Thought Provoking Article On Decline

When historians and analysts look at the factors surrounding the collapse of a society, they often focus on the larger events and indicators — the moments of infamy. However, I think it's important to consider the fact that large scale societal decline is built upon a mixture of factors, prominent as well as small. Collapse is a process, not a singular event. It happens over time, not overnight. It is a spectrum of moments and terrible choices, set in motion in most cases by people in positions of power, but helped along by useful idiots among the masses. The decline of a nation or civilization requires the complicity of a host of saboteurs. So, instead of focusing on the top down approach, which is rather common, let's start from the foundations of our culture to better understand why there is clear and definable destabilization. Declining moral compass There is always a conflict between personal gain and personal conscience — this is the nature of being human. But in a stable society, these two things tend to balance out. Not so during societal decline, as personal gain (and even personal comfort and gratification) tends to greatly outweigh the checks and balances of moral principles. People often mistake the term "morality" to be a religious creation, but this is not what I am necessarily referring to. The concepts of "good" and "evil" are archetypal — that is to say they are psychologically inherent in most human beings from the moment of birth. This is not a matter of faith, but a matter of fact, observed by those in the field of psychology and anthropology over the course of a century of study.  How we relate to these concepts can be affected by our environment and upbringing, but for the most part, our moral compass is psychologically ingrained. It is up to us to either follow it or not follow it. Watching how people handle this choice is a bit of hobby of mine, and I do take notes. You can learn a lot about the state of your environment by observing what people around you tend to do when faced with the conflict of personal gain versus personal conscience. It is saddening to admit that even though I live in rural America, where you are more likely to find self-reliance and cultural stability, I can still see a faltering nation bleeding through. I have seen supposedly good people act dishonestly in business agreements. I have seen local institutions scam hardworking citizens. I have seen a court system rife with bias and a "good old boy" attitude of favoritism. I have seen local companies pretend to be benevolent contributors to the community while at the same time running constant frauds and rackets. I have even seen a few people within the liberty movement itself put the movement at risk with their own avarice, gluttony, narcissism and sociopathy. Again, it is important to make a note of such people and institutions, for as the system continues it's downward spiral it is these people that will present the greatest threat to the innocent. As Carl Jung notes in his book The Undiscovered Self, there is always a contingent of latent sociopaths and psychopaths within any culture; usually about 10 percent of the population. In normal times, they, at least most of them, are forced into moral acclimation by the rest of the populace. But in times of decline, they seem to leak out of the woodwork like a slimy fungus. During heightened collapse, they no longer have to pretend to be upstanding, and they show their true colors. Most dangerous is when latent sociopaths or full blown sociopaths assume roles of leadership or power during the worst of times. With everyone distracted by their own plight, these people can become a cancer, infecting everything with their narcissistic pursuits and causing destruction in their wake. Disinterest in rewarding conscience During wider cultural collapse, it can become "fashionable" to see acts of principle as something to be scoffed at or ridiculed or to even see them as threats to the status quo. The concept of "going along to get along" takes precedence over doing what is right, even when it is hard; this attitude is not relegated to the less honest people within society. As a system collapses, a fog of apathy can result. Good people can become passive, scrambling to their individual corner of the world and hoping evil times will simply pass them by. The phrase "I just want to put all this behind me" is spoken regularly; but as we ignore the trespasses of terrible men and women, we also enable them. How? Because by doing nothing we allow them to continue their criminality, and we subject future persons and generations to victimization. When doing the right thing is treated as laughable, or "crazy" in the midst of widespread corruption, you are truly in the middle of a great decline. In Christian circles, the idea of "the remnant" is sometimes spoken of. In Christian terms, this usually represents a minority of true believers surviving a tumultuous and immoral era. I see "the remnant" not so much as a contingent of Christians alone, but as a contingent of people that continue to maintain their principles and conscience when faced with unprecedented adversity. In the worst of times, these people remain stalwart, even if they are ridiculed for it. Disinterest in independent effort It is said that in this world there are two kinds of people — leaders and followers.  