I read the papers, watch and listen to the news, read the blogs and listen to the way people talk and the question arises… is the America that we, as Americans, know and love, dying?

This is not a question of philosophy or morals so much as it is a question of us as a stable, strong and unified nation.  A question asking if we can survive the next 200 years without self destructing into a mass of greed and selfishness.

When I was young, I remember being told that you can get whatever you want with a little hard work and determination… I was even told that I, or anyone else, could even aspire to be president, someday, if we worked hard.

It really is not even about that anymore, is it?  Anymore it seems like the LAST thing you would want your kid to be is the President.  What’s more, being President is not about who can do the best job for the country, it is about who has the most money… so that they can spend it on advertising to bash their opponent and who can talk the “prettiest” talk soas to woo the voters to vote for that person. In short, the presidency is a “bought and paid for” office. It is not “earned” anymore.

Unfortunately it is not about the “Issues” any more.  It is more about the perceived issues as the candidate want you to see them.  It is about the problems with the candidates themselves, not the issues that they stand, or do not stand, to support of defend.  It is not about honesty, it is about what YOU consider honesty to be.

I have watched this latest bout of elections and I wonder if there are still people out there who READ the news.  People who look for information out there on the candidates or the laws that are going to be voted on, and really understand what is being said.  I wonder how many people who are voting, are people that ONLY watch the news that is put out by their selected candidate and do not take the time to challenge it by reading other sources.

How many people will base their decisions solely on what they see on TV, or on those little “Cheat Sheets” that the Democratic and Republican parties send out to tell you how to vote?  How many people vote “Strictly Republican” or “Strictly Democrat” without understanding WHAT they are voting for?  If you ask me, people who do this are expressing themselves as uniquely unqualified to vote.  They are sheep following the shepherd and expressing no free will, other than to be freely led by another person to serve that person’s needs or goals.

Why can people NOT SEE that our current path is taking us nowhere?  Many of the people that we are electing are not taking office for the purpose of helping this nation climb back up on top again, they are taking those offices for personal gain, to make something of THEMSELVES or to make money.

Someone I know made a comment, years ago, that still makes sense to me today, and I will paraphrase: “Why would someone spend millions of dollars for a job that only pays a few hundred thousand a year?” I understand that there is a certain amount required for advertising, but when does that amount become too much? Between the two main opponents they raised over 1 billion dollars for their respective campaigns. I cannot help but think of all the good that money could have gone, to help real issues. Instead we are giving them money to use to host dinners, buy ads on TV, News Papers, radio… etc. Essentially this is money that is being thrown away.

Politics disgusts me. There is no other way to put it. The people that win the elections are rarely in the race for the rest of us, lest it be for their own agenda. The people that do care and have the best ideas do not appear to get the support that they need and end up barely making a dent in the election and are later accused of taking votes away from the big two.

But you know… after all is said and done… there is only one group of people to blame. Us… the voters. I will say all of us, because it is not fair to try and break it up. I did try and do my part by leaving the Republican party and becoming an Independent, a choice that I have no regrets over. But the rest of us have become so complacent, so lazy, that we will not take a stand and send a message to the parties and change our affiliations. Not enough people stand up for a cause anymore.