Notebook: Our greatest problem
EDITORIAL MUG: Larry Anderson
It may be hard to agree on America’s greatest problem because there are so many.
Is our greatest problem our Southern border which leaks thousands of immigrants every day with the passive approval of an ineffectual government that offers no explanation or solution to why it is the way it is? Is that the one?
Could be, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Perhaps America’s worse problem is our impressive national debt. Here’s our national debt in round numbers: $34,000,000,000,000. Currently, there is no plan to reduce the debt or the deficit spending that contributes to its compilation. According to Debt Clock, interest on the debt is $682 billion and growing. These are funds expended for which we see nothing.
Horrific debt is an economic time bomb ticking away, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
Maybe our biggest problem is our subsidy of two foreign wars while this president depletes our oil reserves, our supply of weapons and ammunition, and our treasury. The fact Biden’s policies greatly contributed to a jittery world and the slaughter of thousands is an underserved truth. Weakness fails, you see.
It doesn’t have to be that way, but it’s too late for many.
Is our greatest problem a pesky rate of inflation now in its third year? Coupled with it are high interest rates that discourage building, buying and paying off. Personal debt is rising while a depleted middle class struggles with the cost of living.
That’s how it is right now, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
It could be our greatest national problem is decadence as evidenced by the decline of American cities, our infatuation with drugs, a large number of unemployed homeless, high crime rates, and the corruption of those we trust and elect.
Yup, those are biggies alright, but it doesn’t have to be that way.
The fact we have frittered away much of our manufacturing is certainly a great problem unless you talk to a Democrat in denial. Manufacturing used to be a stable source of employment for workers entering the market, but America has given away whole industries to countries like China and India while our own people try to make ends meet in service-related jobs. The greatest agricultural country on Earth imports 15% of its food. We import energy when we were once energy independent. We can’t even get a pipeline built.
It shouldn’t be that way.
Maybe our greatest issue is climate change, or at least that’s what we are told ad nauseam. Yup, we’ve about had it, but the apparent solution is to import millions of immigrants into our own scrambling, dysfunctional and confused society. We are told immigrants are victims of climate change. That’s a lie and not a very good one.
Did you know the United Kingdom was once connected to mainland Europe? What happened? Well, the climate changed, the ice caps melted, and the ocean rose, thereby creating an island. This was centuries before humans, industry or automobiles could influence outcome. The climate changes, folks. Always has. Always will.
We are currently under the sway of environmental activists, social engineers, and anonymous “experts” who exaggerate on climate urgency to meet a compulsive political end, namely centralized control of production and consumption.
That’s where we are headed, but, again, it doesn’t have to be that way.
Our greatest problem could be our decline in education, or maybe it is overpopulation. It could be our general acceptance of abortion as a solution to life. Maybe it’s the cancel culture, or woke agenda, or a government out of step with the needs of its increasingly restless population. Maybe it is the calculated destruction of our traditions.
Maybe declining faith, or the closing of churches, or the spread of hatred is bringing about the closure of the world’s foremost democracy. Maybe it is indifference or the loss of love of freedom that is doing us in, bit by bit, piece by piece. Maybe it is poor leadership, or laziness, or the despair of failure. Maybe it is the destruction of America’s renowned optimism.
Whatever it is, I’m saying things don’t have to be as they are. Every problem I mentioned is solvable when we have the right leadership and a renewal of who we truly are. Indeed our single greatest problem may very well be failure to understand fully where we are as a nation and where we are headed. Acceptance can be fatal.
Larry W. Anderson is a retired educator.
