Will America Self-Destruct?

By John H. Brand, D.Min., J.D.


http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_270.shtml


Is America now standing at the door leading to ruin and decay? The brilliant experiment bequeathed to us by the Founding Fathers was built upon a system of checks and balances. Our worthy forebears knew that humans could not be trusted with power. They asked themselves what political governance could be designed to keep raptors from destroying the dream that "all men are endowed . . . to have certain unalienable rights . . . Life, liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness?"...

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...While all functions of each brain are significant, the emotionality of the limbic system dominates much of human existence alongside the territorial imperative. Realizing that the origin of emotions dates back about 180 million years, it becomes much easier to understand why it is almost impossible to carry on an intellectual conversation with someone who has an emotional commitment to his or her views on a particular topic. The neocortex, only about five or six million years old, has little chance against the overpowering force of the limbic system. Political quacks and religious charlatans know how to exploit the power of emotions. Flag-waving and passionate oratory block the power of reason.

The construction of a sane and just society becomes an impossibility when emotions dominate behavior. When the masses are exploited through the use of emotionally charged propaganda, the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are not too far distant.

one person's self-destruction is another's reinvigoration. The USA has reinvented itself numerous times, thankfully improving (in the long run) each time. What's happening now may be just another instance of this process. Alas, in order for people to see just how vile the neo-con Repukes and their fundamentalist pseudo-Christian allies are, the present period of their ascendancy may have been necessary. We must hope that the people, having experienced the horror for themselves, will turn in revulsion from their failed policies and embrace the progressive, liberal politics of hope, freedom, and equality of opportunity. To quote Jefferson: "A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. In order to flourish, the tree of Liberty needs the blood of patriots and tyrants."

We've lost too much patriots' blood under these idiots already.

while riding atop it, then they think that the Great Dull Beast will settle back down to what it was before, when they say 'whoah there' and 'down, now' as if it will listen, and to them! the foolish bastards! first off, the Great Dull Beast probably considers the noisy fukks a light lunch, fat and handy! that's before the thing reflects that the entire hullabaloo was started and kept up by the noisy dupes yelling 'i order you! you must listen to us! STOP RIGHT NOW, Oh PLEASE STOP!'
lol :)

Empires come, and they go. This is a fairly predictable phenomena. And the sooner we stop, the better off we will be.

Empires are expensive to maintain. The cost becomes to great, in terms of blood, in terms of treasure, and goodwill and reputation.

The British Empire is a good example. They finally folded, and gave up their dominions. Look at them now: they're doing quite well. We can, too.

I agree that the country may self-destruct, given the relgious views that dominate the Republican Party.

44% of Americans believe that Jesus will return in their life time. This means that we really have no reason to concern ourselves over such things as Social Security, National Debt, global warming, peak oil, or similar policies having long-term effect.

So, they are sacrificing the future for the present.

But, the future will get here. I suspect that 50 years from now will probably arrive in about 50 years (give or take a decade).

And, when it does get here, its occupants will be suffering from the neglect that the current administration has given to matters that affect them.

Its all down hill from here, until we learn to elect representatives who have decided to assume that we have a future to protect.

Alonzo Fyfe
Atheist Ethicist Blog

it would not be too difficult to find similar writings, from the earliest days of the Revolution, throught all the wars, depression, etc.

Now, the scary part is, that I think if America does "go down" she just might take the rest of the world with her, because as maligned as we are, we still have a whole lot of bad stuff we can lob at the world if we get pissed.

I don't see a future where America just fades into the good night and the EU takes up the standard, or China becomes the next superpower. America has gotten quite used to being on top and if we can't have it, nobody else will.

I'm not agreeing with that stance..just saying.

and we won't recover, I fear

It took 8 years to come back from 12 of Reagan-Bush Sr. 8 years of Bush Jr will take much longer. He has robbed the coffers, by (over)spending the money and then cutting replenishment by lowering taxes to the rich and raising them to the poor.
I have 20+ more years to work until retirement and I do not see Social Security or any other gov't funded program (including Medicaid, etc.) being there for me when that day comes. I truly believe we will all be on our own.
And maybe that's not such a bad thing. I don't know.


edited for typos. hraka

The civil war cost the lives of 600,000 people - which in today's terms as a portion of the population would be over 5 million dead.

The Depression was a real low point.

In 1940 the conventional wisdom was the Axis powers were going to win WWII and future generations would be speaking German or dead

In 1975 the conventional wisdom was the Soviet Bloc was going to win the Cold War and future generations would be speaking Russian or dead

In 1990 the conventional wisdom was the Japanese was going to economically dominate the world and future generations would be speaking Japanese

History has shown, it is unwise to bet against America.