hip Hip Hooray!!!!
There are some things we should be right near the top in world wide, but sadly, we are not even close. We rank 11th among industrialized nation in health and healthcare. The rest of the world is seeing an increase in life expectancy, the United States is seeing a decline. Education? Glad you asked. US students rank 17th in reading and 21st in mathematics. Out of the 35 most economically developed nations on earth, the US ranks 34th in child poverty.
Let's just not say we are slipping....we have slipped. The game isn't over, but we don't seem to want to do anything to change the score. We seem content to be the next great empire to implode upon itself. I'm guessing most Americans are not seeing it coming. Why would they? If you watch network TV or one of the cable news channels, everything must be going great right? I mean, they show us people with no talent in talent contests. We watch celebrities that can't dance, try to dance. Bruce Jenner's tits and dick are worthy of news reports. We are sold a bill of goods about our great democracy when 90% of the media is owned by 6 corporation, and the only bills that get passed are ones in which lobbyists are pouring money into the political piggy banks for. Guess who is getting the screw? The middle class? Give that dog a bone!
You might still be with me at this point, but here is where I'm gonna lose some of you. It's time for some shit to change. It's time to start thinking like we live in 2015 and not 1615.
The confederate flag. Isn't it time that goes? Don't give me some bullshit about heritage. It is a symbol of treason against the very nation that some of you say you love so much. It's a symbol of regarding some human beings as being animals and personal property. States rights? Sure, a states right to cheap labor. It's a symbol of fighting against the tide of change (geez, that should feel REALLY familiar to people in the south these days) and the evolution of thought. The country isn't going to shake like a big rattlesnake and the south isn't rising again. Let it go. The north didn't win and the south didn't lose. The entire country won and lost with that war and it's time to put the damn 1860's to bed already.
Evolution. It's real. Educate yourselves. Cling to your 2,000 year old Koran/Bible or whatever, but don't hold your children and this country back any longer. If you don't want it taught in schools, well, you need to teach your kid at home so he/she can be a half brain dead idiot like you without any upward mobility. The rest of us are trying to move on. I don't give a damn what your book says....it's WRONG. It's been wrong about anything to do with science for thousands of years. We are dumbing our children down with nonsense. We are confusing them with mythology. This is becoming a highly technical world and we can't lose generations to believing we all came from a few people that got off a big boat after a flood. We spend a trillion dollars a year on the military (16% of the budget) and we spend 2% of the budget on education. What the hell are we doing? We don't even have simple factory jobs for the dumb asses to do any more (because your political ideology is giving you the high hard one and you aren't bothering to look over your shoulder) and the jobs the morons are qualified for are jobs you don't want to even pay them $10 an hour for! We actually tell people to get jobs and then get mad if we think they make too much for said job. We actually side with the hundred billion dollar company over the slave....I mean worker making $8 or $10 an hour! Insanity.
Guns. It's time that we had a serious talk about guns and the gun culture in this country. For the record, I support gun ownership. I just believe it's time that we get strict with the ability to purchase/own one. Buying a hunting rifle or a shotgun is one thing. You should have to get a license and take a safety class. As for semi-automatic guns, folks should have to take some sort of test to see if any red flags fly up that may point towards future violence. At that point, a person should probably have to go through a longer waiting period and have to take additional courses on safety and hell, why not get a psych evaluation. (just spit balling ideas) What is so wrong with making gun ownership as safe as possible? You would think that the NRA and gun owners would want these sorts of things. The responsible people are getting a bad rap and frankly, less gun restrictions is just about one of the stupidest things anyone can argue for at this point. I'm actually more afraid of an American with a handgun on their person or in their car than I am of any terror threat. Hell, depending on what study you want to believe, we have had well over 200,000 gun deaths in the USA since 9/11. How many terrorist attacks have we had here since? We are manipulated to fear the wrong things. Stop buying the bullshit.
Climate change. It's happening. Man made? Maybe. Probably. Even if it isn't, is that a good reason to ignore it and fight against trying to protect the planet? Most scientists agree that there are things happening globally in regards to our climate that are eventually going to have a huge impact on human life in a negative way. I guess if you want to side with big money corporations that don't give a single fuck about you or this planet have at it, but you are going to be wrong (as you are on a lot of things I'm guessing if you are a denier) side of history and what a helluva issue to be on the wrong side of. If you have children and say you care about this country, you should be appalled at deforestation, fracking, and the deregulation morons that are only going along with this thing for political reasons. We should be leading the world in trying to keep our planet habitable, not fighting against is because of politics.
I suggest that we stop being controlled by political ideology and start thinking for ourselves. Reclaim your brain. Pick up a book and put down the phone. Watch a documentary instead of America's Got Talent. This conservative vs liberal, Democrat vs Republican thing is dragging our asses into a fast decline. We are a broken nation and we don't seem to know it. We cling to ideas more than practical reality. It's time to do what is best for the people of this nation. There are thousands more words I could write on how politics and corporate America being married is ruining the nation and our future, but I've already done it. If you care, search my site.
It's time to think differently....if you care.
It's time to think differently....if you care.
As I close this out, and leave you believing I'm some American hating liberal, know that I don't identify myself with an ideology. Most of this post would likely be applauded by folks of the more liberal persuasion, but there is a part 2 on this one that I will address at a later date. Some things need to be accounted for that many liberals don't want to face. Chief among those things are political correctness, crime, hardcore mental illness and topics as such.
So, until next time.....adios.
So, until next time.....adios.
