WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THIS COUNTRY

by LD Hollifield

What’s wrong with this country? Well, if that ain’t a mouthful I don’t know what is! Point blank, I don’t think there’s enough paper in the world to list all of the things that are wrong with the USA! WAIT, before you put your gloves on and start bashing the crap out of me here me out.

First let me say, I love this country and what it USE TO stand for with all my heart! Heck, I was one of the 11 people who cared enough to go to DC and take a stand last year (hats off to the other 10, you know who you are). Second, let me say this is NOT a “bash America” article, far from it! We all know there are some problems in this country and I believe that if each and everyone of us who truly love this country would choose just one of those problems and focus on fixing it we could make some much needed changes and improve the quality of life for all American’s. That being said I’m going to discuss one simple change that I believe could make a drastic difference and fix many of the problems with our current political system.

Let’s all take a few seconds and take our hats of to our founding fathers. Not only were they some pretty smart individuals but they made great sacrifices, some gave their life, to devise and provide us with the greatest, most comprehensive Constitution ever written for the free man! They wanted us to be free from persecution, political corruption and have the ability to live free, worship as we please and prosper. A country where ALL MEN (and women) were created equal with equal rights and privileges; free from dictators or a “ruling class” who placed their needs; their wants and desires ahead of everyone else. They did their best!

Unfortunately they could not foresee just how greedy, self-serving and manipulative those elected to serve would become. Those we elect to public office; we elect to SERVE THE PEOPLE; WE GRANT THE PRIVLAGE of standing up for our rights and looking out for our well being, once in Washington become blind and loose sight. Blind to out needs; our rights; our freedoms. They loose sight of what WE ALLOWED them to be in office for in the first place and place their wants, needs and desires above all else. Instead of them serving us we suddenly exist to serve them! In their minds they are now the elite; the ruling class; the very thing our forefathers were trying to prevent!

How can this be? How did this happen? HOW DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN? WHY DID WE LET THIS HAPPEN! That’s right, WE LET IT HAPPEN! IT’S OUR FAULT, ACCEPT IT! Too many of us think that the ones we elect to office are so pure, so sincere, so immune to the temptations and evils of life that we all face. WRONG! WAKE UP! They are no different than you or I! Sure most have a silver tongue and could talk the pants off Miss America (or Mr. Universe), so what. Face the fact, greed is a powerful temptation and those running for public office will say anything to get elected; promise anything to stay in office, but when the sweet temptation of the all mighty dollars is waved under their nose all of those “good intentions”; all those promises, are suddenly forgotten. And why not! They know something we do not; that the American people have short memories and will believe ANYTHING they tell us; anything they say if they say it over and over enough times. Face it, We The People act like a flock of stupid sheep, at least when it comes to holding our elected officials responsible for doing what we put them in office to do.

Fact: Did you know that very few of those we elect to serve are rich prior to being elected? Fact is many are broke or in serious financial trouble prior to being elected! That’s a fact, do the research.

Another Fact: Most become rich after taking office and it’s not because of the salary they are paid! Don’t believe that? Take a look at our current presidents financial history prior to becoming president. His family was struggling, much like the rest of us. Raising two girls on a community organizers salary was a “one step froward, two steps backward” slide, at least financially. Don’t believe it? Then get off your lazy butt’s and do the research! It’s all a matter of public record so go take a look. But look at his financial status now and what do you see? Lets just say most of us “common folk” would like to be where he is now financially. Look it up; do the research! So, one term as Senator and 1 ½ terms as President and it’s suddenly “rags to riches”. That seems to be the case with all those we put in public office, “rags to riches” in a few short years. Why do you think they fight so hard to get there? Fight so hard to stay there? MONEY! …..AND POWER!

