The unraveling of our American culture

            This total post is in two parts. This is part one.

            It's easy to complain about anything, but to me complaining also obligates me to take corrective action, or these days, just to offer up corrective action ideas. The aforementioned idea is for part two, or another post.

            Now one can argue our American culture has not unraveled.  But one can argue it is unraveling.  All this unraveling is also right in front of our eyes. Just who will say "the king has no clothes". And how many will now have to die early when our culture is unraveled.

            There are many examples of what I mean, like what I fear or worry about. Some examples are foreign policy, most are domestic. And having a problem is less important than what we do about a problem. It's in the "what do we do about a problem" that worries me most, like advances our culture towards unraveled, vice unraveling.

            Now some examples.

                        An elected local politician in Michigan does not know that Texas shares a border with Mexico, yet makes decisions. That suggests a dumbing down of both our leaders, and our voters; and it seems worse now than before.

                        Having children out of wedlock is not as shameful as it used to be as recently as half a century ago. We have had well intentioned government programs to pay for all this single motherhood, and now have the results, like a generation of kids growing up without two parents at home, with all the expected results; like poor education, gangs, and people dependent on free payments for food and shelter, and expecting it. Lord knows it's hard enough for two parents to raise their children. And the tax payer is paying for the free part, too, and so far.

                        Propaganda in the media and increased lying to rule in the various governments, and the populaces acceptance of all this, suggests a culture rot that will end up having a lot of people die early as mother nature kicks in. Now perhaps the lying is just plain ignorance of the rulers? Who knows, but it is happening, right in front of our eyes.  I offer up the Global Warming arguments as an example of propaganda and lying about the human effects being the main cause.

                        Is government there to serve the people, or are the people there to finance the government. Are we citizens, or serfs and vassals? Suppose one day people quit loaning the governments their money to pay for all these wonderful benefits, since our taxes no longer cover all the benefits. Recently I read an article that right now we work over six months a year to just pay the various governments their taxes due. What happens when we can't pay our way, just from our taxes?  What happens when we have to work the entire year just to pay our taxes, and my children then can't afford a house payment? Now that is conjecture, but suggests the fears I have. My example is the increasing bankruptcies of the various governments both in the USA and in Europe. To me, it comes across like band aiding the problems, and trying to muddle through.

                        Now in the old days, governments (really the elected leaders) tried to promote the common good as a priority. Infrastructure, like roads and bridges construction is a classic example. So was a common Postal Service, as was our common defense. Even where I live in rural east Tennessee we have had public electricity for over half a century.  Now there are alarmist TV shows about the crumbling of America. It appears too many of our elected leaders now have other priorities than something simple like maintenance, and the expense thereof.  My example is the collapse of so many bridges that have also killed so many people who counted on these bridges working.

                        Last, in this part one post comes the idea of human health care. Now the present debate about Obamacare seems to top the charts, but how about other things like clean water, waste water treatment to keep disease down, and trash collection and deposits away from where we live. My example is some governments can't even afford garbage collection, and one can expect things like disease to increase as a result. And disease usually brings sickness and death. Imagine Haitian cholera coming to your neighborhood. I can.

            Again, all this does not have to happen, but seems to be happening in our American culture.  How many people have to die early before someone says "the king has no clothes", and it takes hold of the populace.

            Like I suggested, American culture has not unraveled, but seems to be in the unraveling stage.

            Part two follows as another post. That post will be suggested constructive action ideas, since they abound. The intent is just to keep human deaths under like 80% of those of us alive today. Yep I expect to die, like 80% of us, worse case. Being cold and hungry, or having to grow my own food  is not an expectation I seek. So part two is for the 20% or more that survive, I hope. Now I am not very religious, but all this discussion is beginning to sound somewhat Biblical, to me.