Wednesday, September 29, 2010

When Nations Die

(I'd like to present another thought-provoking post from my dear husband.)
-Janice

One of the most eye-opening topics that I discuss in my law enforcement courses deals with the downfall of great empires and nations. We study the social control systems used by the Babylonian Empire, Hebrews, Egyptians, Greek, Roman Empire, French and the British Empire. All of these nations once dominated most of the world. As with all world superpowers, they eventually collapsed.

In 1994, John Nelson Black wrote a book entitled “When Nations Die: The Warning Signs of a Culture in Crisis.” In this book, Black examines the history of the world’s former dominate nations and identifies common features that signaled their eminent doom. The following 10 problems began to plague each of these nations just prior to their collapse: (my comments follow each)

1. A Crisis in Lawlessness

While many may point to the lawless behavior of citizens, I would point out the lawless behavior of our elected officials and judges. Too many bureaucrats operate with complete disregard for the Constitutional limitations placed upon them by our Founding Fathers. Our court system freely legislates from the bench, with a single judge overturning the majority of voters in a state. State sovereignty is for all practical purposes a thing of the past and we allow the government to do things that would never be tolerated if committed by the average citizen. Instead of respecting our Constitution, too many in our government view the Constitution as an out-dated obstacle that must be ignored for the sake of a progressive agenda.

2. Loss of Economic Discipline

Our government continues to accumulate an alarming amount of debt. In less than 2 years, the Obama Administration has raised our national debt to over 13 trillion dollars. Obama racked up more debt in 421 days than the Bush Administration did in 4 years following the start of 2 wars. CBS News has reported that our national debt will surpass our total national economy in 2012. In other words, it is becoming impossible for our nation to ever get out of debt. It doesn’t require an economics degree to see that our growing debt, combined with new expenses such as national health care, has become unsustainable. Social security is already paying out more than it brings in. Our government’s addiction to spending other people’s money has caused our nation’s economy to become the largest pyramid scheme ever devised, and we’re watching it collapse like a house of cards.

3. Rising Bureaucracy

The government gets bigger and bigger each year, continuing to encroach on our freedoms. Congress and state legislatures pass thousands of new laws each year, almost never repealing old laws. We are living in an increasingly legislated society. EVERYTHING is regulated in some way. Prior nations could not comprehend the amount of bureaucracy we live under today. Author and radio host Mark Levin refers to those promoting this rising level of bureaucracy as “statists.” Joel Salatin of Polyface Farm said it best with the title of his 2007 book “Everything I Want To So Is Illegal.”

4. Decline of Education

While we continue to spend more and more money on public education each year, our country continues to have high drop-out rates, violence in schools, “dumbing down” of curriculum and high school graduates who are illiterate. As a college instructor, I am horrified at the lack of basic fundamentals (reading, math, history, writing) expressed by my students. Many public schools have become nothing more than social clubs and politically correct recruitment centers. Students can’t read, do math or understand our nation’s history, but they are experts on the topics of global warming, sexual liberation, web-surfing, and who’s who among Hollywood celebrities and professional athletes.

5. Weakening of Culture Foundations

A major issue within the weakening of culture foundations is the loss of a common language. As a society becomes multi-lingual, cultural divisions grow. This is further harmed as those within a nation begin rejecting a common national bond, instead seeking identification with outside cultures. Instead of calling oneself an “American”, it is now trendy to be identified as a hyphenated-American. Multi-culturalism has replaced the melting-pot philosophy. Immigrants are no longer encouraged to assimilate, but rather to hold on to the values of their former homeland. We are a nation divided by various cultures who have no desire to respect the founding principles that made this country strong.

6. Loss of Respect for Tradition

While there are many examples of this, let’s use an issue important to our family.. natural foods. Not only have most people lost respect for the way food was grown, raised and prepared just a few decades ago, but they support efforts to prohibit traditional farming and ranching. There are organic farmers being sued by chemical companies for planting crops that have been contaminated by a neighbor’s “big ag” farm. Dairy farmers are even being arrested by health departments and the USDA for selling unadulterated pure milk. People are laughed at if they refuse to soak their garden in every poisonous substance known to man. Modern cattle farmers actually believe that cows are supposed to eat corn feed and not grass. How in the world were crops grown and livestock raised before the big chemical companies came about? Oh how soon we forget the traditions of our past.

7. Increase in Materialism

One of the primary reasons Americans are in so much debt is our obsession to own the newest electronic gadgets and latest clothing fashions. It is like we are in a contest to see who owns the most toys before we die. How many Americans struggle to make their mortgage, grocery and utility payments, yet seem to have every entertainment and communications gadget. Only in America do we have people considered below the poverty line who own 2 vehicles, multiple flat-screen TVs, Blackberries, lap-top computer with Internet, satellite channel service, video game units and closets full of clothes.

