State of Our American Civilization

By Douglas V. Gibbs

When I talk about leftism, liberalism, progressivism, or whatever you want to call it, the folks on the left say, "Hey, Doug, quit it with the name calling."

Are you saying that is not what you are? How shall you be categorized then?

Liberalism is an ideology, and one that finds its roots from the same place as does fascism, socialism, and communism.

Progressives have taken over all parts of the American Government, and they are moving it in a direction that is due-opposite of the U.S. Constitution. The damage that is being done will take generations to repair.

It is important that we are pro-active. But I wonder, have we passed that sign that says, "The point of no return?"

It's close. I can feel the current quickening, but we are not there yet. I am not able to read the writing on the sign just yet, but I can see it in the distance. We are floating down the river, approaching Niagra Falls. I can hear the roar of the falls beyond that sign. Problem is, the idiots in Washington are saying, "Oh, that roar? That's the roar of recovery you hear."

In reality, it is the roar of disaster. The roar of collapse.

I was thinking about this. What would happen with the rest of the world if America collapsed like we see happening in Greece? We are the pedestal the rest of the world sits upon. Would the world, as did after Rome, collapse into Barbarianism? Would any technology survive? Or would the world after civilization follow the course of the Muslims after Israel departed from the West Bank and Gaza?

When Israel decided to get out of the territories claimed by the Palestinian Authority, those areas were world renowned for their innovative farming systems. Once the Jews were gone, however, the Muslims destroyed the technology (because it had been Jewish), and then went hungry as a result. They destroyed the farms that were capable of feeding nations, and then blamed their hunger on Israel.

Our Constitutional Republic, based on freedom, values, limiting principles, and a free market, is what has made us prosper. I don't see us allowing America to collapse. I just don't see us letting it get that far. We have experienced freedom. We know what it is like. I believe in Americans.

Otherwise, America would become what Ronald Reagan warned; Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.

I just have trouble believing that we would allow America to get to the point where freedom was but a distant memory.

Then again, we've allowed it to get to this point. We've allowed it to get this far. And what is worse, most of the sheep that is following the hard left don't even realize what they are allowing.

I've had liberals tell me we have to be compassionate, that lives rely on entitlement programs.

There's no money. You can be compassionate if you want, but what good is it if you have no money?

Think about this. We have a society filled with people that aren't willing to work as hard as previous generations, aren't willing to save their money and would rather live beyond their means, aren't willing to fight for freedom as much as previous generations, and our so-called compassion caused it.

Child labor laws, for example, have changed the face of work ethics. I am not suggesting children go back to being treated like slave labor, but because of these laws we have gone the opposite extreme and our children don't work nearly at all. Those kids that worked to help support the family grew up to become hard working adults.

Once again, I am not suggesting that we reinstate slave labor in regards to our children, but we have gone too far the other way. We have a society full of people that don't want to work.

After the labor laws were in place, when things got tough the government stepped in again. Gosh, not only do we have people that don't know how to work hard because they never learned good work ethics as children, but now we have people accepting the government telling them that its all okay, that the government will take care of them, too. We've got a society that was not taught to work, and was taught that if all things fall apart the government will save them.

It doesn't take very long for people to get the wise idea that, "Hey, if I play the system, I can be taken care of too."

And you would think that if welfare programs are so wonderful, then the number of people on welfare would diminish. But, that number has been increasing over the decades. The goal of welfare should be to eliminate the need for its own existence, but instead it encourages the need for its existence, and encourages more people to sign on.

How are our entitlement programs being paid for?

By the rich? And how did those people gain wealth? The Left will tell you, "On the backs of labor."

The hard left demonizes wealth, except of course their own members that enjoy such wealth. But it is those very people they need to fund the programs they put into place. Well, what happens when they demonize enough of them, and enough of them stop being wealthy, and there is no more wealthy folks to tax?

Utopianism is the driving force behind this. Problem is, once you start handing things out, everybody wants some.

Have you ever attended an event, or place of entertainment, and some vendor is handing out something free? Have you ever noticed what happens?

Once everyone realizes that something is being handed out for free, the guy is mobbed. There's people all around him. You couldn't force your way close enough, or jam your hand through to get your own freebie. And then eventually, he runs out of freebies. Eventually, there is nothing left to give away for free. Eventually, the freebies that the mob was reaching for vanishes under the demand.

How devastating would it be if our government collapsed under the weight of the mobs begging for something for free, but there is nobody left to pay for it?

We would collapse, just as Europe is collapsing. Will Europe's collapse be enough to jerk us awake? Will the European Nations who don't have a constitution like we have, that have never had a constitutional republic like we have, who have never experienced what true freedom and liberty is because they have always had big government; will their collapse be enough to convince us to turn back towards the U.S. Constitution?

I hope it doesn't get to that point. I hope we turn it all around before that happens.

I believe in America. But the roar of the falls is in the distance.

-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary