The following was submitted in response to comments on a Leaf Chronicle story reporting the mounting federal debt and how the public is often misinformed about the debt:
Careful there, Concerned Citizen. Pres. Clinton actually created the greatest surplus we had ever seen during his tenure. It was this president who, in his first six months alone, not only wiped out that surplus but then spent twice that amount in the negative. The Afghanistan/Iraq War is funded “Off the Books!” He has resisted every effort to fund the Social Security Trust Fund in real dollars. He has refused to likewise fund the VA Health Care System with real dollars as a non-discretionary item in the federal budget. The Walter Reed scandal forced his hand, but not by much. Just a little window dressing to appease the masses. Think photo-op in New Orleans. Ever wonder why he doesn’t come to Ft. Campbell anymore?
Sorry but those are the facts. I’m not out to brash the GOP but the facts lay this mess at their feet and their shoes are covered in the muck of denial and refusal. Our national debt is at the mercy of our none-to-stalwart allies and adversaries. Our ability to influence the world stage is compromised. Our military is stretched to the breaking point. Our president has embraced tactics which we declared war crimes in WWI & WWII- treatment of enemy combatants. Remember how we denounced the Viet Cong’s treatment of our captured military personnel? But now we, America, have Abu Ghrarib and Gitmo and worse. And Al Quida gains new recruits nearly around the world.
Civil liberties protected by our Constitution are being stripped away from us in the name/guise of security. And pray tell, why has the president signed a presidential edict granting himself unlimited, near dictatorial, powers in times of crisis-crisis which only he gets to define, without the advise and consent of the Congress. G. Gordon Liddy reported this two weeks ago. He calls it an end run around the Constitution and said we should demand Congress challenge it immediately. Heard anything about it from our Tennessee federal delegation yet, have you?
A Marine reservist, a veteran of Iraq, is being drummed out of the Corps, two weeks shy of his scheduled separation with a punitive general discharge and having to repay his education benefits, for his anti-war views. See the story at The Huffington Report. Land of the free, home of the brave? Not if you question the wisdom of your gov’t. Not if you question the truthfulness of your gov’t. Not if you seek to hold your gov’t accountable to the laws, rules and regulations it imposes on its citizens. Not if you refuse to be a mindless automatron steadily consuming the mindless dribble that flows from the mouthpieces of government, be it local, municipal, state or federal. Then you are seeking to give aid and comfort to the enemy. Then your patriotism is suspect. Then, you’re not being a ‘Good American.’ Like those ‘Good Germans’ under the Nazi Reign, perhaps. Report fraud or corruption and YOU are the troublemaker. Even skin color is no guarantee of immunity.
We need a leadership revolution and it cannot come too soon. Here’s the tricky part- the citizenry must demand it. They must lead the vanguard.