As I sit here and wonder about the future of this once great country, I become confused, distressed and angered at what I see happening. Why do we stand idly by and watch our youth destroy themselves? Do we care anymore or do the walls of gold imprison us from our senseless disgrace. Is there any expectation that this nation will return to the admirable country it once was? Will the lives of all the men and women who became martyr's for this nation be swept away? Is the power of humanity long forgotten as we would forget the memories of our first years of life. As we stand here today and look back at this country's vast accomplishments that we try to grasp on to with admiration, can it still be said that we have failed? We must ask ourselves "Where have we failed?" If we do not ask this question we would only be concealing the truth from ourselves and further augment the degradation of this country. It is an easier question to answer than we care to believe. 

We are failing to teach our children the ways of humanity. Our lives and our children's lives are being based upon materialism and self-gratification through others' misfortunes. We are expected to take rather than give. As children, we were told that to get anywhere in life we must take advantage of every opportunity that passes us by, but be weary of the risks. It is also taught that honesty is the best policy. This would seem true until later in our lives we see the dishonest becoming more prosperous. As the bad begins to outweigh the righteous, our values of honesty, loyalty, and humanity are destroyed. The older we become, the more we see that taking rather than giving becomes more advantageous and that the opportunities, whether good or bad, outweigh the risks, so we take the chance. It can be attributed to our natural human instinct to compete, but soon becomes a game of life that relies upon who is better at lying, deceiving and depredation. We see and hear our parents complain that they were passed over for a promotion because a dishonest person cheated the forgotten system of fair play. We see the pain and anger of our parents and hope that we never have to experience the same. At this point we learn the unwritten rule "Learn from others' mistakes, not your own." We soon learn to avoid fair play at all costs. Here we have failed and we will continue to do so as long as the unjust man is victorious.

The only true way that we can answer the question of why our youths are failing is to look within ourselves to find the answer. Our children are forced to grow in a world of gunfire, drugs, corruption, racism and religious hatred. A world doomed to inevitable destruction because we ourselves have forgotten what is good and beautiful about the human race. We have become cowards that fear not evil, but good itself. How can we fear evil when it has already taken hold of us and becomes our everyday way of life. For a person to say "Thank you" or to take the time to help a stranger is to except criticism and disgrace.  

In our childhood we had role models such as Superman, Spider man, G.I. Joe, our religions and our parents (in most cases). We looked up to these people and beliefs and they guided us through our lives. We learned that helping others in times of need was good. We learned that acts of crime do not pay and the suffering that crime caused. We consciously thought about others' feelings and well being. Today our children have grown up with role models such as "The Terminator." When "The Terminator" first hit the movie screens, our children already knew who Arnold Swarzenagger was. Children had already begun to idolize him. Even though the Terminator was the "bad guy," children still acted out his part in the playgrounds. In the "Terminator 2" movie, the bad guy from the previous movie has now become the good guy and a police officer has become the bad guy. Some where along the line I'm sure that a few children will not fully comprehend the story line of these two movies and reach the conclusion that the "Cops are the bad guys."  

If a child does well in school, the child is called a nerd and cast out by their peers, but if a child is disrespectful to their teacher and parents, fails in school and fights, that child is hailed and called "Cool." Today, a man of little pride is a man of little wealth. A man of little wealth is a man deemed a failure and an outcast. We put too much effort in upholding our pride and little effort in truth, honesty, loyalty, and respect. We have come to learn that truth, honesty, loyalty, and respect are less profitable, therefore we refrain from doing what is right and humane and further degradate the human society. 