I'm not so sure about that, but I can see why this philosophy is promoted; it helps evil people in power stay in power by encouraging passive acceptance. I would say that there are in fact two kinds of people in this world — people who want to control others and the people that just want to be left alone. In life sometimes we are both leaders and followers; we just have to be sure that when we lead we lead by example and not by force, and when we follow, we follow someone worth a damn. In any case, passivity is not a solution to determining our roles in society. In most cases, independent action is required by every person to make the world a better place. Yet, in an era of systemic crisis, it is usually independent effort that is the first thing to go out the window. Millions upon millions of people wait around for someone, anyone, to tell them what they should be doing and how they should be doing it. In this way, society find itself in stasis, frozen in a position of inaction. In fact, when individualists do take action they are admonished for it, even if their actions do have the potential to solve a problem. The idea that one man or woman (or a small group of people) could do anything about anything is sneered at as "fantasy" or "delusion."  But mass movements of citizens working towards a practical goal are rare, and even more rare is when these movements are not controlled or manipulated to benefit the established order. It is not mass movements that change the world for the better, but individual people and small organizations of the dedicated, acting without permission and without administration. It is these individuals and small groups that, over time and through stubborn effort, inspire a majority to do what is necessary and right. It is these people that inspire others to finally take leadership in their own lives. Individual self-isolation I write often on the plight of the individual and individual rights within society, and I continue to see the factor of the individual as the most important element in any culture. A culture based on protecting and nurturing individualism and voluntarism is the only culture, in my view, that will ever be successful at avoiding full spectrum collapse. That said, the downside to overt individualism is the danger of self isolation. That is to say, when true individuals only concern themselves with their personal circumstances and ignore the circumstances of the rest of the world, they eventually set themselves up to be crushed by that world. Organization on a voluntary basis is not only healthy, but vital in the longevity of a society. The more people turn in on themselves and only care about their own general conditions, the easier it is for evil people to do evil things unnoticed. Also, self isolation in the wake of collapse sets individuals up for failure, as no one is capable of surviving without at least some help from a wider pool of knowledge and talents. In a system based on corruption, the establishment will encourage self isolation as a means to control the populace. Or, they will offer a false choice, between self isolation and mindless collectivism. The truth is there is always a middle ground. Voluntary organization and individualism are not mutually exclusive. I call this the "difference between community and collectivism." A community does not supplant the individual, while a collective requires the complete erasure of individual pursuits and thought. If you find yourself surrounded by people who refuse any organization, even practical and voluntary organization in the face of instability, then your society may be in the latter stages of a collapse. Disaster denial Even as a crisis or collapse unfolds, if a society actually reels or reacts to it and takes note of the problem, there is hope for that society. If, however, that society willfully ignores the danger and denies it exists when presented with overwhelming evidence, then that society will likely suffer complete disintegration and will probably have to start all over from scratch — hopefully with a set of principles and ideals based on conscience and honor. The strength of a culture can be measured by its willingness to self reflect. Its survival can be determined by its willingness to accept its flaws when they arise and its willingness to repair the damage done. Self-aware societies are difficult to corrupt or control. Only in denial can people be easily manipulated and enslaved. If you cannot accept the reality of the abyss, you cannot move to avoid it or prepare yourself to survive the fall. I see this issue is perhaps the single most important element in the fight to save the portions of our society worth saving. Educating people on the blatant facts behind our own national decline can dissolve the wall of denial, and perhaps we will find when disaster strikes that there are far more awake and aware individuals ready to act than we originally thought. To truth and knowledge, Brandon Smith

