"When misguided public opinion honors what is despicable and despises what is honorable, punishes virtue and rewards vice, encourages what is harmful and discourages what is useful, applauds falsehood and smothers truth under indifference or insult, a nation turns its back on progress and can be restored only by the terrible lessons of catastrophe." … Frederic Bastiat


Evil talks about tolerance only when it’s weak. When it gains the upper hand, its vanity always requires the destruction of the good and the innocent, because the example of good and innocent lives is an ongoing witness against it. So it always has been. So it always will be. And America has no special immunity to becoming an enemy of its own founding beliefs about human freedom, human dignity, the limited power of the state, and the sovereignty of God. – Archbishop Chaput

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Saturday, November 17, 2012

The Decline and Fall of America

Last week, the day after the election, I penned an article that I entitled, "America Votes for National Suicide". That article has received more views than anything I have ever written not only on this site, but on the other sites that I formerly wrote for. Apparently it has struck a chord, resonating with a large block of readers.

There was a small minority who attributed the article to nothing but a mere case of "sour grapes", the bemoaning of an election loss.  Disclaimer - I was not originally a fan of Governor Romney but compared to the current captain of the ship America the Titanic, he would have not pushed the speed level on the engine controls to warp speed as the current occupant of the White House is doing.

I said at the time that I make my living as a commodity trader which means by nature of that occupation I must be able to ascertain trends in ADVANCE of the wider public if I am to be successful. That sort of thing tends to color the world at which one looks. In other words, I cannot help but to see the society at large in terms of trends. My reason therefore for writing the article was that I see what I believe is an irreversible trend in this nation, a trend which will result in its death as a Constitutional Republic.

Those on the left will of course rejoice at such an occurence. Those of us who cherish the nation as it once was are left with but few options. I still maintain that the best option is a splitting of the nation. The bare minimum could be a loose confederacy of states whom, in a united fashion, standing upon 9th and 10th Amendment grounds, refuse to implement any legislation proceeding from Washington which oversteps the Constitutionally granted powers of the federal government. The term is "Nullification". This would of course apply to such out-of-control federal agencies such as the EPA, ATF, HHS, TSA, etc.

I will be writing more on this in the near future as time permits.

That being said, I recommend that you read the following article in its entirety.

http://townhall.com/columnists/marvinfolkertsma/2012/11/17/the_decline_and_fall_of_america/page/full/

It is entitled, "The Decline and Fall of America" ( History buffs will immediately be mindful of Gibbons classic, "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" ). The writer quotes from a Mancur Olson, an economist who published a book titled, "The Rise and Decline of Nations", in which he details the mechanisms involved in the decline in any great world power. It is frighteningly insightful. Once you understand this, the TREND in this nation will be easily discernible.

Here, in a nutshell, is the most powerful line in the article to remember:

This means nothing less than it says: a group will kill its host, the American republic in this case, before relinquishing even a modicum of benefits for itself.


If you want to see a microcosm of this principle in action, just look at what the unions did to the makers of Hostess Twinkies. They made sure it could not pull itself off the ground and now 18,000 of them are without a job.

On a local level just look at Detroit, Michigan. On a state level, watch California destroy itself within a decade. As they go, so too will our beloved country.

I do not know which is more tragic, the fact that the nation is now well down the road to permanent decline or the fact that so many, particularly those responsible for it, still remain completely blind to its ruin.

10 comments:

  1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeI5ke0BENw

    says it all

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thanks Foam_Ranger for the good laugh. I remember watching Airplane over 30 years ago, what a laugh. Just have to go rent the movie again, and just have a laugh. Hope my stomach can handle it, LOL!!!!

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  2. I would love to join a state succession movement and break away from the tyranny of Obama and the federal government. There are still enough conservative Americans to form a sustainable nation inside the USA, between the Left Coast and the liberal Northeast and Upper Midwest. That may happen someday. I hope it does.

    The problem for me personally and many others however is I am retired military. I get a pension of $1500 per month. That is not welfare. I worked for it for 20 years under a contract with Uncle Sam. However if I renounced my current American citizenship and joined a succession movement I would lose my pension which I can't afford to do.

    That is part of why America is on an irreversible course to doom. Even conservative, traditional values types of Americans like me and millions of others are tied financially to the federal government and can't break away from it without causing themselves extreme financial hardship.

    Hopefully I can get rich someday with my gold and silver stocks which Trader Dan and others help me figure out. Then I could afford to forsake my pension but until then I will have to cheer on any succession movement from the sidelines. Ideally if the leaders of a new independent Conservative States of America can promise to replace at least half my federal pension. I could live on 750.00 a month. If so, I will join that new country in a heartbeat tomorrow.

    It's also very possible that my pension will become worthless anyway under hyperinflation or a bankrupt federal government which is coming in a few years. If so, I will do my part to build a new free America on the ruins of the old. I'm 59 years old, but I can still work to restore the America I grew up in.


    Lewis Forro
    Virginia Beach, VA

    ReplyDelete
  3. Dan

    What is the answer here? Certainly diversify assets geographically- own gold outside the U.S., own foreign real estate and hold foreign currencies outside the U.S. If things intensify here and the parasite kills the host do you move out of the U.S. and when?

    Thanks
    WGG
    Chicago

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  4. Well, at least you were able to remember the federal agencies you would kill Dan... is there a GOP leadership roll in your future (there looking for white guys conversant in integers >2)?

    And... isn't it delicious irony that the comment in suppot or your rejection of the nanny state had to recuse himself in fear of losing his piece of the socialist pie.

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  5. I agree with your premise that we are in an inexorable decline. Standards of living are falling. Social cohesion is deteriorating. Economic organization is disintegrating.

    I say this with respect of our shared views. You would be more credible if you divorced yourself from supporting the Republican or Democratic Party.

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  6. "On a local level just look at Detroit, Michigan. On a state level, watch California destroy itself within a decade. As they go, so too will our beloved country."

    Dan, I'm sorry but you're cherry-picking.

    Have you ever been to Seattle? I live in the greater Seattle area, and have since the late 80's. It's an extremely liberal city, and it also is probably just about the nicest big city in America. It's also very wealthy. The same can be said for Portland, San Jose, San Francisco, Boston, Denver, and a lot of other cities. Liberal does not equate to decline.

    As for states, Mississippi is one of the most conservative states yet it is hardly a bastion of prosperity. On the other hand, Utah is just as conservative but it *is* a nice and prosperous state. On the other side of the ideological coin, Massachusetts is one of the wealthiest states in the US and, as we all know, it's also just about the most liberal. On the other hand, New Mexico has turned reliably blue but it hardly is a bastion of wealth.

    See the point? Political ideology has nothing to do with whether a city or state is wealthy or not, or whether it's in decline or not.

    And the *suburbs* of Detroit are actually quite nice.

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    Replies
    1. I forgot to mention Minnesota. Minnesota is one of the most reliably liberal nations in the state, and yet we would all be extremely lucky if all the other 49 states could become clones of Minnesota.

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    2. Liberal does equate to decline in every way imaginable.

      Liberal states teach their children that it's ok for them to marry the same sex.

      If that ain't decline, i don't know what is.
      A species can't prosper and perpetuate if they are all buggering each other!

      I'm sorry but you are sounding like a whiny ass cherry picker - of coarse i'm sure that's not the case - just sounds that way.
      Thanks for the great thought provoking input.

      Delete

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