OPINION

Why America Is No Longer Great

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of Townhall.com.

When did caring about the Constitution, morality and making sure future generations of Americans have it as good as we do become “radicalism” in America? When did believing that we should have a border and that people shouldn’t be able to cross it illegally become “racism?” When did expecting politicians to tell us the truth if they want our vote become too much to ask?

We live in a country where Hillary Clinton is so above the law that the FBI refuses to prosecute her even when it catches her dead to rights and illegal aliens are aided by the government in breaking our own laws with impunity. Our government can’t balance the budget, secure the border or win a war; yet no one ever seems to pay a price for incompetence.

No one in D.C. who’s in charge of anything today deserves to be in charge of it after the election. We’ve already reached banana republic levels of corruption, incompetence and arrogance in D.C. The only people who have a real voice in America are the rich, the powerful and the special interest groups. Ordinary Americans who point out how broken, dysfunctional and haywire things are going in this country are laughed at and impugned. 

Anyone who thinks that way must be one of those racists, one of those “deplorables,” one of those hicks in flyover country whose opinions don’t matter. Obviously, they don’t understand how all these things work because if they did, then they’d realize that the smartest people were already in charge. You can tell that these people are smart because of how they talk and the schools they went to, not because they actually get anything done for the country. For example, if the Affordable Care Act actually did everything our Harvard educated President promised it would do, it would have been great. Unfortunately, Obamacare isn’t great because the entire project was sold with lies. Isn’t it so funny that all those dumb “deplorables” and “hicks in flyover country” seemed to know it all along while the “smart set” in the media and in D.C. seemed to be the ones who were buffaloed by all of Obama’s meaningless promises about the program?

There is no problem too big for Americans to handle, but there’s also no big problem that will ever be handled as long as “leaders” like Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are in charge of anything.

America’s elite seem to believe that the country is indestructible. No matter how far into debt we go, how many wars we lose, how poor the quality of our immigrants are or how much hatred Democrats stir up against anyone who stands in their way, everything will be fine. The country will stay strong, prosperous, united and decent. What’s more realistic? That view or the view that if America doesn’t continue to do the things that made us successful, we won’t continue to be successful?

Then to add insult to injury, it’s those same elites who blame the people they ignored for all of America’s problems. They’ve blamed the Tea Party for America losing its AAA credit rating, conservatives for the failure of Obamacare and white Republicans for the crime and despair in black communities run by Democrats for decades.

See, in America, we now have designated victim classes that we’re all supposed to eternally excuse, baby and promote. However, if you’re not part of those special groups of victims, you’re treated with all the compassion a 15th century lord had for his serfs. Oh, you’re a straight white guy who hasn’t been able to find a job since the only factory in your town shut down? Your issues are distracting us from the complaints of college students who’ve been triggered. You’re worried about your kids being exposed to the most degenerate culture since the Roman Empire? Stop trying to ruin everyone’s fun! You’re a Christian and you think your faith should be treated with as much respect as Islam by the media and the government? You want respect for your faith? Then cut somebody’s head off or burn a newspaper office to the ground after the paper runs a Jesus cartoon. That’s the message.  

Not only are you told you deserve no sympathy, you’re told that you’re the ones who’ve messed everything up for everyone else. That unemployed white office manager? He’s taking advantage of his white privilege. That struggling Christian small business owner? He’s trying to hurt gay Americans by refusing to provide cupcakes for their wedding, not making a difficult moral choice that may hurt his bottom line. All those people talking about running the government according to the Constitution? That’s old timey stuff written by slave owners and it’s only relevant if we’re finding some imaginary “right” we invented yesterday that we want to claim is in the Constitution.

It’s no different for the people in unfavored groups who aren’t behind the 8-ball. We’re treated like saps. Like suckers. In so many words, we’re told to keep our heads down and our mouths shut because our betters who can’t secure our borders, fix our healthcare system, win a war, pay our bills or run an honest government know better. Our job is to pay our taxes so that illegal aliens, welfare queens and fat cats who gave large donations to politicians can use our money. When we complain, we’re told to be grateful we have roads and street signs, as if that represents anything other than a tiny percentage of what our taxes are wasted on. We’re also told that we better be careful about what we say. It doesn’t matter if you spent your whole life working with black inner city youth, make one politically incorrect joke people disagree with and you’re no different than the KKK. Oh, you disagree with Hillary Clinton? Then you must hate women. You don’t want grown men with mental problems alone in the bathroom with your little girl? Then you must hate transsexuals and gays.  Meanwhile, we’re supposed to take the blame for everything that’s wrong with America. If any woman, minority or gay American succeeds, it’s because that person is so wonderful, but if any of these people fail, it must be because all those horrible, straight white men are holding them back by basking in our imaginary white privilege. You want one of the surest signs of a culture going to hell in a handbasket? Look for culture that BLAMES successful groups for their success instead of trying to learn from them.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be this way. Just be a liberal; then other liberals will excuse you doing everything from taking bribes like Hillary Clinton to leaving a woman to die in a tidal pool. Suddenly you’ll get better press coverage. When other liberals are talking about those awful racist white people and call for their extinction, you can kid yourself that they don’t mean you. Suddenly, all the “sins” of America are off your shoulders, even the ones that liberals made happen. It’s a cultural get out of jail card combined with a shot of Novocain to your conscience all rolled up into one.  The good news is you won’t be lumped in with those awful conservatives you’re supposed to hate by people looking for scapegoats for their own failure.  On the other hand, you’ll be part of a philosophy that’s slowly but surely turning what was once the greatest nation in human history into just another decadent country in decline that’s coming apart at the seams.