>I believe the causes include-- 1) The proliferation of firearms in the cities.<
A proliferation that no doubt occurs because of indecency and lack of principle. Criminals acquire weapons to harm themselves and decent people. Criminals and decent people acquire them to defend themselves.
>2) The depletion of the urban property tax base caused by middle-class flight to the suburbs.<
A depletion that also occurs because of indecency and a lack of principle. When politicians tax people to fund their wasteful projects and when the fear of crime assaults law abiding citizens, those citizens tend to look elsewhere to live. This is reasonable.
>3) The glorification of illegal drugs by the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s.<
And you might add the glorification of irresponsible sex and depravity, all of which occurs because of a lack of principle and indecency.
> 4) The destruction of the trolley-car systems by the automobile manufaturers.<
The point is questionable. Nevetheless it can be argued that the reason even this occurred was because of a lack of decency-- selfishness and greed.
>5) The continued expansion of the interstate highway system in lieu of a sane, intermodal railway infrastructure.<
The point is questionable, and is merely an outcome of number 4 above.
Our problems stem not from hunks of metal and roads. They stem from people who increasingly lack discipline, principle and a sense of decency. Our problem is a moral problem, but morality is such a hated word these days. And so politicians will continue to rob from hardworking people, inflating away the value of their money. They will continue to fund their wasteful projects, studying cow flatulence and whatnot, and all the while the people will suffer.
>To me all U.S. presidents have been scoundrels, war criminals and liars.<
Well. I have studied much of the available materials on our presidents and can find virtually none of them who lied to our courts, breaking one of the most stabilizing principles of our society. And that they were all scoundrels and war criminals is really quite a subjective determination.
>As for Clinton's getting caught lying under oath, he should be punished. I like the idea of prosecuting him after his term is up.<
Very well then. Every American should be afforded an automatic delay of justice depending upon where they fit in the system. The more elitist one's position, the more delay.
>I believe he won't be convicted, however, because D.C. juries are very liberal and very pro-Clinton.<
Agreed, and this is but another symptom of increased lack of principle and indecency in our country. Washington D.C. is a murderous place with schools that literally crumble. A place filled with ignorance, corruption, incompetence and crime. Yet it will try our head criminal, no doubt to fail at its duty to hold him accountable to our law. We see here the problem is once again, a lack of principle and decency.
>I and many others believe impeachment would be more traumatic to the country than it's worth.<
Pain is no license to discard principle. Such a lack of discipline is why our nation's debt will never be paid, and thus is why our throats will one day be collapsed by someone else. It is why the debtload of individual Americans is increasingly unmanageable. It is why Americans save so little of their money, and why abortion occurs so frequently. Americans are increasingly unwilling to delay gratification, to endure the consequences of their decisions. So they try and find ways to avoid themselves, borrowing, stealing and killing to put the moral books back into balance. The problem here is, with each borrowed dollar, with each killing, with each act of stealing and corruption, the imbalance becomes exponentially greater. I promise you we will never solve our problems according to our current formula of spinelessness. It will not happen because two plus two will always equal four. We must stand firm, not from empty legalism, but from an unwillingness to compromise those fundamental principles that hold us all together. It will be painful, but in the long run everyone will be free to prosper. Our current trajectory moves us toward disaster. Those who are not prepared will suffer remarkably.
>Since before antiquity, people with power have gotten away with murder and lying and stealing. It's only the rabble, the powerless plebes, who've ever consistently had to suffer the consequences of their misdeeds. People understand this. They have always understood this.<
Agreed, and also the principle of honor and decency have existed, and where people have striven for them, they have prospered. Where they have discarded them, they ended up oppressed and defeated.
>They see Clinton, or some other a**hole, getting away with a crime and they comprehend that if they did the same thing they would be locked up because they don't have the power and connections that he has.<
My lands! You have openly and casually stated what is the truth. Can you not see how destructive this is? The people, the whole nation and not a jury, have said Clinton is free to flagrantly commit crime. Have they ever said this of anyone in our country? They certainly did not say this of OJ. Though letting him go, he yet filtered through our system to be judged. I think the OJ decision flawed to say the least. But I must admit that Mark Furhman does seem a racist, and that the blood evidence was mishandled. The LAPD didn't even have the sense to prohibit bystanders from having access to OJ's White Bronco. So there is a little voice (a very little voice) that yet tells me of a possibility that Furhman did plant evidence and that the blood samples were tainted. I hate to admit this because I very much wanted OJ to be punished for the murders I am almost sure he comitted. But I do have a doubt, and that doubt is sufficient to allow me comfort that the system worked. On the other hand, in Clinton's case the people certainly know both the crime and the culprit and yet without that culprit appealing to the mercy of their system have granted him mercy anyway. The system has been circumvented. Has this ever happened?
>I dont't think a powerful person getting away with a crime will have any negative or positive impact on our frayed, blood-streaked social fabric.<
Very well then. I guess there is nothing we can do but wait and see. I predict you and I will be long dead when the most destructive ramifications of these times come to light. It is the nature of societies. The things we do today have their most destructive results decades into the future. Because we suffer from a myopic focus upon the here and now, we generally do not have ability to think of future ramifications. I have children. We who breed like guppies tend to take an interest in things like the future.
>That's just the way of the world our elders handed us.<
I beg to differ. Our elders were not perfect, but they did leave us the principles that would help us survive together. We do not even have to hold perfectly to these principles, but we must try. Today we claim it not important even to try-- that demanding that we try is legalistic. It is not legalistic. The Founding Fathers would not have trucked flagrant lying to our nation's court whatever the subject matter, this, despite their own personal failings. |