Our values of honesty, loyalty, and humanity have to be upheld. Preaching to our children the Catholic belief that we will be forgiven for our sins as long as we ask, is no longer acceptable. It is ridiculous and destructive to believe that an unjust man is "just" only by the act of asking. Is this nothing more than taking? It only allows the deceitful an excuse to resume their ways. The reason for religion is to govern our beliefs. The religion a person chooses is not important. It's the beliefs that a person follows that are important. If a person said they believed that there was only one Supreme God and that each person should be treated with respect and kindness, would this make them a person of the Methodist, Islamic, Catholic, or Baptist religion? Does it really matter? Does the difference in religions make a person less "good" than the other? It is pure ignorance for a person of one faith to believe that a person of another faith should be condemned for believing in a different faith. Does this mean that a child is condemned to hell because the child was raised to believe in Allah? Should a man tell his wife that she is overweight or "fat" because the bible tells him that it is a sin to lie? Should a mother tell her child that he or she is not as intelligent as the other children in his or her class because it would be a sin to lie? It would be a greater crime to humanity to admit to these truths than to speak them for the sake of not lying. This would only be an act of pure ignorance. If we cannot govern ourselves to follow what is good, then what right do we have to pass judgment on the faults of others.  

The Christian religions believe their religions are better than all others are because their God is the true God and they are humane in their beliefs. For this reason they marched across many lands killing and destroying the lives of those that were not of the Christian religion. The Spanish Inquisitions were acted out for the same reason. The people that acted out these atrocities did not want people to follow the humane beliefs of their religion, but to only follow the title of the religion. Today our religions are nothing more than a status symbol. I do not believe there is a good or even remote chance that our next President of the United States will be a person of the Islamic faith. 

Eight hundred years ago, King Richard the Lionhearted led over ten thousand young English men to their deaths during his Holy Crusades. King Richard's crusades into Israel, his battles against the Saracens, justified by the people because he was converting the infidels to the one "true faith," was nothing more than a pretext. I will concede to the fact that Richard would have forced these "infidels" to accept Christianity, should his Crusaders overcome the Saracens, but King Richard was also an ambitious man. His Crusades were an excuse (an unjustifiable excuse in the minds of decent men) to widen his domain beyond that of the Normandy borders, to increase his land and power. It was vanity that led Richard to believe that he could force beliefs on another person and an over-exposed ego that led him to believe that other men should be accountable to him for their sins.  

Prejudice has been a constant in America since the Mayflower docked at Plymouth Rock. As long as we continue to separate our country into ethnic and social groups, prejudice will remain a constant. We are Americans and to America our loyalties should lie. The sooner we discontinue the practice of separating our citizens by ethnic and/or social groups (i.e., African-American, Mexican-American, Irish-American, Jewish-American, et-al) the sooner we can find a solution for the hatred. We cannot continue to have animosity for faults occurring in the past. History should be used as a tool for increasing knowledge, not a justification for hate. We must learn from our mistakes, adapt and overcome them, instead of spending our future dwelling on them. We must learn to forgive. Isn't it easier to forgive than to hate? Until we learn to forgive, war and prejudice will survive. Hate is a sterile thing. 

Who is to say which form of government is best? Democracy, communism, socialism ... everybody has them and nobody wants them. Perhaps the problem is not with the ideals but with the persons implementing them. Each form is designed to keep one person from retaining all power, but is this possible? Cannot happen in a society of checks and balances, you say. Wrong, I say. It comes down to this; who ever has the most damaging information on the most people is the one with the power. The forefathers of this country had the right ideas. Let the educated lead this country, let those who show themselves to be experienced lead this country. We need those who will go and do, not those who will sit and babble. We need those who take responsibility for their actions and positions, not those who blame others. We need those who will remain directly available, not those who surround themselves with butter after butter.

To many times an incident in government occurs and everybody stands around asking, "How could that have happened? Why didn't we know about it?" The answer is simple; they didn't tell you! In every government i.e., federal, state, county and municipal, the system of checks and balances depend upon the passing of information. Of course, anything that goes right is passed on, but can you really expect someone to admit that they lost 21 million dollars, of that they sold weapons to Iran, or they got the United States involved in a war by a false press release. Even children refuse to tell their mothers they stole the cookie from the cookie jar. Are they punished for lying? No, they are punished for stealing the cookie, but they still got the cookie.

