No. 798 - WHAT HAS AMERICA BECOME?
No. 798
Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN
WHAT HAS AMERICA BECOME?
Former Secretary of the Treasury, the late William Simon, left us with a most sobering and insightful book titled, “A Time for Truth” (copyright 1978) in which he outlines America’s impending social and economic meltdown. His words, and the central theme of his book, could probably be best summed up with the dedication to his wife and children.
He states, “I dedicate this book to my wife Carol, who stands by my side throughout all my battles — and to my children, so they can never say, at some future time, “Why weren’t we told?”
As an eternal optimist I always try to paint the most positive and optimistic picture I can, but also realize there is indeed a time for stating the truth, because this is the only way we can ever be on solid footing to deal with our problems, both personal and as a nation.
We live in a day and time when the pen is mightier than the sword, and I can only hope that some of my thoughts will reach the eyes, hearts, and minds of those in positions of leadership and authority, who can make corrections in the course we are traveling.
A few weeks ago I received an article from a reader that should be read and pondered by every responsible citizen in our nation. It is titled, “What Has America Become?” I wrote the author, Ken Huber, and was given permission to share the story. It begins, “Has America become the land of the special interest and home of the double standard? Let’s see: if we lie to the Congress, it’s a felony, and if the Congress lies to us, it’s just politics; if we dislike a black person, we’re racists and if a black dislikes whites, it’s their First Amendment right.
“The government spends millions to rehabilitate criminals and they do almost nothing for the victims; in public schools you can teach that homosexuality is OK, but you had better not use the word God in the process; you can kill an unborn child, but it’s wrong to execute a mass murderer; we don’t burn books in America, we now rewrite them; we get rid of the communists and socialists by renaming them progressives; we are unable to close our border with Mexico, but have no problem protecting the 38th parallel in Korea; you can have pornography on TV or the internet, but you had better not put a nativity scene in a public park during Christmas; we have eliminated all criminals in America, they are now called sick people; we can use a human fetus for research, but it’s wrong to use an animal.
“We take money from those who work hard for it and give it to those who don’t want to work; we all support the Constitution, but only when it supports our political ideology; we still have freedom of speech, but only if we are being politically correct; parenting has been replaced with Ritalin and video games; the land of opportunity is now the land of hand outs; the similarity between Hurricane Katrina and the gulf oil spill is that neither president did anything to help. And how do we handle a major crisis today? The government appoints a committee to determine who’s at fault, then threatens them, passes a law, raises our taxes, tells us the problem is solved so they can get back to their reelection campaign.”
Ouch! This article kind of reminds me of a piece of meat I get once in a while that is tough. The longer I chew on it, the bigger it gets. It all comes down to this simple fact: We are either a part of the problem or a part of the solution.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)
