THIS USED TO BE MY COUNTRY RANT

I’m no longer comfortable living in my own country. It’s not the America I’ve learned to love so deeply over the years. No, I do not have a case of what’s come to be termed “good old dayism” for they never existed save in Norman Rockwell’s imagination. Every generation since cave dwellers inhabited the planet has lamented the passing of its youth and remembers it far more fondly than is warranted. The younger constantly disappoints the older and this is both normal and natural. What has qualitatively and negatively changed is our optimistic sense of the future: the feeling that America’s brightest days lay yet ahead of us; that the future still has great promise. This is what’s new and unnatural. America has always been viewed, especially by its own citizens, as a place of constant progress, ever lasting and unbridled hope.

Certainly, there have always been a small percentage of American nay-sayers, gloom and doomers, and detractors and there always will be. Never before, however, has it been so obvious and outspoken in such large numbers. Perhaps I’m experiencing this all encompassing, overwhelming, and especially black “funk” because this piece is being written literally the day before our 2008 Presidential election and I’m envisioning the worst possible scenarios imaginable. I doubt, however, that this is the cause of my malaise. This rant has absolutely nothing to do with individual elections or politicians regardless of my own preferences.

It has, however, everything to do with what has happened and continues to happen to the greatest nation God ever gave mankind. We seem to be collectively losing our bearings and that once famous sense of American optimism and supreme confidence is drying up quicker than an errant water hole in a New Mexico desert after a flash flood. More and more Americans seemed filled with a deep sense of not only self doubt and foreboding, but self loathing as well. This feeling of distrust, cynicism, and callousness regarding what the United States has become in the minds of far too many is in no way deserved by those among us who truly comprehend this country’s historic meaning, place in the world, and our amazing contributions to the people of the globe. Those of us who do get it are constantly belittled, ridiculed, and insulted by those who don’t. They hoot, they holler, shout us down, and call us names in an effort to silence those whose opinions even slightly differ from their own.

I notice, for example, that the English language is in a state of serious decline. Fewer and fewer immigrants are learning it but rather prefer their mother tongue. There are days when my wife and I will stroll in a large park near us and we will quite literally not hear one word of English for hours. Soccer and cricket have virtually replaced American baseball and football there. I frequently get the feeling that I’m actually a tourist in a foreign country and will need a passport to return home. This phenomenon makes me feel somewhat less than sanguine and certainly bodes ill for the future. Immigrants seem to no longer recognize the urgency of learning our language, customs, and culture but are quite content to remain foreigners who merely live in but have no love for America.

There are entire neighborhoods where only Chinese, Korean, or Spanish is spoken and you will not see one sign in the English language. When an American walks through such an area he is literally viewed not merely as an outsider but rather as a foreigner, a stranger who somehow took a wrong turn or got off at the wrong subway stop. The high school in which I teach has just started a brand new drama club. Great, good, for there is nothing at all wrong with students learning about the fine arts. The kicker here is that the one and only requirement for club membership is that all participants must be fluent in – yup, you got it – Spanish, not English! Let’s see, in an American high school, in an American city, in an American state, in the United States of America fluent English is not enough and yet the folks in charge are more than happy that my American tax dollars are footing the bill! Can someone please tell me what the fuck is up with that?!? The next time I dial a phone number and have to PRESS ONE TO CONTINUE IN ENGLISH I’m gonna take that freakin’ thing and it’s goin’ right through a damned window!!

In addition to the language disappearing, the stable, two parent nuclear family is pretty much a thing of the past or it soon will be. The divorce rate remains hovering at about fifty percent and shows no sign of shrinking significantly. This, however, is really not the crux of the problem. The fact is that fewer and fewer “couples” actually consider matrimony a necessary or viable option. The out of wedlock teenage pregnancy rate now stands at a very unhealthy 33%! A full one third of teens in our country are moms and dads long before they’re mature enough for that kind of responsibility. As bad as that sounds, the rate skyrockets to an astounding 75-80% in our inner city ghettoes. This is staggering and profoundly dangerous for America’s future. We see mothers at fifteen, grandmothers at thirty, great grandmothers at forty-five, and Great Greats at sixty! Total fucking insanity. The fathers are invariably MIA after the “blessed event” and “MOMS” is left to raise the kid alone and she’s still a kid herself. The family has always been society’s basic building block and once it is destroyed, so too the nation. Perhaps a law ought to be enacted that when the female of the species hits the age of twelve, Norplant is prescribed and not removed until she is married to a husband who is gainfully employed! Whaddya think, Skippy?

