.
In the past, I have
mentioned how nearly 50% of the readers of the Coltons Point Times are from
outside the United States.
The past week the top ten countries in
terms of readers are 1. United
States, 2. Ukraine, 3. Canada, 4. Ireland, 5. China, 6. Germany, 7. France, 8. Russia, 9. United Kingdom,
and 10. Portugal.
Note that four of the top
ten are English-speaking countries. All the
countries have been around for thousands of years except the USA and Canada, which are less than 500
years old.
All those ancient nations
must be shaking their heads in dismay at the antics of the colonies here in America. Oh we clearly are the crown jewel in the
world when it comes to democracy but how our brand of democracy gets anything
done, let alone is a world superpower, must stump the masses outside of here.
Take our political
leadership, the dismal record of non-foreign policy over the two terms of the
Obama presidency, and now our elections to replace Obama. Here in the land of the free and home of the
brave we have a timid president whose party has nearly crowned Hillary Clinton,
their candidate to replace Obama.
Hillary is the same person
who was First Lady when her husband, Bill Clinton got elected president thanks
to Ross Perot, an Independent, nearly 24 years ago. So a quarter of a century later, after
Hillary served as Senator and Secretary of State for Obama, a time when we have
one of the worst foreign policy messes in our history, she is the front runner
for Democratic nominee.
Her husband might have
been the first pot smoking baby boomer elected president, but Hillary is no
spring chicken to politics. If she is
elected the 45th president of the United States, she would be 69
years old when she took office, and would be 77 years old at the end of two
terms.
That would make her the
second oldest person out of 45 people in our history, to ever become president,
as Ronald Reagan was just eight months older than Hillary, he was also 69 when
taking office and 77 when leaving. Imagine
that, Hillary the same age as Ronald Reagan when they were president.
Under Obama, the Democrats
represented a new generation of hope for a new century. I guess under Hillary the Democrats represent
an old generation of fixing the mess of the younger generation. Challenging Hillary is an avowed Socialist
and Independent Bernie Sanders and if elected, Bernie will be the oldest person
to serve as president.
In less than eight years
the Democrats went from the party of the young generation and their hope for
the future, to a party represented by a couple of old wheezers hoping to clean
up after the Obama debacle.
And then, there is the
Republican party, the Grand Old Party with a smorgasbord of extremely varied
choices for whatever the palate might desire. So many choices, in fact, it leaves most
foreigners astounded and even our enemies wondering what in the world will
happen next in America.
We have crazy populist
outsiders, un-populist outsiders, even smart populist outsiders running for
president and there are still more than a dozen others vying for attention. The favorites are buried deep in single
digits in the polls, while the radicals (anyone not part of the political
establishment), seem to control over 50% of the voters.
In other words, the
colonies are being the colonies, thinking they are anointed by God to save the
world while often acting more like impertinent and spoiled children than
saviors of the Earth. It seems many
people around the world still think America is the real wild west, full
of gunslingers and bad guys.
Somehow, in spite of the
problems and politics and personalities, America survives not because of the
leaders but because of the Founding Fathers some 239 years ago. They called for a revolution and adopted the
tools to make it work, far into the future.
Armed with a couple of
written documents called a Declaration of Independence and a Constitution, the latter
of which took years to perfect before submitting it to the people, they put in
place a living will of sorts for a nation.
Tools were incorporated into the documents to assure the principles of
the New World could never be compromised nor
hijacked by and political party or people.
Ours was the first
Constitution in the world to be written in the first person present tense, to
demonstrate the vitality of the concept of freedom and equality. Methods to continually update the laws of the
land and even amend the constitution were incorporated.
The power of the president
and federal government were limited, states retained a major share of the power
of the nation, and political leaders faced election and re-election in order to
keep serving the nation. If people grew
tired of the progress, a mechanism was built in to allow them to vote out those
they did not want.
Nothing like it ever
existed before and somehow, through the insight of a group of men opposed to
the lack of rights being granted by the King of England, declared independence
and went to war against the most powerful force on Earth, the English Kingdom.
Against all odds and with
a lot of help from Divine Providence, over the years the colonists succeeded. After fighting off another invasion from the
English and other wars, and then a painful civil war, the world finally needed
the United States
to rescue it in World War I and World War II.
Those wars and the phenomenal growth and innovation of the Americans
resulted in America
becoming a superpower.
Fast forward to today and
we outlasted the only other superpower in the world, the Soviet
Union, and now stand alone.
It was a pretty good set of documents put in place all those years ago
and not only did the Declaration of Independence and Constitution persevere but
the ensuing amendments, beginning with the Bill of Rights, strengthened the
nation over time.
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| Paul Ryan new Speaker of the House |
So my advice to the rest
of the world is do not be overly concerned that Bush and Obama failed to solve
the problems of the world. Here in America when
someone fails, a new group of leaders will be selected through our electoral
process. That is what we are experiencing
with our current election.
Our system of governing incorporates
a balance of power between the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches, civilian
control of the military, and a distribution of power between the states and
federal government. It has flaws, but it
also has the mechanisms to fix those flaws and that will happen as it always has
throughout our history.
Whatever policy failures
Obama had during his terms, they will be addressed by the next president and
congress - that is what individual freedom and equality is all about. So my advice it to sit back and enjoy the
American electoral process, it is the silly season, and before it is through
the people will speak.
For 239 years in the end
the People have done the right thing for America
and for America's
role in the world. As our most beloved
16th President, Abraham Lincoln, has reminded us:
"We the people are the rightful masters of
both Congress and the courts, not to overthrow the Constitution but to
overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution."
"Our defense is in the preservation of the
spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere.
Destroy this spirit and you have planted
the seeds of despotism around your own doors."
"I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon
to meet any national crisis. The great
point is to bring them the real facts."
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