Everyone's a political pundit these days, an arena to which I am, I'm almost ashamed to admit, no stranger. I mean, Facebook has become so riddled with political jousting it's getting hard to find a nice dog video to take your mind off the machinations of the Machiavellians. Entire families and cadres of once-conjenial cohorts are being demolished daily. Whether it's from the left or the right, the degree to which people are convinced that their faction alone holds the answers to today's most vexing questions is astounding.
Robust debate can be a good thing, but the smoke and heat being generated is not good for our nation's health. The bigger problem to me is that, as a result of this polarization, America has become essentially ungovernable. The government's too damn big, corrupt and incompetent, and the stranglehold the corporate elite have on politicians and the citizenry alike is well-nigh complete.
Oh, and I forgot to mention the fact that the government is insolvent and in more debt than can possibly be meaningfully paid-down, much less paid-off. Hard to make sound plans for the future when the only way to pay for them is to go ever deeper into debt. To a libertarian, the above is all too obvious... and was inevitable.
I find it difficult to imagine an exit strategy at this point, a path back to sanity and relative peace in this once-great nation. We have outlived our usefulness, it seems, and must now go down in flames, as have all other major empires in history. The great American experiment in liberty for all and ethical representative governance has been eviscerated by those in power.
Many say it's our own fault for allowing this to happen, and there's some truth to that. But it's also true that at every wrong turn there have been voices aplenty against the shift, and they have been at best placated, if not bought off, dismissed or otherwise squelched by those in positions of wealth and power. And if the voices of reason can not be silenced, they're terminated.
So this is where we are. We can only hope for the best and prepare for the worst... and work our asses off at both. My money's on the latter eventuality, sad to say.
