This phrase has been used by politicians for centuries as a rallying call. Aesop, Patrick Henry, Lincoln and Winston Churchill all used it — with minor variations.
America may never have been as divided as it is today. In the recent congressional budget, every Democrat voted “for,” every Republican “against.” As for the election, most Republican voters followed Fox while Democrats went with MSNBC and CNN. All are heavily biased.
The world needs American leadership, but in Europe Trump was the most unpopular president ever. Chinese and Russian dictatorships are making trading inroads all over the world — even in America, where China is our largest source of nonessential imports. They produce 10 times as many cars as we do, so they’ll soon dominate that export market — we’re currently well behind Germany and Japan because our gas guzzlers aren’t welcome.
To quote from The Guardian, one of the U.K.’s most respected daily newspapers. “If this all sounds like the final days of Nero ‘fiddling while Rome burned,’ that’s because it is. The decay of the American empire appears to be hastening rapidly.” Remember, the U.K. understands shrinking empires!
All is not lost, if we act quickly and dramatically. My recommendations? (1) Disband the Senate. Two seats per state and 6 year terms is a 250-year-old undemocratic anachronism. California has more people than the 20 smallest states combined. (2) Shorten and clean up our elections. Last year, candidates’ supporters spent twice as much as any previous election, and the biggest spender won over 80% of the time. Result? Politicians for hire. (3) End gerrymandering by biased state politicians.
Frank Fish, Taylorsville