Do You Wonder What Has Happened With Americans? Do You Wonder How Obama Got Re-Elected?

In the following post, Lauren Besser unknowingly tells us what is wrong with America. We now understand that hero worship of rude, tacky malcontents who once had some talent now overrides thought, consideration and politeness. 

Heroes used to brave individuals (usually soldiers but others like Charles Lindberg and Amelia Earhart also rose to that status) who overcame tremendous odds to rise to a level of admiration  They were common people who did extraordinary things.

Now, we have a President who gets the Nobel Peace Prize within months of taking office and doing nothing to achieve that goal; movie stars whose only claim to fame is the run ins with the law; and politicians who post naked pictures of themselves and have the temerity to tell us to go "F" ourselves if we question his judgment.  

No wonder we have lost our way, our current day heroes are gutter level slime and those heroes of the past are treated like yesterday's trash.

Thanks to Lauren, she has made it clear that this country is not the nation of 1945 and before. It is Rome in its latter days when the decay had eaten away the morals of the nation and everyone was out for their own piece of the pie.

America is just the latest of nations to end up on the scrapheap of the world. 

Conservative Tom

The (Elevator) Ride of My Life with Courtney Love

October 31, 2013

By Lauren Besser in UNDER CULTURE

 Blog

Photo Credit: Hedi Slimane for Saint Laurent (www.thetimes.co.uk)

A friend was staying at a fancy hotel for a visit to New York City. It's the type of place where so many celebrities retreat that they have an exclusive lounge where guests can't be bothered by regular people. Naturally, we followed our girls dinner with drinks in said lounge. Just being there made us feel famous so we slouched our shoulders, ordered champagne and laughed with abandon because that's what we decided famous women do together.

At some point I decided to head up to her room to use the ladies and fix my lipstick. For whatever reason I felt like it would be less of a hassle than walking down a flight of stairs to the hotel rest room. But, now, I know the reason was fate. 

As I waited, an entourage entered, walked to reception and stayed there in theperipheral vision of my right eye. The amount of people fussing over this person made it clear it was someone special. I obviously didn't look to see who it was because I know how to conduct myself in environments that are too cool for me. 

I stayed patient as the group made their way to the elevators. It was the perfect moment to steal a look. And then my heart stopped. I was about to board the elevator with one, Courtney Love. 

Courtney Love. The woman who induced my need for baby doll dresses and Doc Martins at fourteen. The woman who suggested I cut my hair and use plastic children's barrettes to clip it up. The woman who bared her breasts at my first teenage concert. The woman who graced the cover of Sassy with her husband Kurt Cobain. Her face was plastered on my walls. My sky was made of amethysts. I rented a guitar with hopes to front my own grunge band one day.

In other words, this elevator ride would be the ride of my life. 

As the doors shut, the most perfect perfume I've ever smelled encompassed me. Usually so much would get me sneezing with the quickness, but not Courtney's. It was light like sweet feathers and musky like a Parisian parlor. I breathed deeply and gathered myself to live presently in the moment. 

I am three feet from Courtney Love. I am three feet from Courtney Love. 

Courtney was not happy. Apparently her favorite and seemingly regular fifth floor suite was not available and the third floor alternative was not acceptable for a slew of unconvincing reasons. There were at least two hotel employees accompanying her and what looked like an assistant futzing about as Ms. Love threw words around that she believed would eventually land her the room.

She was a little wobbley with all her defiant protesting. Because of her holy status in my life I refuse to assume why she may have been less than sharp, but let's face it, we all know her history. 

What I can say is that she looked a lot better than I thought she would. There was part of me preparing to mask my horror at the messed-up surgery face she might have. But I was pleasantly surprised to find her sort of healthy looking. Except for a really big head on a tiny body, the woman looks good, considering who she is.

As she leaned in to find the third floor button she struggled. After becoming so accustomed to the fifth floor it makes sense that finding another number could be difficult. The luggage cart was between me and the buttons so I had no choice but to rely on my (very angry) idol to get me to my floor. I prepared myself to talk to to Courtney. 

"I'm on six," I said.  

There was a pause. It was heavy and tense with silence. And then Courtney spoke. 

"Well, lucky fucking you." 

She didn't even look at me and for a minute I didn't think she'd punch my floor. For a minute I thought we would all stand there knowing my button wasn't lit. For a minute I thought I would have to press it myself after they cleared out of the elevator. But she eventually pressed it and my heart started to beat regularly again. After a bunch of breath was released from everyone's chests Courtney started to talk about the fifth floor suite again.  

