April 8, 2011. Last night we watched the second documentary (Public Broadcasting) on the Civil War. I was particularly interested because my great-great grandfather, who grew up in eastern Tennessee, was a Union soldier who was captured and suffered out most of the war in two or three Confederate POW camps. The Confederate POW camps were noted for their abuse and starvation of prisoners. When the war was over the Confederates put more than 2000 POWs on a river boat designed to hold 200 to 300 passengers. The over-worked boiler on the boat exploded and more than 1200 of the POW passengers were killed, my ancestor among them.
The Confederate States have never quit their efforts to defeat the United States. For almost one hundred years after the Civil War the southern whites rampantly bullied and persecuted their Negro neighbors almost without restriction. Because Lincoln was a Republican, the South for about that same 100 years was primarily Democratic. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Democratic administrations of Kennedy and Johnson shoved “racial equality” down their throats and the Southern states became solidly Republican almost over night. Then, in 2008, the ultimate insult: a half-black was elected President in an election the Republicans were not able to manipulate.
Now, aided by gullible Conservatives and Tea Baggers in the more northern states, the representatives and senators of the Republican southern states have decided that if they cannot absolutely control the government, then it behooves them to handcuff it. They have solved the tax problem. Of the large corporations in the U.S., more than 90% are not paying taxes; instead they have moved their corporate headquarters off-shore, mainly to Ireland and Switzerland, where they do not have to pay U.S. taxes in spite of the fact that most of their business takes place within the borders of the U.S. Add to this the tax cuts for the wealthy. Now that the tax situation is handled, they start in on the national debt; the Republicans are not admitting responsibility for any of it. Both the Democrats and Republicans ignored the soaring national debt during the Bush administration. Thanks to Mr. Cheney and Mr. Rumsfeld, contractors were added to the armed forces, tripling or quadrupling the cost of war.
Most of the budget cuts proposed by the Republican “antis” are designed to eliminate or cripple the social issues like Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, medical research, Planned Parenthood, education, National Public Broadcasting, environmental protection, etc. Although these items are less than one-eighth of the total budget, this is where they want the cuts, primarily because it is where the cuts will do the most harm to the lower and middle classes and the least damage to the wealthy. You may think that this is an exaggeration, but their actions speak much louder than the sound bites they put on TV.
If they succeed, the “American Dream” will be toast, history, nothing but a fantasy for all except the very well-to-do. Instead of being a “world leader” the United States will be looked at with scorn by most of the rest of the world: the largest third-world nation on earth, second only to India (and maybe not second).
Back in the 1980s Russia bankrupted itself, primarily by overspending on the military and because of a couple of useless military campaigns like Afghanistan (does that name sound familiar?). Now Russia is hampered by alcoholism, unemployment and apathy and has become a second-rate world power.
Are we next? The citizens of the United States support the Mexican drug cartels to the extent that the drug peddlers are as powerful as the Mexican government. Materialism has put our credit card debt at record levels. We are completely addicted to the use of fossil fuels. The Republican congressional representatives want to severely cut the budget of the EPA, which would eliminate many environmental restrictions on corporations. We are fighting two very expensive, unnecessary wars and have military units scattered all over the world. The unemployment situation does not look solvable. The U.S. economy depends on materialism, not production; production takes place over seas and consumption increases our debt to other countries.
I should not be complaining and pointing out all the problems if I do not have a solution to these tribulations, but I am sorry to say “I do not!” If this “Christian” nation were truly practicing Christianity, it would solve many of these difficulties. We readily accept the admonition to believe in Jesus Christ so that we will be accepted in Heaven because that gives us the security that our materialistic personalities desire. However, we just skip lightly over the fifth and sixth chapters of Matthew and become generous and loving if it is not too inconvenient or someone close needs help.
It is rather like driving downtown. You can only drive one car. When someone in another car does something dumb or dangerous, you do your best to see that you don’t get caught up in the same problem. Each of us can only live the one life that we have been blessed with. About all we can do is stand here and swat mosquitoes, while our so-called leaders ride our “MUSTANG” into the ground.
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