The Party is Over
Pat Buchanan (yes, that Pat Buchanan) has a good article on the damage done to our country in the past 20 years. He is essentially arguing that America as we know it is finished. (I suppose China and India will step into the void)
It is essential that we change direction (in a real way) for the future of our children. Platitudes will not change the course
The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The “Omnipower” and “Indispensable Nation” we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.
Seizing on the crisis, the left says we are witnessing the failure of market economics, a failure of conservatism.
This is nonsense. What we are witnessing is the collapse of Gordon Gecko (”Greed Is Good!”) capitalism. What we are witnessing is what happens to a prodigal nation that ignores history, and forgets and abandons the philosophy and principles that made it great.
A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets and a self-reliant republic. He believes in saving for retirement and a rainy day, in deferred gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford, in living within your means.
[...]
For years, we Americans have spent more than we earned. We save nothing. Credit card debt, consumer debt, auto debt, mortgage debt, corporate debt — all are at record levels. And with pensions and savings being wiped out, much of that debt will never be repaid.
Our standard of living is inevitably going to fall. For foreigners will not forever buy our bonds or lend us more money if they rightly fear that they will be paid back, if at all, in cheaper dollars.
[...]
The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.
What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.
Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.
An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.
What the Greatest Generation handed down to us — the richest, most powerful, most self-sufficient republic in history, with the highest standard of living any nation had ever achieved — the baby boomers, oblivious and self-indulgent to the end, have frittered away.
The nation has also increasingly broken down into groups of parasites looking to get what they can take from the system without giving anything back. And none of the politicians (including Obama) are going to be honest enough to say what really needs to be done to right the ship.
Filed under: Politics
I thought that I wouldn’t be agreeing with Pat Buchanan, but in recent times, I will have to admit, he’s been speaking the truth. He said:
” A true conservative cherishes prudence and believes in
fiscal responsiblity, balanced budgets and a self reliant
republic. He believes in saving for a rainy day, in deferred
gratification, in not buying on credit what you cannot afford,
in living in your means.
The America that Pat explains was the America that I was taught about in school and up until now, it almost was such.
It is sad to see how it has become.
I was thinking about my upcoming degree. People have asked me what I will do with it? I tell them that I’m getting older, that I would not be as job desired by employees as my younger peers and that I’ve been on my job too long to quit it. Even if I was younger, I not sure if I would quit my job in these trying times.I wouldn’t be as quick to look for another as people are continuing to lose their jobs on a daily basis.
I just feel for them. The job market isn’t what it was. That graduate may get that job, but how long will it last? I remembered when a lot of my older peers would say that I have had my jobs 20, 30 and even forty years before they retired. I think about my grandfather. He lived the the days of Jim Crow, but at the same time some may say that he came close to living the “American dream” .He had a house built, had a fine car, received 2 Bachelor degrees and was a school teacher before he retired.I had a cousin who did the same thing as my grandfather. The only difference was that she didn’t know that our economy was going to go belly-up. She was recently laid off her job of 15 years. She’s found another, but that one is also in question.
I think about a song that David Bowie had a decade and half ago called ” This is not America”. I’m singing this same song. This is not the America that I grew up with. The recent events that took place with Wall Street and all seems like something a person would about in a book of fiction. It just seem unreal.
I think about the seventies and talk about with my three nephews on how crazy and good the decade was( at least in my eyes, some may beg to differ) Yeah, they may laugh at those bell bottoms, stacks and Woodstock, but we had nothing to worry about back then. Right now, they don’t understand this crisis and honestly, I’m almost afraid of them getting the message, but one day they will have to learn about this ugly side of life.
I’m trying to be optimistic as possible with this faltering economy, but I also don’t want to be unrealistic about it. So far it doesn’t look good. I’ve always wanted to remain on one job until I retire, but I don’t know. So far , I’m doing ok, but nothing is guaranteed anymore. Will the economy bounce back?possibly, but the experts aren’t being real about it. I do not feel that it will be up and running by 2009-10. It’s screwed to the core. It would have to take 20 our more years for it to get back on it’s feet, and have a president and a Congress who will know how to make it work.
Pat has been speaking truth. If you get over some of the more kooky things about religion and race that he thinks, he is usually spot on.
This is really nothing new for Buchanan he has been saying this since the late 90’s. He has just toned it down a bit and lessen with the race baiting and scapegoating. Same message, same man, different words.
Don’t feed into Pat’s nonsense. Before his thing was the “clash of civilizations”, now this. He’s just trying to scare the American public into hating the Muslims, that’s what’s looming behind all of his rhetoric.
@ Daud, actually Pat Buchanan is despised by the Jewish establishment for his scathing criticisms on Israel and AIPAC. Buchanan, along with Ron Paul, was one of the few figures on the right that opposed the neo-conservative ideology and criminal invasion of Iraq. He has never been especially hostile toward Islam and Muslims. I find myself agreeing with him more that I agree with the darlings of the liberal establishment.
@ anislamist
Don’t be deceived. Buchanan’s clash of civilizations rhetoric was aimed directly at the Muslims.
@ Daud
Do you not believe in the clash between the civilizations? Do you believe that Islam can coexist with the “kufr system”. Do you not believe that Islam should subjugate the entire planet?
More of Buchanan bating the American public to fear Islaam and hate Muslims…
http://www.amconmag.com/article/2007/aug/27/00013/
@ Daud
I hear plenty of voices from your side “bating” the Muslims to hate the ‘kufaar’
Pat and his ilk is part of the problem. For years America’s politicians (esp. Republicans) have distracted the citizens with their fear-mongering while quietly setting up our economy, education, infrastructure, etc. for the failures we have suffered and will suffer.
It’s only when the suffering affects certain people (wealthy White people) that the powers that be admits that their is a problem.
It’ll be interesting to see what they come up with to fix it. I’m sure most of us won’t get any relief until those WWP are taken care of.
Is there a way to become a content writer for the site?