When the doors opened on the third floor, the assistant and hotel workers ushered themselves and the luggage out first and took a right turn. Love came out last and made a confident left. Someone called to her down the hall and she managed a bobbled 180° to follow everyone to her hated room. When the doors closed I could still hear her complaining.

I twirled around in the elevator and furiously wiggled. Courtney Love just dropped an F-bomb on me! She didn't even hesitate! She completely excelled at every expectation I ever had of her. And it was in person! 

She was sulking and bitching. She was rude and disheveled in a super star way. My inner adolescent wanted to thank her for the honor of her presence. The dark shimmer of teenage angst was appealing again. I wanted to dye my hair with Manic Panic. I wanted a headache from head-banging. I wanted to turn it up when I heard my mom yelling to turn it down.

I love Courtney for her genuine indifference because I don't have it. I love her because she's full of tragedy that's wide open to the world. I love her because I'm as loyal as a dog. She was my favorite and will always be. Nothing will ever shatter that teenage bell jar she let me reside in, and I don't care what you say, Live Through Thisis a killer album. 

All hail Queen Courtney! 

ObamaCrapCare Must Be Stopped--There Is NO Alternative

ObamaCrapCare not only should be stopped or it will be downfall of the country as we know it. We just don't have the money. We simply cannot afford it.

The Senate will be making a mistake if it does not support the House on this issue. But they won't. The chicken hearted Republicans like McCain will vote with the Democrats to send the bill back to the House without the de-funding language. The House then will cave like a stack of moldy socks and pass the legislation prior to the government shutdown.  The Dems win again and America loses.

This must be the way that the universe wants things to occur, otherwise, it would not. As evidence, every day this nation drops further into the same morass from which Rome could not extract itself.  The similarities are stunningly familiar. An overstretched military, citizens demanding money from the treasury, and ineffective, fickle, self-indulged leaders.  We are Rome before Nero or is Obama, Nero?  He sure is fiddling like one!

America has had a great run, but its time and influence are rapidly diminishing.  Who will fill the gap? Who will take up the role of policeman of the world, Russia?

Who will be the first to arrive at disasters around the world, China? Will we lose our independence, our rights, our freedoms?

It sure would be nice to know the aforementioned answers. We don't know, however, the one thing that must be attempted is to stop obvious unnecessary spending, like Obamacrapcare.  

Conservative Tom

Heritage Foundation's DeMint: 'Obamacare Should Be Stopped'

Wednesday, 25 Sep 2013 07:33 AM

By Todd Beamon and John Bachman

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Heritage Foundation President Jim DeMint tells Newsmax TV in an exclusive interview that "Obamacare should be stopped."

"The stakes are high enough here that this is worth every American standing up and fighting for," DeMint, the former South Carolina senator, tells Newsmax. "America should not have Obamacare. Our government should not be running the healthcare system here in our country — and we know they can't do it.

"We know it's going to cost a lot more than they promised — and, unfortunately, it's going to lead to a lot of people losing their jobs."


DeMint, who left Congress at the end of last year, took over the influential conservative think tank in April. The foundation has long opposed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The Senate is debating this week whether to fund Obamacare as part of a continuing resolution to temporarily finance the federal government starting on Oct. 1 through mid-December. The House of Representatives voted 230-189 last week to defund the healthcare law in approving the resolution that would keep the government operating.

But Majority Leader Harry Reid has said that the upper chamber would back the resolution but not strip funds for Obamacare. President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has said that he would not sign any legislation that would not provide funding for the healthcare law.

On Tuesday afternoon, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas began filibustering the continuing resolution over the defunding of Obamacare. He began his turn on the Senate floor by saying that he would speak against the law until he was "no longer able to stand."

Cruz's effort has been helped by Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, who has posed several questions to his Senate colleague that highlighted the disadvantages of Obamacare.

"It's good to have heroes, folks who are really standing up, like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee," DeMint tells Newsmax. "That makes me proud to be an American, and there are heroes all over the country right now."

He added that GOP senators could achieve similar status by not backing the healthcare law.