Care for some more good news about our nation’s somewhat shaky future? Sure, why not? We are in the process of destroying the single best, most efficient, and individual oriented economic engine that the planet has ever seen or will see again. Yes, we’re talking about the bedrock of our fantastic wealth and prosperity – Capitalism! It has made America by far the richest, most prosperous, and most generous country in the history of the planet! This is not open to question, doubt, or argument. It is an obvious fact and not susceptible to interpretation. Those among us, and there are far too many, who suffer from that mental illness known as Liberalism will invariably lie and distort capitalism’s truly liberating nature in their continuing assault on that institution as they determinedly and inexorably drag us down that road to certain doom: Socialism!

Surely, I exaggerate and am merely allowing my paranoia to get the better of me. Maybe it’s time to make an appointment with a shrink. Just get some happy pills, a glass of water, and shut the fuck up, right? Nah, Skippy, I don’t fucking think so. Remember the savings and loan debacle that occurred under George the First? Sure you do. The government bailed them out of that mess with, of course, our tax sucker dollars so that failed businesses that had no reason to survive in a capitalist system could, well, survive. Does that sound like capitalism to you? They made very poor decisions, disastrous errors in judgment, and for this they are rewarded? Can someone tell me what the fuck is wrong with this picture? Can we all say FREE MARKET together?

Moving right along to Queen Hillary shortly after the Hillbilly was elected, we fondly remember our near death experience with nationalized health care. The government would control over one-seventh of our country’s economy, tell you what doctors to use, and decide the appropriate care for whatever it was that ailed you. Oh, I don’t know, just call me a jaded old asshole but that sure as shit sounds like Socialism to me. Need yet another example? Absolutely. Look at today’s banking and mortgage debacle that is moving us in a mad rush to what might become a full blown recession. The government – read that tax sucker - is busy bailing out businesses that made the poorest of business decisions and home owners whom the banks knew could never successfully pay down those mortgages. Everyone repeat after me in unison: COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT, COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT, COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT ACT!!

Folks, Socialism has been a world class failure every where its been implemented and its only goals have been to increase the power of government, control the lives of individual citizens from cradle to grave, and rob us all of those essential ingredients of true happiness: personal responsibility, initiative, and an unflinching desire to succeed. Perhaps Ronald Regan said it best when he warned us of the eleven most dangerous words in the English language: “Hi, I’m from the government and I’m here to help you.” Circle the fucking wagons, hide the women, children, and the good silverware! The only people who pine for a socialist America are those that are desperately attempting to create a permanent underclass of dependents who must rely on government for all of their wants and needs. They literally intend to introduce this form of slavery in order to continue to gather more and more power and control in their own hands for their own ends!

Capitalism, conversely, has worked one hundred percent of the time everywhere its been tried. It trusts individuals to take care of themselves and their own needs and understands that government can never provide happiness, contentment, or prosperity. It rightly assumes that in a capitalistic system the only limits on individual success are self-imposed! It has brought more prosperity and happiness to the world than any other system bar none while Socialism brings nothing but misery, death, and despair. Listen, simply put the government should only do what the private sector can’t, shouldn’t, or won’t – and that’s damned little! Perhaps a new rule of thumb should be that if it can be found in the Yellow Pages then the government should keep its fucking “programs” out of the equation, which brings us to Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft fame. This man is absolutely amazing and is a virtual poster child for the glories of capitalism. He turned an idea, a dream, and a hope and, through amazing hard work and tenaciousness, became a true benefactor of all mankind. Because of his vision and belief gazillions of people worldwide have been brought into the computer age and this is a good thing made possible only because of capitalism! Now, after having made literally billions upon billions to which he is entirely entitled, what does the brother do? I hear he tours college and university campuses bad mouthing and cataloguing the evil and abuses of capitalism. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you! Hey Billy Boy, just how far does your hypocrisy run, Hmmm? Fucking Ingrate!

You know, it occurs to me that I’m beginning to sound very much like those doom and gloomers I railed against at the beginning of this rant. I guess it’s contagious. Perhaps someone is working on a vaccine that will prevent it from spreading. Oh well, as depressing as this is let’s just keep forging ahead. You want depression, angst, and a real good case of king Hell heartburn? Just contemplate if you will the state of our nation’s public – read that government – schools especially in our urban centers. I cannot talk knowledgably about suburban or rural educational systems, but I’ve spent the better part of the last thirty years working for the New York City Board of Education. To sum it up succinctly, precisely, and in as few words as possible it’s an absolute total fucking Horror Show, a complete and utter freaking Train Wreck of the first magnitude and it can no longer be rescued or revived! The patient has assumed room temperature and the only thing left to do is tag him and bag him! There is so much wrong with the New York City public school system that the mind boggles and the bowels inflame! Many years ago, Ronaldus Maximus got it right when he insisted that had a foreign power done to our school system what we did to it ourselves, it would absolutely have been deemed an act of war and we would have responded with our entire arsenal!

