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The Twilight of Our CivilizationEight Signs The End May Be NearJuly 19, 2005Through out the ages of recorded human history no civilization has ever stood the test of time. Rome may have been the most successful empire but it only lasted 1000 years. Over the past 500 years several countries have risen to global power only to later fall. Ottomans, Portugal, Spain, England and France all once reined supreme. Moving into the 20th century several countries jockeyed for global power including the United States. Germany, Japan, and the former Soviet Union all made attempts at imperialism and failed. After World War II, the United States emerged as a global super power. Prior to World War II much of our imperialistic tendencies were focused on Central and South America. Winning World War II opened up the globe to us like an oyster and we took the pearl.The question arises now how long will the United States remain a global super power? How much longer can we remain imperialists? Empires after they become too large tend to collapse under their own weight. It is my opinion that the United States is nearing critical mass and may collapse in the next 50 years. Has the United States entered its twilight years? To me the answer is quite simply yes. There are several factors that indicate to me that the United States is on the decline.Sign Number One: Government is failing its People. While the United States form of Government may arguably be the best type of Government the world has seen to date on a large scale, it is far from perfect. The United States was founded on the basis that The People of the former British Colonies were being unfairly taxed. Such outrageous taxation drove The People to revolution.Today, The People of the United States are being unfairly taxed as well. What is worse, our tax money is being wasted by the politicians who are supposed to serve us, The People. Typical working families are paying nearly half of their income in taxes. Now I can hear you say “oh no they are not...after child credits and tax deductions they are not paying anywhere near 50%”. I am talking about ALL taxes; all those hidden taxes you fail to add up. Sales tax, gas tax, utility tax, phone tax, cable tax, liquor tax, cigarette tax, Social Security tax, medical, Medicare, Medicaid, state tax, local city tax, property tax, capital gains tax, estate tax, death tax, income tax, business tax, shipping tax, airplane tax, train tax, decorative plant tax, and on and on and on.Everyday the Government is taking our money. And what are they doing with it? No doubt we all love having a Police Force, Fire Department, Schools, roads, libraries, and hospitals. That’s all fine and well. We need these basic services. But too much of our hard earned money is wasted. And it is this waste that will be the end of the United States. Our Country has nearly $7.8 TRILLION dollars of debt. Who is going to pay for that? I know the answer….Who cares? Right? We’ll all be dead! Sign Number Two: And that is another reason why I say we are in the twilight of our civilization. We don’t care about our future and the future of our Grandchildren anymore. There was a time when everyone in this country did everything so that future generations would have a better life. Not any more.What is worse is the amount of money that just gets wasted and “lost” like the $9 billion in Iraq Reconstruction money. Where did that go? By the time we are through in Iraq it is going to cost us nearly $1 Trillion dollars. And for what? Sign Number Three: Our crumbling infrastructure. We no longer build great public works. We have given up on new forms of transportation, building more highways, or improving our energy distribution. What’s worse is there isn’t even a clear plan to address any of the issues that will face our future generations such as the coming oil crisis. It’s coming; it may take another 10 years but it will happen.Instead of spending $1 Trillion to invade and occupy Iraq we should have spent that money developing alternatives to the combustion engine. Sign Number Four: The shear level of corruption and cronyism within our Government. It has to be at unprecedented levels. I can only think of one other time in our History that *maybe* our Government was more corrupt and that was during the building of the transcontinental railroad.But the sign is not just in the level of corruption, it is also in its openness. Our leaders blatantly lie to our faces with absolutely no shame. It’s not rocket science. Cheney used to work for Halliburton. Halliburton gets all the no bid contracts on Iraq. Do the math. GW Bush comes from a wealthy Oil family. Sometimes the most obvious things are the hardest to see. Sign Number Five: Lack of Corporate Loyalty to the United States. It used to be that United States Corporations were at the very least loyal to the United States and its Citizens. This is no longer the case. First of all, Corporations barely pay their share of the tax burden. By the time they get finished with their tax shelters and write-offs, Corporations on the average pay about 7% in tax. What’s worse, many move off-shore to countries like Bermuda and pay not tax at all.Corporations are no longer loyal to the American Worker. They would just assume go overseas for cheaper labor, cheaper raw material, and increased profit margins. This creates a huge conflict because it’s the Corporations that lobby our government and influence it the most. This corporate influence is now more concerned with globalism than with the United States. Thus, the policies our Government keeps enacting tend to be more favorable for the ever increasing Corporate Globalization of the world rather than for The People of The United States. Sign Number 6: Privatization of the military. You may not be aware but much of our military is currently being privatized. We are hiring corporate mercenaries to do the world soldiers once did and contractors to provide the supplies the military once supplied. Some say this makes economic sense. I say it is dangerous. The danger lies in creating a fighting force that no longer has any loyalties except to those that pay them.Sign Number 7: The People of our society have become physically obese and weak. It is a simple product of our society. Our sedentary lives, creature comforts, and high calorie foods are creating new generations of softies. This is not really a problem now since many American no longer do manual labor. But it could be a problem in the future if our great grandchildren are actually forced to fight for their freedom they just many not be physically capable of doing so. Sign Number 8: The United States has come under the influence of Global Powers beyond our control or knowledge. Some of this power has been given to these global entities with the blessing of our Government.Conclusion: We may very well be living in the time of the peak of our civilization as we know it. There may be no way of stopping our decline but we must at least try. There are a few things we need to do in order to ensure our survival as a country. Clean up our government, streamline it, and make it fiscally responsible. Reverse the over taxation of Our People.Develop a clean, alternative energy source and stop using oil. Keep our military under National Control.Rebuild our infrastructure. Encourage a healthy, energetic society.Provide reliably, safe public transportation. |