"There are enough senators who promised to do everything they could to stop Obamacare, so we're all watching to see if they actually follow through on their promises," DeMint says. "All it takes is 41 votes to stop Harry Reid from increasing spending and also adding the spending for Obamacare, which doesn't make any sense since the president has delayed large parts of the implementation.



"He's given waivers to Congress and some of the other groups that are his friends," he adds. "The more the American people know how much this is going to change their lives and hurt their healthcare, endanger our economy and our culture — we're just hoping that Americans are informed enough to inform their representatives."


© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.

Gun Confiscation - The Last Step Before Dictatorship

We have written about a number of the same issues that Bob Livingston does in the following post.   We agree with the author and believe that the time is coming where America will be just another third world country run by a dictator.

The main difference between where we are and where America will be, is the armed populace. Once those guns are removed from the citizens (the time is coming soon), we will descend into  servitude to the government. 

When will the state finally get total control of guns, it will not be long.  As soon as Obama and his minions find another Sandy Hook (or create one), the pressure on all lawmakers to pass extra-ordinary restrictions will be immense.  (We can think of several scenarios which would create this type of reaction, however, we do not know who is reading this blog and who might interpret our words as words of action.  Our goal is not to put ourselves in the front of the line when suspects are paraded by the cameras, so we will leave it to your creativity to think of potential attack locations.)

The pressure will come all sides of the political spectrum, leaving legal gun owners in the cross hairs. They will have to make a decision to fight the system or go along. Unfortunately we feel many will cave to the pressure. They will not want to endanger their families, businesses, jobs and friendships.   Would you?

As we are quickly reaching this point, here are some questions that you need to ask  yourself:

    Am I willing to give up my job or my business for my Second Amendment Right?

    Am I willing to serve time in jail for my Second Amendment Rights?

    Am I willing to have my family paraded in front of cameras?

    Am I willing to spend thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands to prove my rights?

    Am I willing to give up my friends as they will not be willing to associate with someone who is targeted by the government (for their own self preservation)?

    Am I willing to fight the IRS and other government agencies as they plow through my records?

    Am I willing to willing to have my world turned upside down to prove that I have Second Amendment rights?

Most of us cannot answer yes to the above questions. If you are one of these, what is your backup plan?  Will you be a lemming or will you take other steps?  Each of us will have to make this decision and the time is near. Our Founding Fathers knew what it meant to sign the Declaration of Independence and many paid with their lives, fame and fortune. Are you of the same stock?  We will soon find out.

Conservative Tom

Proof Of A U.S. Police State

February 11, 2013 by Bob Livingston 

PHOTOS.COM

America has fast descended into a police state. The trouble is that we want to believe in the rule of law and the system that alleges to support and enforce it. But when reality collides with illusion, it is too late. No matter how bad things seem, we always think that times will get better and that government will do the right thing.

Only a few people left Germany in the early 1930s. They could clearly see the evolving tyranny. Many who stayed thought that things would not get so bad or that times would get better. They suffered from normalcy bias, a form of cognitive dissonance. They paid.

The wisdom today is in being able to see what is happening and having the vision to discern what is going to happen. Sorry. Anyone who still believes in the illusion of the rule of law will not see reality until it’s too late to do what is necessary to survive and keep their assets.

Today, the rule of law is what the 1 percent (the government) says it is. The government holds the police power and the military power. Its main purpose is to be the silent force to contain the population.

The population in the United States is well-armed. That fact does not escape the 1 percent. That is why the 1 percent is so eager to find a basis upon which to justify disarming the people. The armed populace is all that stands between the people and full-blown tyranny.

We have entered the last days of the fiat regime. It is evidenced by a falling confidence in government and the government’s stepped-up oppression of the people. This fact continues to be hidden by the mainstream media, which is under the control of the government.

The vast majority refuse to see or admit the regime is failing and descending intototalitarianism. They cite the fact that Americans are free to worship, free to travel, free to work, free to express themselves and free to vote as evidence that America remains free. But there are many signs that America is not far removed from tyranny seen in the former Soviet Union and the depths of Mao-ruled Chinese empire.