Virtually no New York City “students” are reading anywhere even close to grade level and while the Board of Education insists that the high school graduation rate is fifty percent (an utterly unacceptable and truly horrific statistic) that’s pure Bullshit – there’s really no other word for it. The Board will also never admit that the real figure stands at roughly 33% and that the average graduation time is now over six years for a grotesquely dumbed down course of study and that the drop out rate is well over fifty percent. Talk about cooking the fucking books! We must also note that while many of our dwindling graduates move on to either a two or a four year post secondary school educational experience, virtually none of them succeed. New York City used to have one of the premier academic and vocational systems in the world, so much so that other nations came here to study our success and replicate it back home. That’s all gone. The educational component has been gutted and the vocational programs have all but disappeared. The vast majority of those who leave school with or without a diploma possess virtually no marketable skills with which they can begin careers and earn decent livings. It’s fucking over! We’ll save the quality of the newer teachers coming into the “profession” for another time but suffice it to say that it is truly appalling!

Let’s take a look now at yet another factor that is killing this nation’s spirit, searing its soul, and creating a never before experienced level of nearly universal doubt, anxiety, angst, and virtual paralysis. This threat can properly be labeled FEAR MONGERING in its most insidious, pernicious, and shameful form. That’s right, Boys and Girls, I bring you the Great Global Warming Hoax as perpetrated on a vastly ignorant, naïve, and utterly gullible public primarily by those thoroughly malicious Environmental Whacko’s (please note the Limbaughism here) and their willing accomplices and henchmen – the so called Mainstream Media!

Global warming – and cooling - has been occurring for literally billions of years, long before evil mankind went to war against an ever so benign and beneficent Mother Nature and began to systematically and viciously rape her. Truth be told, she’s really a malicious old bitch and mankind has throughout the millennium attempted to protect itself as best it could from her temper tantrums, hissy fits, and complete and utter rage. You think the shrew needed taming? This fictional broad was a rank amateur compared to old MN!

The environmental scare mongers have been predicting utter disaster for centuries based on mankind’s interference with the earth’s natural forces and they haven’t been right one fucking time since brother Malthus began screaming about too many people, too few resources, and mass starvation back in the 1700’s! Let’s move forward to Rachel Carson and the destruction of all our feathered friends. Wrong. We can examine the Ehrlich’s outrageous assertions found in the Population Bomb. Wrong. Let’s move along to the dire predictions of a new Ice Age in which evil mankind will freeze to death and thus be properly punished for interfering with the natural order of things. Wrong. Then came the predictions of rising sea levels, polar bear extinctions, everything extinction, desertification disaster, mass starvation, and every other fucking nightmare you can think of blamed squarely on the shoulders of us evil rat bastard Homo Sapiens! Wrong, wrong, and wrong again. None of their disastrous predictions have ever come true and never will. Mankind is just too puny and weak to cause anything like the destruction of our planet. If that’s not the most arrogant, hubristic statement ever uttered, it’s got to be right up there in the top one percent!

Now, of course, we have Global Warming and Catastrophic Climate Change as the disasters du jour and predictions about man’s central nefarious role in planetary destruction taken up by American hating liberal losers, the Hollywood elite, and the mindless buffoons of the mainstream media. Al Gore and his minions do their utter damndest to scare the living shit out of the feckless boobies amongst us and separate them from their money, create a central government that would make the old Soviet Union look benign, and literally realize their fondest dream of destroying capitalism and turning this once great nation into some kind of “Socialist Paradise” (that last term, by the way, has got to be about the most grotesque oxymoron ever uttered in any language)!

Gore, still simmering, smoldering, and bitter over his failed attempt to steal the 2000 election from Bush has come roaring back in spades. While his vehicle is no longer the political stump, he has risen to the very top of the environmental junk science mob of the phony 21st Century hucksters, carni-men, and three-card monty artists with his thoroughly fraudulent “An Inconvenient Truth.” The only thing inconvenient for the former Vice Presidential Pantload is that virtually all of his lies, half-truths, innuendo, distortions, and drivel has been thoroughly debunked by reputable scientists who are well respected in their fields.

