Five Serious Problems Facing America Right NOW

There’s been a lot of discussion lately concerning the direction of the country.  While that may appear to be a ridiculously obvious opening statement, the coming election is pushing everything else onto the back burner.  Let’s just pretend that the rest of the world is cool with taking an extended time out and will wait for the U.S. of A to sort out who gets to live at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue next. 

Even those folks who pay very scant attention to what’s going  on outside of reality TV, sports, American Idolatry, and whatever’s on their smartphone at the moment, are somewhat aware that we’re off the rails.  For that matter,  the stoners in Colorado with half a dozen semi-functioning brain cells can occasionally become aware of their surroundings when their Cheetos run out…give ’em a day or two. 

It’s not rocket science to know our current path is completely unsustainable.  So, long introductory paragraphs aside, I want to look a t five areas where we’re in trouble, and in part 2 of this column, offer some possible solutions.    

1. Our open borders
We cannot maintain an open border policy any longer.  Sanctuary cities also must be stopped.  Whatever happened to the rule of law?

I’ve been called a racist simply because I want to see the end of sanctuary cities and illegal immigration.  The cost of 11 to 15 million illegals is perhaps the biggest drain on the resources of hospitals, law enforcement, schools, community resources and of course jobs.  It’s not compassion to downgrade and endanger your own community in favor of criminal invaders.  Even the Good Samaritan didn’t take the wounded man to his own home.  (Luke 10:25-37)

2.   Our foreign policy (…in particular, how we’re dealing with Islam)
Islam is pure evil, and is the greatest threat to the peace and stability of the entire planet.  No other ideology exists today that wishes to wipe out entire populations and destroy Western civilization as a whole.  Only recently has the Obama administration even admitted that ISIS is committing genocide against Christians.  This is the same administration that can’t even say “radical Islam”.  And therein is the problem.  We have leaders who can’t identify the greatest threat we face. 

Thomas Sowell said it best in a Townhall.com column, March 15, 2016:

Two of our bitterest enemies-Iran and North Korea-are openly declaring their desire to destroy us.  And both are developing intercontinental missiles that can carry nuclear warheads.

These and other mortal dangers are a product of the feckless foreign policies carried out by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as the Obama administration weakened our military forces while our adversaries around the world have been rapidly strengthening theirs.

We will be lucky to survive the damage that has been done already.  A third consecutive term of such policies, with Hillary Clinton in the White House, can be suicidal.

3.   Our debt
It’s almost inconceivable that we as a nation are 19 trillion in debt.  I can’t wrap my mind around that figure.  .  When Obama came into office in January 2009, the debt was 9 trillion.  He has more than doubled it in just under 8 years.  It might even be 20 trillion by the time he leaves office.  Why are we not demanding to know where all that money went?   What do we have to show for it?

4.   Our spirituality
Or rather,  lack of spirituality.  I’m not going to go into a major theological rant here; I’ve done that in other columns.  Let’s just say that it’s hard to believe that some Christians will buy into liberalism, will buy into Socialism, and will buy into the notion of perpetual victimhood.  Where does personal responsibility and common sense fit into the liberal dog-whistle concept of “social justice”? 

For all those who want to divert the issue by saying “What would Jesus do?”, remember this:   when Jesus confronted an individual on a personal level, He always presented the opportunity to make a choice.   There’s a lot of scripture references for this, but one of the best examples is the story of the Rich Young Ruler. (Matthew 19:16-30)  And, I sincerely believe Jesus would never have prompted anyone to break the law. 

5.   Our education system
We are living in what is being called the Information Age.  BUT…never have we had such a larger percentage of our population so misinformed about…well, everything.  

The socialists (or liberals, or progressives, or whatever they’re called this week….) have succeeded in taking over the education system in this country, starting with the grade schools.  How many stories have we all seen and heard about Islam being taught in grade schools?   (Which brings up an interesting point: aren’t liberals supposed to be proponents of the “separation of church and state”?   Why, then, teach the “religion” of Islam in state supported schools?   Hypocrisy on display?)

Socialists have turned college campuses into nothing more than expensive day care centers for the participation trophy/entitlement/Occupy-a-safe-space generation.  

Ask any of this current generation what Socialism is and you’ll get cricket noise in stereo.  They have no idea who Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, or even Pol Pot was.  They don’t know that it’s been estimated that in the 20th century, Socialism killed at least 100 million people, maybe more. 

They have no idea what brought on WWII.  They equate Hitler with Trump, even though Trump never sent anyone to a concentration camp.   They have no idea what the Nazi’s actually did to the Jews, or that it was more than just the Jews who perished in the Holocaust.  Estimates put the total number at 12 to 15 million.  

All of this is foreign to them.  They have no idea that you have to actually accomplish something to win a Nobel Prize, which means they’ve never heard of, let alone read, someone like Alexander Solzhenitsyn.

It’s sad that remedial reading and English has to be taught in universities and colleges.   The Socialists have done one hell of a good job.  It will take a generation to fix this, but it can be done. 

These five examples of how we’ve strayed from the path our Founders laid out are only a short list of our current problems.  There are so many others.  However, it comes down to this:  there is a real palpable anger in the country right now.   That guy at a recent Trump rally who sucker punched a protester isn’t alone.  There are millions who feel just like him…only they haven’t acted on their impulses.  Yet.  

Bad ideas got us into this mess.  All of us, together, can work on good ideas to get us out.  Don’t pay attention to the bright, shiny, loud distractions all around you.  We can do this.   My contribution of ideas will be Part 2 of this column. 

Share if you think America is on a dangerous path.