By Lawrence Landskroner

Election year rhetoric will do it every time, because within that rhetoric – arising out of the verbal potpourri of accusations, contradictions, innuendos and misdirections, enough of which normally makes any mind completely fuzzy – comes the crystal clear picture:  Our nation is dying.

The blunders of those in authority are being heaped upon those of others.  One lie necessitates another, so that the mass of lies is becoming formidable.  The cup is becoming full, in danger of running over.

What is happening to this country’s reputation for justice and humanity?  It’s being destroyed by the lack of leadership.  The United States government, combined with big business, is destroying the nation’s standards of morality, stealing its honor and destroying the United State’s reputation for justice.

There appears to be collective, crass cowardice, which is symbolic of the dictatorial direction in which the country is headed.  The politicians coupled with big business are deliberately misleading and misguiding the country.  These activities are depriving innocent people of their human rights and are denying freedom of speech and many personal and invaluable democratic rights.

The politicians’ personal and individual cowardice is also continually indicated by denying personal principles for the sake of partisan political progress or monetary rewards.  They have chosen to abrogate their obligation to provide leadership for our citizens in favor of reelection and are noticeably conspicuous by their silence and abstinence on important issues that might shatter their ability to obtain money and influence, and as a result, our system of checks and balances is rapidly disintegrating causing the privileged interests to climb to the forefront.  Legislators who maintain their conspicuous silence and absence abridge the rights of the citizenry, which embrace the very principles upon which the country was founded. They embrace the freedoms of speech, movement and association of citizenship.

By way of example, even the church, supposedly separate from the state and government, receives a special bounty in that they pay no taxes – an obvious exception to the concept that all citizens, both corporate and private, are created equal.  In addition, the tax structure, instead of being fair and equitable, leaves many loopholes so that the rich and the wealthy can avoid paying taxes by the use of appropriate legal and accounting help.  Ultimately, the wage earner or blue-collar workers wind up supporting whatever governmental and political projects are advocated by the politicians.

Apart from all of the foregoing, there is the unassailable reality that the sanctity of our country’s most sacred legal document, the Constitution, is at stake.  Two particular classifications of people come to mind:  women and the impoverished.  Despite their campaign attempts to address these classes, along with other minorities, the legislators are hell-bent on selling the soul of the country for a mass of pottage, which they intend to market among the populace with corruptive political platitudes.

The government, while engaging in this preferential treatment toward certain industries and certain international corporations (the facts of which are buried in hyperbole), won’t give or explain the reasons for the failure to release pertinent information and facts to the public in areas of spending which would cause the public to object.  Their restrictions in disseminating this information is buttressed by the explanation that they identify such dissemination as a threat.

We, as citizens, should be expected to revere the Constitution.  Surely, the men and women involved in carrying forward functions and running the country are most responsible for the realizations and embodiment of the articles of government.  And they should be seen to stand and account for the morality and justness of these articles by way of the example they set for the people of our country to follow.

Some of the remedies to be considered to help resolve the problem would be:  stronger conflict-of-interest laws; a maximum limit on campaign contributions to legislators; increasing the pay of legislators so that they can exist without additional payments from special interest groups; removal of judges for incompetence after a reasonable period of time by an independent investigatory body; more ABSCAM type investigation by governmental agencies; a Hoover type ombudsmen agency, free of all political influences, to review governmental agencies and political entities and disband those that have served their purpose.

After all, we citizens must have faith that our leaders will acknowledge the standards, not tear them down; honor the law, not abolish it; obey the rules of natural justice, not denigrate them; support all reasonable expectations of hones men and women, not shatter them; make and uphold morality, not mash it underfoot; and, be tried and tested in crucible of truth and not be found wanting.

This, after all, is not too much to hope for.  It requires only a simple reversion to the Constitutional basics – basics that by their very terms withstand change.  The freedoms outlined in these basics cannot be changed.  Today’s leaders need only be reminded of this so that the cup of destruction, noted earlier, can be emptied. 

The subsequent acts of most politicians, in this and recent elections are examples of how they will not follow through and have not followed through with their campaign promises.