8. A Rise in Immorality

With many of these lost nations, sexual perversion was prevalent just before their collapse. Multiple sexual partners, homosexuality and pedophilia were common practice. Today, it seems everything is dominated by sex, homosexuality is now considered trendy and cool, sodomy is now a civil right and the courts are ruling in favor of gay marriages.

9. Decay of Traditional Religious Beliefs and Rise in Alien Religions

Since the 9/11 attacks just 9 years ago, I have witnessed what I consider to be one of the most bizarre religious transformations in the history of the world. Instead of “mainstream” Americans becoming more cautious of Islam, it is instead being embraced and defended. The number of Americans identifying themselves as Muslim is skyrocketing. In addition to traditional Islam, the radical “Liberation Theology” religions of pastors such as Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan (which are closely associated with Islam) are spreading out of the urban areas and prisons and throughout the country. Our own President has stated we are no longer a Christian nation and has described the United States as one of the largest Muslim nations in the world. The media and politicians are constantly telling us that Islam is a “religion of peace” and we must be tolerant of the growing influence of Muslims in our country. I’m sorry, but following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, if FDR would have gotten on the radio and described Japanese Shinto as a religion of peace and called for tolerance, he would have be hauled off to a mental hospital. I would suggest everyone start familiarizing yourself with Islamic Sharia law now so you’ll be ahead of the game when you’re living under it.

10. A Decline in Values and Loss of Respect for Human Life

This loss of respect begins with the most vulnerable, the very young and the very old. Euthanasia, infant abandonment, and primitive forms of abortion were becoming common with these nations. When someone becomes inconvenient, just get rid of them. Grandma is getting old, just pull the plug. Have an unwanted pregnancy, just get an abortion. With stem cell research, you can even get paid to have an abortion.

In Conclusion:
Needless to say, it doesn’t require a degree in history or political science to quickly recognize that we suffer from all 10 symptoms. Is it too late to divert from this doomed path? If we resign to the belief that most people have no interest in changing our direction, then what do we do in the meantime? Not a pleasant issue to ponder, but I assure you, ignoring this issue will not make it go away.

9 comments:

  1. And raising a steer for tenderness and good marbling. That steer needs GRAIN not grass or hay.
    One of the toughest steer I raised was one that was on pasture.
    Now I will only feed GRAIN and very very little hay or grass. Period.

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  2. The above comment proves the point being made by the writer. "That steer needs GRAIN not grass or hay". "Needs" grain, oh yes, like milk "needs" pasteurization, crops "need" to be genetically modified, children "need" socialization and must attend government schools, we "need" mandated federal health care, we "need" abortions to control the population, we "need" more environmental regulations, etc. Big Governent, Big Agriculture, Big Education, Big Brother all justify what they force down our throats under the preface of "need".
    Believe it or not, people ate beef long before Monsanto developed soylent green to feed our genetically modified cow-like creatures. I want REAL cows who consume REAL grass like God intended!

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  3. Actually, soylent green was made from people, which would be a natural food. I'd rather eat beef from cows who ate people than GMO grain and chemicals.
    The last person I argued with concerning GMO grains also said something about "good marbling" and how tough grass-fed beef was. I suspect these are talking points released by the commercial agriculture/USDA types, especially during their well-known dinners hosted at farms to promote the latest and greatest poison their mad scientists have developed. foodincmovie.com

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  4. Monsanto profits about 2 billion dollars per year, more income than many countries in the world. Fighting Monsanto is like single-handedly declaring war on some small country. As with the commercial poultry business, today's modern farmers are so deeply entrenched with these seed companies, they will defend them to the end. It is like a drug addict who will do anything to continue receiving his fix. Because of genetic engineering, these farmers must buy their seeds each year, must use Monsanto products to keep the crop alive and must use pestacides designed for their crops. Every aspect of the farm is controlled by Monsanto. The company reps do an excellent job of brainwashing these farmers and locking them into contracts. The typical farmer has spent his whole life farming, knows little about the rest of the world and is completely clueless to the natural food issues we discuss on a daily basis. The seed rep says "Organic bad, we good", and the farmer nods his head in agreement, without further thought on the matter.