The state, meaning the apparatus of government, is “the system” that controls the American people.

Most people foolishly believe that they control the political system through elections. Little do they know that the government and the corporate state own and control the state and, through it, the people. This fact is kept invisible through constant conditioning of the public mind. There has never been any more sophisticated propaganda than in the United States today. No serious issues are ever discussed on national media.

The nature of government and the nature of people put them at natural enmity. Everything that the government is and has, it must extract from the people. It takes so much that it cannot disclose how much. The state and all that it has comes from the production and savings of the people by taxation and inflation.

If there is constant enmity and actually silent war between the State and the people, why is there no physical conflict? The answer is because of constant deceptive propaganda and the fact that the process is gradual over a long period of time. Gradualism clouds reality. Gradualism fogs the mind and suppresses rebellion. Rulers know this.

The elected elites know the proper code words to use to deceive the unthinking populace. Any and every law, no matter how oppressive, can be sold to the people by invoking these words. The Constitutionality of these laws does not matter and is not discussed. The court system does not help. All major legal decisions since the United States became a nation have been in favor of the government.

The Internet has thrown a wrench into the cogs that run the government propaganda machine and suppress the people. Information is now available that was once hidden or manipulated in favor of the state. The wall of propaganda has been breached.

This has thrown the elites off their game. Where they preferred to continue with their glacial march toward full-blown tyranny, an awakening populace has recognized the stepped-up oppression and has begun to push back. The physical conflict that had been so long avoided seems almost inevitable.

It’s obvious the American regime is preparing for it:

• President Barack Obama’s regime has invented “legal” grounds to justify assassinating American citizens with drones. So far, three Americans have been executed without trial, including a 16-year-old from Colorado. This is mission creep far beyond what little George W. Bush began and Congress enabled with the false “war on terror” and the 4^th Amendment-nullifying USA Patriot Act of 2001 (since extended).

• 2009 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Jim Garrow, Ph.D., who is noted for his work saving thousands of babies in China from certain death through the country’s one-child policy, claims in a Facebook post that a military member and “hero” who everyone would recognize confided in him that Obama is using as a litmus test of military leadership that involves their willingness to fire on U.S. citizens and is removing those who say they will not.

• The Department of Homeland Security has ordered another 21.6 million bullets to add to the 1.6 billion it has bought in the last year. Before the order, DHS had more than enough bullets to shoot every U.S. citizen four times and keep hundreds of millions of rounds in reserve. For perspective, during the height of the Iraq war, U.S. soldiers were using 5.5 million rounds per month.

• The immigration reform legislation currently under discussion would place many more drones into U.S. airspace to spy on citizens along the border and within the 100 mile border zone over which DHS claims jurisdiction. It also calls for biometric ID cards maintained by the government at considerable expense — and no doubt wrought with considerable problems and shortcomings — that would be necessary to secure employment and perform other interactions with government functionaries and bureaucracies.

• Police officers are teaming with National Guard and other U.S. military units to carry out training exercises that resemble military invasions on U.S. soil in violation of Posse Comitatus.

• The Obama regime aided by a complicit Congress passed into law just more than one year ago the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which gives the regime the power to arrest and indefinitely detain American citizens without habeas corpus.

• Police across the country are becoming more militant and more militarized. Almost daily now are media reports of cops training their weapons on children, tazing and arresting them in schools, and shooting down civilians in their homes during no-knock warrant executions.

• The surveillance state is growing more intrusive by the day. Police now have scannersthat can peer beneath our clothes and in our cars and homes on street corners and in mobile units. Cameras and audio recording devices are everywhere.

• High Schools students are being required to carry microchipped cards that record their whereabouts and to submit hair samples for mandatory drug testing.

• Lawyers are being arrested for informing people of their rights.

• Police officers are accompanying electric workers to enforce installation of so-called“smart meters” on houses that have the capability of spying on homeowners and supplying the state with terabytes of data on day-to-day activities. This opens the homeowner up to abuse from state enforcers and identity theft from thieves.

