Earlier in the year, I said that Saturday August 28, 2010 would be an important date.
And it was.
Glenn Beck spoke to his followers - some 500,000 middle Americans - at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Never before in US history have so many middle of the road Americans come out in such fashion. All worried that their once great country is quickly going off track and thanks in large part to Glenn Beck they finally have a voice.
To many, Glenn Beck is still an unknown. Let me first tell you a little bit about who he is not:
- He is not a religious fanatic
- He is not a bigot
- He is not a Democrat nor even a Republican
- He is not a politician nor will he ever become a politician
Who is he then?
He is a concerned citizen worried to death about where his once great country is headed. (Many of us in Canada share his concerns for our own country).
Beck also has his own program on Fox News every night at 5 pm est and through the vehicle of television has developed a huge following among Middle Class America. Dare I say, he has become the most popular person in all of the US. At the same time, he has become his country's most unpopular person. Revered on the Right; hated by the Left.
As noted in earlier Blogs, the United States is split 50 / 50. The Leftist Elites and their unquestioning followers on one side and ordinary Americans - the ones who work 9 to 5, raise their families, pay their taxes and go to church on the other side.
In Canada, I believe the same breakdown to be closer to 66 /33 given our more Socialist bent.
Okay - Why all the doom and gloom Galagher? We have it pretty good here in Canada and in the United States -do we not? Food on the table, decent jobs, good roofs over our heads, kids well educated and so on. Why the Scare Tactics?
I concede that we do in fact have life pretty good and indeed it is my fervent wish that it remains so.
But - here it comes - the BIG BUT - my big concern is that everything of importance which we have known since the end of the Second World War is turning itself upside down and inside out. What was Black is now White. What was Right is now Wrong and so on. The question for me becomes can we hold on to what we have gained over the last 200 years and more or are we doomed to lose it like the Romans did in their time.
Let's look as some of these important changes:
- Nuclear Proliferation is probably the most important change since its inception in 1945. Nut Bars like China, Russia, Pakistan, North Korea and too soon - Iran- have the Bomb. It is only a matter of time before one of the lesser lights in that sterling line-up push the button to eventual oblivion.
- Related to the first, will be Al Qaeda getting its hands on enough radio active material to launch a hand-held nuclear device. You can bet that New York City and London will be their Targets of Choice.
- Governments, at all levels, are getting larger - much larger. They are intruding into most aspects of our lives to the point where we are losing our independence. I like to say, it started with Mandatory Seat Belt Wearing. Whatever, the Cradle to Grave Philosophy now so apparent in the West, has seriously diminished our independence and has impaired our ability to challenge the Ruling Elites.
- Taxes are ever increasing to pay for this grossly expanded Government and its various follies (e.g. the Green Movement). The ordinary person has come to his or her wits end with taxes, fees, taxes on taxes and related charges and sur charges. This has only served to indebt the individual to Government even more and in so doing has emasculated the population in general.
- Terrorism of all kinds is running rampant throughout the world; Genocide is being carried out with impunity in Africa; Drug Lords Rule; Human Traffickers and Smugglers are coddled; Petty Little Dictators prey on their own People while We in the West stand helplessly by. We have lost the Will to do what is needed to put a stop to these Tyrannies.
- Freedom has indeed become another word. In Truth, it has become Lost. Security Measures following 9/11 have only been successful in treating all of our citizenry as criminals. Kangaroo Human Rights Courts stomp on the very Human Rights they are there to protect. We are constantly being poked and probed. Legislation, Regulations, Rules and Policy have piled up so fast that it is difficult for us to Breath. Courts have assumed the Role of our Guardians and have used the Charter of Rights to replace Government. Government by the Majority has been replaced with Government by the Minority.
- Government Debt has gone off the Charts. In reality, the US is flat broke. Some Wag is quoted as saying that even Canada - should only be described as the Healthiest Horse in the Glue Factory. Harper and Co. have also run up greater deficits than at any time in our history. His program spending in the few years he has been in power has doubled. What Pray Tell are we to do when our money is worthless? Gold is not going to record levels for nought and don't think for a moment that Gold is the answer - when Gold replaces Paper Currency and it most likely will, there will be Hell on our Streets.
- Our Media is mostly controlled by the Left - at least America has Fox News. It used to be that CBC took any flack there was from the right but now, from my perspective, CTV is just as bad or even worse. In sum, our population is being brainwashed daily by our major outlets. (Oh to have the Toronto Telegram and the Ottawa Journal back). So our Governments and our Courts no longer work for us the People and our Media no longer provides a desperately necessary arms length, objective perspective.
- To top it off, we have become a Social Welfare State - bought by our own money. Stats indicate that one in six Americans receive government assistance, unemployed receive benefits for up to 2 years. I am not sure of the numbers on government assistance here in Canada but I suspect, given our Socialist Nature - they would be even higher. And this only serves to promote lethargy and takes needed money away from an economy in desperate need of it to create more jobs and more wealth.
- And then we have migration. Stats from the United Nations state that upwards of 50 million persons are on the move around the world to find a better country in which to live. Canada, per capita, accepts the more refugees by far than any other Western Nation. Average numbers total some 40 to 50 thousand per year. This is in addition to the 200,000+ that come to Canada via the normal immigration channels. These immigrants and refugees for the most part come from the third world and tend to congregate in our major cities. They are causing a net drain on our country's GDP. I fully understand the moral issue that is attached to immigration but it is also important that Canadians understand the economic issues as well. Simply stated, if these numbers continue, our standard of living will be negatively affected. The answer is to revamp our Immigration System to ensure that those coming to Canada are a net economic benefit and through this, we will be able to provide more help to those in need throughout the world.
To me though the scariest part of our moral and economic decline is in regard to the Rest of the World. For Centuries Great Britain maintained world order, since WW I, America has performed this role. We all have benefited from this. Now though we are experiencing a transition. America's days of being number one are ending. As noted above, America is broke, and ever increasingly lacks the will to do what is necessary to retain the mantle of World Policeman. Soon it will be replaced by the powers in South East Asia - notably China and to a lesser extent India.
Glenn Beck offers us the chance to delay that Transition.
As I see it...
"Galagher"
