Reader fears for the future of our country

Dear Editor,

Too often governmental policy, programs and proposals, or their continued support are based on the intentions of the policy, rather than their outcome. Laws, programs and policies might seem to be moral, whether welfare, the war on drugs or most of everything the elected officials call for. Our country is in danger from multiple threats and we need new leadership in most governmental offices.

The elected officials are a generally a product of what the majority want, so the personal decisions voters make, based on what they believe to be the best laws and policies are the product. The citizens of this country have a responsibility to engage their fellow citizens on the political issues of today, to persuade others, so changes that would be best for the country begin taking place. Politicians who would help bring policy with the best outcomes often lose when they run for office, because a voter believes their candidate will support a policy that is perceptually better than the actual best candidate, whose ideas may not seem to support a desirable outcome. They support the best outcome, but may not seem like that. 

The way to know is by understanding what current policies are doing, and what would be better, then electing those supporting the better policy, the policy that achieves the best outcome. Unfortunately there is so much misinformation, disinformation and propaganda, often called fake news. The country has enemies and these enemies assist in creating false information, as they watch our society become confused and divided through well-funded foreign intelligence operations that create well-crafted believable propaganda, which is then easily shared in an almost entirely connected population, pushing their agendas.

We as individuals are responsible for the government we have, when there is free speech and plenty of opportunity to persuade others why things should change. Many support reducing military spending, taking the wealth created by the rich, to pay for socialistic, spreading of the wealth endeavors, with little thought of the implications of such policy.

Recently politicians that have brought up a reduction in military spending, do not consider the implications. There is much waste in the government and military and that needs addressed, but much of military spending goes to funding weapons research and maintaining a deterrence, in a world of adversaries who hate this country and want to see its demise, who are increasingly catching up quickly and even surpassing the United States in lethality with their new advanced weapons systems.

Inflation is a serious problem as money is printed, and as people are losing confidence in the government that supports the currency, they are increasingly turning to blockchain technology that supports cryptocurrency, along with the privacy this offers. In God We Trust is printed on the money, but that will not help prevent the spread of communistic policy, nor will it protect the dollar from the policies the government wants to enact. Many are on welfare, programs supported by most elected officials. And it is a rational decision to be on these programs when it would be a bad financial decision to enter the workforce or to even get started to seek training to attempt to better one’s life, when all the basic needs are provided. These individuals are not the problem, even though it is easy to believe this. The programs themselves are the problem. Welfare often creates a generational dependence for their children to be destined to poverty, repeating the cycle. This program when fully analyzed by outcome, by proportion of population on it, is a racist program due to what it does to those using it.

Historically, when government has gotten out of these types of programs, donors fill the gap, such as when President Trump cancelled the meals on wheels program, resulting in more private donations than ever to continue that program. Right now, there is not much incentive for individuals to freely distribute their wealth directly to those who need it because there is a safety net already in place. Policy after policy makes little sense when analyzed by the outcome. The death penalty does nothing to lower crime and gives the government too much power.

The war on drugs perpetuates the problems it attempts to eliminate, responsible for half of all inmates and also disproportionately affecting those same hard hit ethnicities. It is hard to believe that those supporting the war on drugs would not see the outcome of the policy, making a politician either ignorant or racist. Prostitution legalization may seem an immoral policy to support, but where it is legalized, there is a decrease in the problems often associated with the activity. Legislating morality is not the right policy, when there is a black market ready to supply the demand for prostitution. In parts of Nevada where prostitution is legalized, there has never been an STD transmitted to date, because of the strict policy of condoms. In Europe, this policy has also been successful. There is also massive amounts of revenue created. There are calls to ban pornography. This would be a disaster, just as prohibition of alcohol was for creating the mafia. This sort of policy would take the many people legally operating in the porn industry out, creating an exponential increase of trafficked sex slaves and also put more children in this new hypothetical black market, beyond what already exists for those trafficked.

But, these sort of policy decisions may very well seem like the right way to go, until the outcomes are analyzed. The intentions of policy is always with the best intentions. Things inevitably become worse.