For a particularly searing example see a Newsmax piece – no, not Newsweek, never in Hell – or go to www.newsmax.com. The authors dismiss the whole thing as a boondoggle and label it “as false and deceptive advertising.” Ever hear of the Aral Sea in central Asia? Neither had I. They note that Gore’s film “implies that this central Asian sea – once the fourth largest in the world – dried up as a result of global warming.” In reality, they point out that “it actually shrank 75% because the former Soviet Union diverted the rivers that once fed it.” Whaddya think Al, how about a little truth in advertising? Care for yet another little tid bit? Certainly. While it is true that the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro are indeed melting and disappearing, global warming is not the culprit although the former Vice-Presidential Perpetrator in Chief tells us otherwise. The British science journal Nature attributed this “to the fact that humans have cut down the forests – which produce humidity – around the volcano, thereby reducing the amount of moisture in the air that used to replenish the mountain’s snowpack.” Yo, Al, what’s up with that?

How about one more glaring lie – uh, I mean – well yes, a lie designed to instill guilt about what America has done to the planet and especially those cuddly, cutesy polar bears (by the way, if you ever get even close to one you’re not only toast but rather an entire fucking dinner. These boys are vicious as Hell). Gore’s film depicts the fluffy white creatures as gravely endangered and most of the boobies out there bought the hoax. However, according to S.T. Karnick, director of research for the Heartland Institute of Chicago, “the world polar bear population is at a modern high – and growing.” One Mitch Taylor, a polar bear biologist, notes that “the bears now number about 24,000 – up about 40% from 1974, when fears arose about the bear’s ability to survive overhunting by Canadian Eskimos and aboriginals.”

Just how fucking stupid and gullible do the global warming hucksters think the great unwashed actually are? That’s a rhetorical question. I will concede one point to the Liberals. The planet has, in fact, warmed up – an entire one degree Fahrenheit over the past hundred or so years. Yeah, Big Al, I guess you’re right – we’re all fucking doomed and I’d better go immediately invest whatever cash I can lay my hands on in your Carbon Credit Ponzi Scheme! Oh, by the bye, are you aware that we are now in the midst of a global cooling period that has run for about three years and is predicted to last for an entire decade? Didn’t know that did you? For a far more scholarly and erudite treatment of the Leftist Lies regarding the global warming scam than I can provide you may want to consult the following: Roy W. Spencer’s CLIMATE CONFUSION; Christopher C. Horner’s THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING AND THE ENVIRONMENT; or Bjorn Lomborg’s COOL IT.

Now that we’ve convinced ourselves that evil mankind is killing the entire planet, we can get back to the more mundane issues of merely destroying America. The Lunatic Liberals have completely decimated the concepts of sovereignty, borders, and American autonomy. They not only want wide open borders to allow vast numbers of illegals – including terrorists – unfettered access to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Handout, they support further destroying our nation’s distinct identity by advocating the North American Union to be based upon the EU model. They champion the disastrous notion of granting those illegal immigrants drivers licenses and the right to vote! Are you fucking kidding me? I learned recently that as part of our latest housing fiasco that something on the order of 5,000,000 of these illegal bastards had obtained home mortgages without any verification whatsoever. No Social Security number, no income check, no employment history, no nothing. Hey, how about this for an idea? If you don’t belong in my house then get the fuck out of my house and take those evil-ass Liberals with you!!

Well, what’s next on our cheery list of America’s demise? How about the war on terror or, if you prefer, Islamofacism? Here the Liberal Elite show their true and truly anti-American stripes. They, with completely straight face, tell us they support our troops just not their mission! Balls & Bilge, utter rot, a bare, bald faced, out right fucking lie! The troops support their mission in overwhelming numbers, do not want to stop until said mission is accomplished, and complain bitterly about those lying fucks like Kerry or that fat bastard John Murtha when they accuse our soldiers of mass murder, torture, rape, and war crimes. These same evil scum and their ilk want to cut and run, desire to see America actually lose this vital struggle for survival, and at the same time reassure us that they are patriotic Americans who love their country deeply. Give us all a fucking break!!