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  5. Too bad more attention wasn't paid to this in 1994 when the work was originally published. To answer your question at the end, yes, it is too late to change it. 10 or 15 years ago, there would have been time, but we're gone too far. How do you eliminate government programs that are now viewed as vital to human survival? We're all socialists now. We all participate in socialist systems that Karl Marx never dreamed of, we're beyond Communism.
    This country has been dying for decades, on life support since the early 1990s and in November 2008, we pulled the plug. We gave up on individual liberty and surrendered ourselves to the concept of full government control of our lives. Ask around, most people love it. I would estimate we make up no more than 20% of the population, the urban areas, Northeast, Great Lakes region, West Coast are completely dominated by socialist-oriented views. I've travelled this country and most of it is not worth visiting, just a few pockets of Patriots hidden here and there.
    While I admire the Tea Party effort, it will prove pointless in the end. We've dug ourselves too far into this hole to climb out. Unless we all move to some corner of the country, take over and break away, forming our own nation, it is hopeless. We are far out numbered nationwide. We lost the war and our side never fired a shot. The Patriots of yesterday have become today's paper tigers, roaring to themselves but lacking the courage to attack. We will find ourselves, like real tigers, rounded up and locked into a zoo.
    They won, we lost and its our own fault.

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  6. Language is not just an immigrant issue. I'm Cajun and cannot speak the language of my people because it was beaten out of my grandparents when they were in public school. Cajuns, no matter what language they speak, are just as much Americans as are English-speakers. American Indians were here before the current crop of "real American" white English-speaking Christians, and yet English was not their first language either.

    It's easy to say "yes but we should all speak the language of the victors of our historical wars" but then I would argue you should have no problem going along with the people winning the ideological wars, right? You assume, of course, that that's liberals and socialists--I'd argue that point, but let's say you're right. Then what's your objection to being liberal and socialist, if they're winning the culture war?

    Oh, you want to hang on to your heritage? Then you have no argument about other people wanting to hang on to theirs.

    The reason this nation is in decline is because it bit off more than it could chew. To expect 300 million people to adopt the race, culture, ethnicity, and language of an outlaw class of white English-speaking Calvinists who came here because Great Britain would no longer tolerate their presence is just insane.

    And it's especially hypocritical coming from proponents of states' rights. If you would argue that state laws should trump federal then you ought to argue that local ethnicity trumps national identity. One and the same.

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  7. Anonymous 8:27,

    After reading your post, my first thought was, "This person has so much hatred for America." The fact that you can describe the first colonists searching for religious freedom as "an outlaw class of white English-speaking Calvinists who came here because Great Britain would no longer tolerate their presence" just makes my jaw drop.

    The purpose of this section of the post was to show that there must be commonalities in a nation's people in order for the nation to survive. I believe it is in the best interest of a nation to have a multitude of variances within the population, however there must be SOME basic commonalities. Without SOME basic commonalities, you simply have chaos and confusion. In Genesis 11, when God wanted to disperse the people that were building a tower to heaven, what did He do? He confused their language so that they couldn't understand one another. As a result, the people ceased building the tower and scattered all over the face of the earth. Without a common language there is chaos and confusion.

    We must have a common language for the same reason that we must have a unified currency. If every little town had their own currency, it would be virtually impossible to trade throughout the nation. Likewise, a common language is a basic necessity for a nation to thrive. I am in no way saying that any languages should be banned. I would actually encourage individuals to retain their heritage by continuing to practice their culture's traditions within their own home/family/small community. I am simply saying that a citizen of this nation should be CAPABLE of communicating in the English language.

    Anonymous, even though I wholeheartedly disagree with your view, I do still appreciate you taking the time to present your thoughts.

    Take care,
    Janice

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  8. Wow Janice, Rachel Maddow reads your blog. (if not her, than she has a twin) Typical lib-tard, can't state an opinion without attacking Christians, our Founding Fathers and the Tenth Amendment. "If we lose freedom here, there is no where else to go, we are the last stand on Earth," Ronald Reagan. The lib-tards may have won the culture war in the rest of the world, but I'm not going down without a fight. Live free or die! Give me liberty or give me death!

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  9. RE: #9 - When I was in school, Islam was some religion practiced on the other side of the world, the side of the world constantly at war with their neigbors. We were so thankful that Canada and Mexico were not Islamic, thus were felt no need to worry about them. Even during the Beruit bombings and Iran hostage crisis, we had no fear they would actually come to the U.S. Stay out of the middle-east and you would be safe.
    Now they roam our streets. There are Muslims everywhere now and they have a strangle-hold on our courts and law makers. Don't dare speak out against them, you'll have their lawyers breathing down your neck. Are we so foolish as to not recognize they are taking us over from within? I keep asking myself how many people have their heads in the sand verses how many actually want Islam to dominate the world. It is obvious what Obama's opinion is, and most people voted for him, what does that say for our future?

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