The Complacency of America

Posted by Jeff Carter
on September 23rd, 2012

Talking to a lot of my friends, they don’t get it. How can anyone possibly support Obama? Even if you are a Democrat, how can you? He was elected on the promise to cut the deficit, and to work with the other party. Remember, “Team of Rivals”? But it’s not enough to say Obama didn’t live up to any of his promises. That’s too transparent. Politicians are made to break promises.

Knowing American History, we have a lot of things in common with the British. A lot of our DNA is ensconced still in the first settlers that successfully established here. Even the colonists knew when they were fighting the British, they were inherently British.

I think I have found the answer in a book by Carlo D’Este. Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill. Here is a quote from the book that rings true today. He writes,

“his friend Harold Nicholson’s observation: ‘The British, except in moments of danger, are a lethargic race; they do not care for stimulants, they prefer sedatives. They are distrustful of brilliance. They feel more at ease with what they call, “sound common sense”. Their optimism, which in a crisis becomes a source of strength, degenerates in neutral periods into an ardent desire to believe nothing unpleasant is likely to occur. Their motto in such periods is “safety first”. And Churchill never believed that safety is the highest aim of human endeavour.”

Americans have become complacent. Uncertainty will do that to you. Obama’s administration has deliberately created uncertainty in almost all things. Economics, Foreign Policy, Banking, Healthcare. American’s don’t know who to believe, or what to believe. The media shields them from the mathematical comeuppance that is right around the corner.

Many Americans don’t have a clue about the coming debt crisis, and the massive increase in taxes they are about to get-nor the consequences of those events. They are passive-or worse yet think the rich will rally and bail them out.

The bad news is, the rich aren’t rich enough to do anything about it. When the dyke breaks, it’s over.

Somehow, someway, if the clear eyed realists can convince Americans that something truly tragic has been building up for 50 years now is about to really change the way of American life, they might awaken. But many are so cynical they won’t believe it-until it happens.

Wars are sometimes like that. Look at Great Britain in the late 1930′s. Economics is like that. Look at America today. You don’t go broke slowly. It happens all at once.

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Thanks for the link Doug Ross

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