Now Rome wasn’t built in a day; neither does one term in office make you rich. The first term for the “newbies‘ is all about learning the system; making contacts; figuring out how to play the game so that it benefits their needs; their desires; their pockets. Second term is all about implementation; all about playing the game; all about profit.. THEIR PROFIT! I know most of you have heard the expression “Power corrupts; Absolute power corrupts absolutely”, BELIEVE IT! I do think that there a few who run for office the first time and truly intend to serve; do the right think; look after the peoples best interest. I also believe that before they finish their first term they become infected and just as corrupt as all those they are around every day

Here’s an example: If you’re, a good God fearing citizen who does not lie; cheat, steal or do drugs and suddenly find yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by drug addicts… heroin shooting, crack smoking, crystal running, hard core addicts, day after day; night after night; year after year; forced to watch them cook-it-up, pull it in a needle, stick it in their arm and take a ”trip to the moon”, day after day, year after year, how long do you think it would take before you became one of them? NOT LONG. No way around it. You become like those you associate with, that’s a known fact. Well, Washington is made up of “drug addicts” and those we send to Washington are destine to become the same except their drug of choice is money and their needle is power! FACE IT, IT’S THE TRUTH!

So, what can we do to change things? What can we do to help our politicians stay “drug-free” while in office? Simple, TERM LIMITS! But lets take the “s” off of limits and call it one term, period. One term and you are out! No exceptions and no re-running later. Serve the country; serve the people who ALLOW you the privilege to serve and then get the hell out! Back to private life and get a real job. No more rulers; no more elite; serve the people, serve your country, for one term and then go home before they can become a “drug addict” themselves!

I was talking with a friend the other day about this concept and they made the statement ”One term is not enough, they need two”. Hogwash! I disagreed, if they are not smart enough to serve their country and fellow man in one term than they shouldn’t be elected in the first place! Give them two terms and we will get back another “drug addict”. They can’t help their self so we must help them!. Yeah, yeah I know that Congress will never come up with a Constitutional amendment implementing the “one term and your out” rule but we don’t need Congress, our forefathers were smarter than that. They realized that there might come a day where our elected officials took the WE THE PEOPLE out of the constitution and substituted “WE THE ELECTED RULING CLASS” so they gave us a “save card”. The Constitution can be amended by an action of the States. That’s right, if two thirds of the state so vote the Constitution can be amended without the consent of Congress through a Constitutional Convention.

Also, along with term limits there’s another change than must be addressed at the sane time. This goes hand-in-hand with term limits and is imperative if we ever hope to return control of our country and government to “We The People” and the States and that change is REPEAL THE 17th AMENDMENT! I’ve covered the importance of repealing the 17th Amendment and the dire consequence it’s ratification had on our nation and our system of government in a previous article and won’t go into that now. For those of you who are interested in learning more about why repealing this Amendment is so important here’s the link for that story: 17th. Amendment, Term Limits and the Death of a Constitution

If “WE THE PEOPLE” stand together and start forcing our elected State officials to vote for such a Constitutional amendment we can make it happen. If those we have granted the PRIVLAGE of serving us at the State level refuse to act then remove them from office; refuse to reelect them and only elect those who run on and vow to push for this change to our Constitution. IF WE DO NOT STAND TOGETHER AND DEMAND THAT THIS HAPPEN AT A STATE LEVEL THEN WE ARE DOOMED TO SERVE THOSE DRUG ADDICTS WE HAVE CREAED IN WASHINGTON! I don’t know about you but I think it’s about time ‘WE THE PEOPLE” became first and foremost in the minds of those we have given the PRIVLAGE of representing us in Washington! THEY ARE OUR SERVENTS, WE ARE NOT THEIRS! Time to flip the tables!

It’s our only chance; we must stand together and guess what, you don’t have to go anywhere; you don’t have to put yourself on the front line, just make a few phone calls; write a few letters; send a few emails and tell your elected State officials that “WE THE PEOPLE” not only want this Constitutional amendment to happen, WE DEMAND THAT IT HAPPEN OR THEY CAN KISS THEIR CARRER AS A POLITICIAN AT ANY LEVEL GOOD BY! Now’s the time people; for once in your life take a stand for your future, for the future of your children, more important, take a stand for your country before it’s too late!