These first waves of gun control may seem like a good idea, decreasing the number of guns, and the number of people with guns and various gun types, but in reality, the population becomes much less safe. There is a common misperception, when it is extremely difficult without finding a very good lawyer, in a country where 1 in 5 have a disqualifying mental illness, that those who suffer from various afflictions of the mind, should not be allowed to own a gun of any kind, forcing some to turn to 3D printing or supposedly illegal ownership of property that is guaranteed in the Constitution for every class of individual, or allowing themselves to be discriminated against. The data shows that those with a mental illness are by far more nonviolent than the general population. Poverty is more indicative of likelihood for gun violence. Surely that does not mean economically disadvantaged people should be barred from owning a gun. With more people regularly carrying, and elimination of gun free zones, there would come a disincentive for would be murderers. Disarming law abiding citizens, and those with any history of mental illness, favors the killers who have no respect for human life and also no respect for laws that can assist in their plans for a mass shooting.

Censorship may seem like a good idea to protect the development of the youth, but really, it should be up to parents to raise their children and decide what they allow kids to be exposed to. With the free market, censorship is just another waste of money, whether on television, video games, the radio or any outlet; if something is obscene, parents have the power through economics to control what is on the airwaves because if nobody is using the particular service, the service will have no advertisers and no income, ending that business.

Private business owners should be able to refuse service for any reason, even racism or any other currently illegal discrimination. In the age where the whole world is connected, there are not going to be many businesses refusing service to another race and Most are not racist to start with. Although most people are not racist, government policy is racist, based on the class of people that various policy affects, such as with welfare, when the outcome is analyzed both long and short term. Government is looked upon for too much for moral guidance when the system of government has never been good at anything, including being a moral authority. Our country is in trouble and risks serious further decline unless conversations are started on things like whether or not there should even be certain government departments along with the services and programs provided, in existence.

Reducing government means eliminating various departments completely. The United States is a debtor nation that cannot afford to fund this massive government without going further into debt each budget cycle. Just a few years ago, even before the massive debt recently taken on, the interest on that previous debt was more than all the spending that went to the military, just twenty years ago, at over 200 billion dollars.

Our educational system used to be the best in the world. After the Department of Education was created, the educational outcomes for American youth declined drastically, now barely in the top twenty. Beyond the decline in education, American children are exposed to so much media and information today, with effects probably not fully known, creating a potential moral decline, depending on mass use of certain content, to couple the educational decline.

Church attendance has been on the decline in the country and whether or not one believes in God, religion can help create a moral understanding and foundation for good choices. If you are one of the many atheists, you may fear that an indoctrination could be an immoral proposition, but children often still need help in direction that is increasingly difficult in this world. Kids already believe in monsters and Santa Claus, but belief in a higher power is likely to offer benefits in multiple areas, even in home life.

As an open society, our country has been susceptible to foreign influence since its inception. Our enemies seek to destroy us from within, in a slow and legal process, started over 50 years ago, through intelligence operations, known as ideological subversion, also known as active measures or psychological warfare. They seek to divide us and destroy our country however they can. Their goals are frightening, with aims of civil war, increased debt, by creating a socialism that drifts closer to communism, weakening the country as much as possible, in case there is ever a shooting war, so they are in a position where they can win. The ideal fight from their perspective, is winning this war beneath the threshold of an all-out shooting war, without firing a shot. A population with a wasteful and massive, expensive government, whose citizens are inclined to agree, even on a subconscious level, with various Marxist views and who are continuing to be disarmed, exposed to various subversions from college professors who agree with the oppositional ideology, is all part of a broader plan.

With budget cuts across the board and financial obligations to the interest on the debt, our enemies are definitely creating a decline in multiple areas.

The active measures program began by Russia shortly after WWII is beginning to pay off against the United States. This program has four parts, with identifiable criteria – demoralization, destabilization, crisis and normalization. We are well into this with each stage lasting between 25 and 5 years, with the last being a takeover of communism, civil war, occupation and perhaps a combination of these events. There is no guarantee our institutions will survive in the future.

The decline is reversible. It includes teaching children the ideals of what made America the most powerful country in the world, and supporting their moral development. It also includes reducing the size and scope of government by voting for politicians that are truly outsiders.

Those who do not play the political games of crony capitalism and who are not in office for their own financial gain, after looking at their past decisions and where their funding comes from, supporting the best ideas based on outcome, are the people we need running for and winning offices. If we can get those in office who support these changes, with a population actively engaged, fully understanding what needs to happen, we will see a resurgence of this country to where it belongs, as a beacon of hope, leaders of the free world and one which every other country hopes to aspire to. If we fail in this regard, the decline will escalate and the worst possible outcomes will become a new normal, and our children will live in a vastly different country.

Adam Hutchison

Crawfordsville