The society of today has bred the American to try to gain all that they can. Americans are taught to believe that a person is nothing unless that person possesses something. The more a person possesses, the greater the person is perceived to be. In other words, the number of possessions that he may have can calculate a man's greatness. A person is thought to be better if they possess a Mercedes-Benz rather than a Ford Festiva. An example: John Smith is a corporate executive that makes over $500,000 a year from his salary alone. He drives a Lexus and his wife of 20 years drives a Mercedes-Benz. He is currently paying for his two sons to complete their degrees in Business Management. John Smith is a member of the City Counsel and the Chamber of Commerce. He has several degrees and a Ph.D. in Public Management. He is thought to be a pillar of the community. On the other hand, David Cooper works at a local manufacturing company as an assembler. He makes a little over $20,000 a year. He does not have any formal education beyond high school. His wife of 20 years is currently seeking a degree in the medical field. David Cooper had two sons and one daughter. One son currently works at the same business as David Cooper and the other son died because of a drug related shooting. The daughter is still in high school but is barely hanging on. David Cooper does nothing apart from work except go home and occasionally has a beer with friends.

On the surface we see a man that has everything. He has beautiful cars and a beautiful wife, but his wife only stays married to him because of his money. There is no love in their marriage and she has had several affairs. His two sons cannot stand him. They hate the thought of Business Management and are doing it so that they can be away from him. The oldest son has just been arrested for Date Rape and the younger son wants to join the military so that his father will not have any control over him.

On the other hand, David Cooper loves his family and his family loves him. He is staying at his current job until his wife completes her school. His son that works with him is a Manager at their facility and helps numerous charitable organizations. The other son that died was an EMT that was killed while responding to a drug related shooting. The daughter has a learning disability and Mr. Cooper helps her regularly with her homework.

We need to begin to teach our children that the unity of the family is a far greater possession that anything money can buy. Together as a family, people can be happier, enjoy life more and respect one another, but money can never buy these things. 

Recently I saw a commercial on television that said there wasn’t an excuse for not voting. Of course, I am one of those people that do not vote and have never voted. Time and time again, I am asked why do I not vote. My answer is; "I do not vote because my vote would not count." It doesn't count because if the person I wanted in office was voted in, that person would still be controlled by all the PAC's, miscellaneous Special Interest Groups, and anyone else that has enough money to buy off the politicians. Let me give you an example. A candidate is elected into office. This politician told the people enough to mislead them into believing that he was for Clinton's Health Care plan, because he knows that 2 out of 3 million people want it. The clincher is that these 2 million people are not going to repay this politician with any monetary compensation for doing what they want. No, he will do what the Special Interest Group of 20,000 doctors that do not want the Health Care plan, because these doctors have amassed about $750,000 to give to this politician to ensure that the Health Care plan does not pass. Now tell me, whose vote counted? Surely not the majority, not the 2 million people that voted the politician into office.

That is why I do not vote. I have proved that my vote does not count and every American should wake up to the fact that neither does theirs, unless, of course, they are a member of one of these Special Interest Groups.

All Special Interest Groups, PAC's, Lobbyists, etc., should be outlawed. Politicians should be equally allotted a specific amount of money to campaign with. All outside help would be illegal. This would ensure a fair and equal campaign. The people would be given back the power of the vote and the old Democratic belief that this country is for the people, by the people and of the people would be brought back to life. The elected politicians would bring the word of the people to Congress and the Senate, not the word of the rich. The majority of the politicians today are in it for the money. So what if they do not make a second term. They will have made so much money from all these Special Interest Groups that they will be set for the rest of their lives. Not to mention the fact that these politicians will receive a pension equal to or better that what their income was in office just for serving one term. This is for life.

Capitol Hill has been taken control of by greed. Politicians couldn't give a damn about helping the people. It's an ego trip with cash to boot. How could all of this be turned around? How can we set things right? I am not sure if I have a good enough answer for that, but even if I did, would something be done. If a Bill was taken to the Capitol that would do all of these things aforementioned, would it be passed? Of course not, that would be like cutting off their own heads.

One possibility would be to begin a petition nation wide asking all persons to sign and mail in their agreement to these reconstruction's of our government. With enough people, enough pressure could be placed upon our government to make the changes. This would be a drastic move, but we Americans must take a stand. This country is all of ours, not the few that believe they were empowered with the might of God to do as they pleased.