They equate Camp Gitmo, Abu Grabh, and water boarding on the same level as beheadings, removal of tongues, fingers, and toe nails. These animals parade naked dead Americans through the streets, hang them from bridges, and send videos of same all over the world and our fucking liberals want America to cut and run! We didn’t do so during the American Revolution when virtually every household in the new nation suffered loss in terms of dead and wounded nor did we wave the white flag during the Civil War when the good guys lost roughly 350,000 men! During that same conflict, 50,000 men died at Gettysburg with 10,000 dead in thirty minutes at Pickets Charge. Remember D-Day in 1944? Something like 5,000 men died on those beaches and we still moved inland and kicked Nazi ass! Ever heard of the Battle of the Bulge where the Screaming Eagles were surrounded by crack Nazi troops and fucking Panzers? Do you know what our casualty rates climbed to in a mere thirty days? I’ve read that we lost in the neighborhood of 60,000 dead but we persisted and won WW11! Cut and run my sorry old fucking ass!!

We are literally engaged in WW IV, a fight for our lives, our very way of life, our civilization, and our existence and you sorry-ass Liberal Elite, anti-American slime bucket scum bags want us to cut and run, surrender, and lose! In the same breath you call US names when we doubt your patriotism, love of country, and willingness to sacrifice so that our children can live their lives freely and peacefully. I, for one, am absolutely and utterly doubting your patriotism. Nay, I am in fact uncategorically denying it altogether! You hate this nation as fervently as any of our worst enemies past or present. To call yourselves patriots is an insult to every American who has donned a uniform, hefted a weapon, shed blood, and died to preserve the greatest nation the world has ever seen or will see again. Just shut the fuck up!!

This is getting really depressing as Hell. Everywhere I turn I see less and less reason for optimism about our nation’s future. The inmates seem to be running the asylum and insanity is becoming the norm. I feel far more confused than did Alice as she stepped through that damned looking glass and as Dorothy once remarked, “We sure as shit ain’t in Kansas anymore!” Our great experiment, our shining city upon a hill seems about ready to come crashing down and it’s nobody’s fault but our own. We let it happen and now the barbarians are not merely at the gates but have crashed right through them. These modern day Visigoths, however, are not foreign born but rather home grown and that is what’s most painful. American citizens are purposely, willingly, and determinedly attempting to destroy this once great nation that has done more for mankind than any other entity in planetary history. Why is it that millions upon countless millions of foreigners clamor to get in here every year and there is no let up in sight? Why is it that they seem to appreciate what this nation stands for and represents while so many of our fellow citizens take it for granted or, as is frequently the case, want to bring it to its knees?

These Liberal Scum seem Hell bent on destroying the very foundations of our society. Nothing is sacred to them about those institutions and ideologies that made America so uniquely, so supremely successful. Is there nothing they won’t destroy, sully, and spit on in their mad rush to kill the American dream? In addition to all the damage they have thus far wrought they are not yet satisfied and will stop at nothing until their goal of total destruction has been achieved. They, for example, want to deprive you of your absolute right as a citizen to own a gun and defend yourself, your family, and your property. I’m willing to wager that by the time they are finished rampaging through our Constitution, the Second Amendment will be no more!

In addition, this nation used to be the finest example of meritocracy found anywhere on the planet. Only those who truly qualified got the job or the university admission. Nope – not anymore. Ever since the 1960’s, Affirmative Action has become the norm and this reverse racism has taken a huge toll. Excellence as a standard is virtually nonexistent and, at best, mediocrity rules. Additionally, multi-culturalism, political correctness, and diversity are but more tools that the saboteurs use to further destroy America’s confidence and have lead to a huge fear factor that one might be labeled a racist for opening one’s mouth and telling the truth! After all, someone might actually get – gasp – offended and we certainly can’t have that!

These anti-American scum have succeeded in thoroughly emasculating the First Amendment. We are becoming afraid to speak! You don’t believe this, then go look up something called the Fairness Doctrine. Just step onto almost any university or college campus and espouse Conservative views. You’re going to get your damned head handed to you! They are additionally killing the First Amendment by purposefully, callously, and even maliciously distorting the Establishment Clause and turning it into something the Founders never intended. These Constitutional Thugs and Muggers have completely and successfully removed God from the public square. Old Tom probably regrets to this day his famous and famously abused letter to the Baptists! I fear this great nation is headed toward the same fate as ancient Rome. I may not live to see the total collapse, but my children and grandchildren sure as shit will.

While each of the topics touched upon in this screed have been or will be the main idea of a separate rant, when looked at in the aggregate our situation seems hopelessly overwhelmingly. While the themes raised above are indeed multi-faceted and have multiple causes, there is one glaring concept that runs through all of them and it will utterly destroy this country: LIBERALISM!!!


Y’all have a great day now and much luv.

The Fifth Horseman