The elite behind the scenes count on the ignorance of the American people — who have been dumbed down with drugs, tobacco, alcohol, debauchery, a craze for national sports, instant gratification, debt and no rule of law — to ignore these and the many other loses of freedoms as they advance their agenda to confiscate all the world’s wealth and enslave the populace.

How long will it continue before the pushback commences?

US Decline Indicators

The US is in decline and this article provides the evidence. Need we say more?

Conservative Tom




If you need the direct link, here it is:  http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/neo/launch?.rand=810ltal1s8tuh

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TheEconomicCollapse:34SignsThatAmericaIsInDecline

Monday, December 03, 2012 9:01 AM

The United States is clearly in an advanced state of decline.  Many people around the world (and even inside America) rejoice at this, but not me.  I mourn for the country that I was born in and that I still love.  Yes, the United States has never been perfect, but the Republic that our Founding Fathers started truly has been a light to the rest of the world in a lot of ways over the centuries.  Unfortunately, our foundations are badly rotting and our nation is collapsing all around us.  Many Americans like to think that the United States is greater today than it has ever been before, but the truth is that America is like a patient that has stage 4 cancer that has spread to almost every area of the body.  Our nation is being destroyed in thousands of different ways, and more distressing news emerges with each passing day.
This article will mainly focus on the economic decline of America, but much could also be said about our social, political, moral and spiritual decline as well.  We are simply not the same country that we used to be.  Americans are proud, selfish, greedy, arrogant, ungrateful, treacherous and completely addicted to entertainment and pleasure.  Our country is literally falling apart all around us, but most Americans are so plugged into entertainment that they can't even be bothered to notice what is happening.  Most Americans seem to assume that we will always have endless prosperity just because of who we are, but unfortunately that simply is not true.  We inherited the greatest economic machine the world has ever seen and we have wrecked it, and now a very painful day of reckoning is approaching.  But most people will not understand until it is too late.

