Sadly, there isn't much to celebrate about Labor Day this year.
With unemployment hovering near 10% and real unemployment around 15%, many fellow Americans are laboring to find a job. With the job market so bleak, some Americans have actually quit looking. That doesn't even register with me.
Many other Americans are underemployed while many others are worried about keeping their job. Many of the good jobs Americans once had are gone for good.
The economy is in shambles, possibly bordering on a depression. Some economists are saying we have not even seen the worst of it yet. Some even claim America is just a few years away from a financial meltdown similar to what happened to Greece.
Home sales are down. Same with commercial real estate. The stock market is sliding south. The national debt is over $12 trillion and growing. Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are nearing financial insolvency. Almost everything we buy is made in some other country.
States and cities all across America are also on the verge of going bankrupt. Unionized public employees with their sweet-heart deals at taxpayer expense is one of the significant reasons why some cities and states are in such dire financial conditions.
Unionized public employees have better deals than the taxpayers who are funding them. Federal employees make twice as much as their private sector peers. This is all beyond bizzarro.
The question we all need to ask is: What went so terribly wrong?
The answer to that question is complicated, but the simple answer is that we the people dropped the ball and became far too lax in our duty to monitor just what in the hell has been going on in Washington, D.C., and in city halls for at least the last 40 years. The Great Society didn't turn out so great after all. Visit my hometown of Detroit if you doubt me.
We became complacent, comfortable and dependent. This is the perfect breeding ground for central planners, social engineers, do-gooders, expensive lobbyists, spend-thrift officials and unaccountable bureaucrats. And breed they did. We have the most expensive government money can buy. If our forefathers could come back to life the first thing they would do is load their muskets.
And so here we are—unemployed, underemployed, and nervous. And we are here because we failed and put America in its most perilous condition in the history of the nation.
We were sufficiently warned this would happen but too few of us paid attention to the wise words of our forefathers, economists and other thinkers. Instead, we tuned into the NFL, NASCAR and other mindless escape vehicles. Admit it. You know it’s true.
Our failure to monitor and demand accountability by our elected officials is going to saddle our children with being the first generation of Americans to not have it as good or better than their parents' generation. When our children's generation wakes up and realizes how bad we have financially screwed them, don't be surprised if they revolt. They have the right.
Yes, it is about jobs. We need to get America working again so that men and women can feed their families, put a roof over their heads. But we are not going to get there by continuing to the feed the very Fedzilla beast that is now strangling us. We couldn't possibly be on a more wrong course.
But more importantly it is about the basics. Unless we get the basics right, we will continue to make the same mistakes that put us in the ugly predicament we now find ourselves.
Glenn Beck is correct. America must restore honor.
The basics have always been the basics: less government spending, lower taxes, and championing the free market. These are the basic keys to prosperity and employment. If you disagree with that, set sail for Cuba and take Michael Moore and a boatload of other stinky Socialists with you.
America is on an unsustainable and treacherous path. We need to reverse course immediately. Think about this on Labor Day and then commit to doing something about it.
America's future depends on you. What are you going to do about it?
Rock legend Ted Nugent is noted for his conservative political views and his vocal pro-hunting and Second Amendment activism. His smash bestseller Ted, White & Blue: The Nugent Manifesto, is now available at www.amazon.com. Nugent also maintains the Official Ted Nugent Site at www.TedNugent.com.
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