163 “The Amazing Disappearing of America”

IN DEFENSE OF COMMON SENSE
By Hetty Gray

September 27, 2013

“The Amazing Disappearing of America”

# 163

Well, now, it is undeniable that a profound change is consuming the nation… a crumbling of the institutions and workings that built this country from its inception.

Like any crumbling process, it begins slowly and never quite catches the eye of the wider public. It began decades ago when the so-called “Progressives” saw an opportunity to launch a long-term attack on freedom. Yes, freedom…

If anything, they are persistent. Meanwhile, the larger portion of the educated public (those in tune with the Founding Fathers and their wisdom), remain silent, consumed by their faith in the U.S. Constitution and its precepts. It is just that silence that dooms a society to dark forces.

Dark forces? Yes, dark forces. No force of light and good would launch programs to bait and switch persons who might have wanted a good job into the belief that Uncle Sam knows best. In the end, the very voters who keep these people in office are victims of their poor policies.

Once, factories in this nation churned at a frantic rate. In the midst of all that activity, more inventors came to the fore with newer and better products. The incentive to work was high. A person had to make it on his or her own, and that went for widows whose husbands died on the job. Few companies offered any kind of retirement. Folks were expected to save their money and insure their own retirement.

When FDR came up with Social Security, it was deemed supplemental income, not subsistence income. One by one, new programs arose until the days of LBJ brought us “The Great Society”. And what did that bring us? Are there less poor than in the past. Hardly. The key is that of the poor in this country, one would expect new poor to come into focus as others move up into the middle class due on their own.

The words “their own” has a new meaning and it’s not good. Once it meant that people had achieved solely due to their own work. Now, it means that those same people are “their” own. “Their” equals government. Today, we see a frighteningly large proportion of our populace totally dependent on the government and — to a shockingly high degree — unprepared to go out and work for themselves.

Oh, some will scream for a higher minimum wage, but that is not the answer. The answer is individual effort fueled by ambition — that “fire in the belly” that fueled and spurred forward the early colonists, pioneers on the trails west, and entrepreneurs of the 20th century.

Let’s take a quick look at why I cite “The Amazing Disappearing America.” First of all, the core industries that built America are, for the most part, gone. Gone are the sprawling mills that turned out the steel that built America. Gone are the railroads that linked both coasts. Gone are the wildcat oil fields that positioned America to stand on its own when it came to energy.

Granted, some of these industries imploded due to poor management and a lack of reinvestment and retooling. Old plants do not last forever. Copying on our success, foreign countries began building their own steel mills and other heavy industries.

And what do we have now? Small but well-funded groups clamor for the shutdown of coal-fired power plants. Oregon’s timber industry is dying. Most of the forests are on government land and growing number of government officials are complicit with them. It’s worse than the tail wagging the dog. It’s dangerous.

What if we were to launch a revival of the growth of America today? We wouldn’t be able to cut down a tree. God forbid we would want to scratch a line on the ground for a rail line. Remember, that the Allegheny Mountains were conquered by rail, not by road. An isolated east coast would never have witnessed the explosive growth spawned by the railroads.

Not a shovel of dirt would turn over for a new industrial plant. Not one shaft would have been dug into the coal-rich mountains, and the country would have been stagnant beyond belief.

And so, where are we today? We find ourselves hobbled by charlatans who want us to believe that every tiny change in temperature is the fault of man. If we closed down every coal-fired plant in this nation, the only result would be exorbitant utility bills. Since our prevailing winds are from west to east, where are these environmental wackos when China brings a new coal-fired plant on line every week?

If we sign a treaty to cut back on carbon emissions and Asia does not, who is the loser? Yep. It’s us. What good does it do us to assume a posture of “doing the right thing” when it results in our demise?

It’s time to kick the United Nations out of New York City. It would open up a lot of good office space with spectacular views and rid us of a lot of parking violators. Incidentally, they seldom pay their tickets anyway, so don’t worry about losing NYPD revenue if they leave town.

Looking at recent initiatives by that laughable body of diplomats with expense accounts in one of the world’s best entertainment cities, they have one goal in mind: America’s disappearance as a major economic and military power. If you disagree, you aren’t reading the signs. If anything, socialists are very patient. They are incremental in their processes and don’t care if it takes generations to accomplish their ends.

Well, their ends will be the “end” of this nation, if we, the people, don’t wake up and smell the coffee. Get accustomed to saying “good-byes”. We said one to the railroads, we said one to the great steel and textile mills, and now we say goodbye to timber.

Well, since the “greenies” are against chemicals, I doubt if new structures will be made from plastic and composites. Steel is out. They are ruling out timber, too.

Fuel is abundant in this nation. Estimates are coal for at least 200 years and a huge supply of natural gas. A two-century lead-time assures our scientists and inventors time to innovate and come up with alternative energy sources. Solar and wind are only viable with huge subsidies, but subsidy is another whole issue and deserving of its own column.

It is not unreasonable to see that the agriculture sector is next on the list. A safe, reliable food supply is critical to this nation. Check out the shortcomings in the food supply over the past few years and you will see that it comes from “organic” farms. What I want to know is this: what food is INORGANIC? For Pete’s sake, leave farming to the experts – the American farmers who feed both their nation and the world. Paying two to three times as much for something marked organic is — for want of a better word — stupid. We have heard some of these people laugh at the fact that they have sold their customers a bill of goods. They laugh all the way to the bank.

Minus steel, timber and coal, we are in a real fix when it comes to economic growth. Can you imagine any kind of retail or commercial expansion without those basic ingredients? I guess the environmentalists won’t think too much about plywood unless they need to board up the windows on their expensive beach houses as a hurricane bears down on them. Of course, rules are only for us peasants, not the ruling class. Unfortunately, what we see is more and more a ruling class among our leaders. They routinely exempt themselves from laws crushing us. The current health care law is but one example.

Jefferson, Madison, Paine, Henry, and Washington must be rolling over in their graves. Franklin, on the other hand, reminded one questioner curtly. When the woman asked if the country were a democracy or a republic, he replied: “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”

Egad. I think Rod Serling was right. We are living in “The Twilight Zone” — not one of his making or a warped vampire series, either — but the Twilight of America itself. I remember one particular line from “Star Wars.”

“I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened.” (Obi-Wan Kenobi, referring to the Destruction of Alderaan)

Are you willing to stand by and do nothing as America is silenced? Email. Call. Write. Make your voice known.

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