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The following are 34 signs that America is in decline...
#1 According to the World Bank, U.S. GDP accounted for 31.8 percent of all global economic activity in 2001.  That number dropped to 21.6 percent in 2011.  That is not just a decline - that is a freefall.  Just check out the chart in this article.
#2 According to The Economist, the United States was the best place in the world to be born intoback in 1988.  Today, the United States is only tied for 16th place.
#3 The United States has fallen in the global economic competitiveness rankings compiled by the World Economic Forum for four years in a row.
#4 According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 40 biggest publicly traded corporate spenders, half of them plan to reduce capital expenditures in coming months.
#5 More than three times as many new homes were sold in the United States in 2005 as will be sold in 2012.
#6 America once had the greatest manufacturing cities on the face of the earth.  Now many of our formerly great manufacturing cities have degenerated into festering hellholes.  For example, the city of Detroit is on the verge of financial collapse, and one state lawmaker is now saying that "dissolving Detroit" should be looked at as an option.
#7 In 2007, the unemployment rate for the 20 to 29 age bracket was about 6.5 percent.  Today, the unemployment rate for that same age group is about 13 percent.
#8 Back in 1950, more than 80 percent of all men in the United States had jobs.  Today, less than 65 percent of all men in the United States have jobs.
#9 If you can believe it, approximately one out of every four American workers makes 10 dollars an hour or less.
#10 Sadly, 60 percent of the jobs lost during the last recession were mid-wage jobs, but 58 percentof the jobs created since then have been low wage jobs.
#11 Median household income in America has fallen for four consecutive years.  Overall, it has declined by over $4000 during that time span.
#12 The U.S. trade deficit with China during 2011 was 28 times larger than it was back in 1990.
#13 Incredibly, more than 56,000 manufacturing facilities in the United States have been shut down since 2001.  During 2010, manufacturing facilities were shutting down at the rate of 23 per day.  How can anyone say that "things are getting better" when our economic infrastructure is being absolutely gutted?
#14 Back in early 2005, the average price of a gallon of gasoline was less than 2 dollars a gallon.  During 2012, the average price of a gallon of gasoline has been $3.63.
#15 In 1999, 64.1 percent of all Americans were covered by employment-based health insurance.  Today, only 55.1 percent are covered by employment-based health insurance.
#16 As I have written about previously, 61 percent of all Americans were "middle income" back in 1971 according to the Pew Research Center.  Today, only 51 percent of all Americans are "middle income".
#17 There are now 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing.  That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#18 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate for children living in the United States isabout 22 percent.
#19 Back in 1983, the bottom 95 percent of all income earners in the United States had 62 cents of debt for every dollar that they earned.  By 2007, that figure had soared to $1.48.
#20 Total home mortgage debt in the United States is now about 5 times larger than it was just 20 years ago.
#21 Total credit card debt in the United States is now more than 8 times larger than it was just 30 years ago.
#22 The value of the U.S. dollar has declined by more than 96 percent since the Federal Reserve was first created.
#23 According to one survey, 29 percent of all Americans in the 25 to 34 year old age bracket are still living with their parents.
#24 Back in 1950, 78 percent of all households in the United States contained a married couple.  Today, that number has declined to 48 percent.
#25 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 49 percent of all Americans live in a home that receives direct monetary benefits from the federal government.  Back in 1983, less than a third of all Americans lived in a home that received direct monetary benefits from the federal government.
#26 In 1980, government transfer payments accounted for just 11.7 percent of all income.  Today, government transfer payments account for more than 18 percent of all income.
#27 In November 2008, 30.8 million Americans were on food stamps.  Today, 47.1 million Americans are on food stamps.
#28 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
#29 As I wrote about the other day, according to one calculation the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."
#30 Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid.  Today, one out of every 6Americans is on Medicaid, and things are about to get a whole lot worse.  It is being projected that Obamacare will add 16 million more Americans to the Medicaid rolls.
#31 In 2001, the U.S. national debt was less than 6 trillion dollars.  Today, it is over 16 trillion dollarsand it is increasing by more than 100 million dollars every single hour.
#32 The U.S. national debt is now more than 23 times larger than it was when Jimmy Carter became president.
#33 According to a PBS report from earlier this year, U.S. households that make $13,000 or less per year spend 9 percent of their incomes on lottery tickets.  Could that possibly be accurate?  Are people really that foolish?
#34 As the U.S. economy has declined, the American people have been downing more antidepressants and other prescription drugs than ever before.  In fact, the American people spent 60 billion dollars more on prescription drugs in 2010 than they did in 2005.
So what are our "leaders" doing about all of this?
Not much.
They just continue to insist that everything is "just fine".
Sadly, the truth is that they live in a world that is very different from most of the rest of us.
Barack Obama is getting ready to take a 20 day vacation to Hawaii.
When was the last time you got to take a 20 day vacation?
And most of our "leaders" have no idea what it is like to struggle from month to month on a paycheck.
Overall, more than half of the members of Congress are millionaires.  We are led by wealthy men who are serving the interests of other wealthy men.
But the problem with our system is not limited to the president and the members of Congress.  The truth is that the political system in America has become a colossal beast that just continues to grow no matter who is in power.  The political establishment of both parties is totally dependent on this beast, and they will continue to feed it and serve it because it has been very good to them.  The following is from an outstanding article by Steve McCann...

The Republican and Democratic political establishments are made up of the following: 
1) many current and nearly all retired national office holders whose livelihood and narcissistic demands depends upon fealty to Party and access to government largesse;

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2) the majority of the media elite, including pundits, editors, writers and television news personalities based in Washington and New York whose proximity to power and access is vital to their continued standard of living;  
3) academia, numerous think-tanks, so-called non-government organizations, and lobbyists who fasten onto those in the administration and Congress for employment, grants, favorable legislation and ego-gratification;  
4) the reliable deep pocket political contributors and political consultants whose future is irrevocably tied to the political machinery of the Party; and
5) the crony capitalists, i.e. leaders of the corporate and financial community as well as unions whose entities are dependent on or subject to government oversight and/or benevolence . 

Do you think that there is any chance that this insidious system will be uprooted any time soon?
Of course not.
We will continue on the same path that we are on right now and America will continue to decline.