Priorities

I don't understand it. I've been trying to put my finger on it but I just can't. When and where was the fatal shift in America from seeing what was important to creating importance in order to further our own personal beliefs? I think I have it to within a decade, 1946-1956.
America is still such a young country in the scheme of things and we have come a long way in such a short amount of time. We are still the world's super power although China is right behind us. I mean hell, they only have 5 times our population and are thousands of years older than us... It's about damn time they got their proverbial shit together.
But we are regressing, not progressing. And indeed it did start after WWII. What we had was a bunch of men coming back and saying "I don't ever want my kids to go through the hardships I did." I mean they went right from the Great Depression to the front lines. Who would want their kids to go through that?
Along with the technological advances that gave people easier lives with "AUTOMATIC!" dishwashers, and "AUTOMATIC!" appliances throughout the house, it allowed people to ease off the gas for a while. And with that shift came a shift in the paradigm of the nation. Parents, while making life easy for their kids, still ruled with an iron fist. Those who were born to the hard working Ward Cleavers decided that mom and dad, who had given them a much easier life and didn't spare the rod, didn't know what they were talking about.
Enter now Communists. Yes yes, the Communists. They were here in the 40's and before but didn't dare say anything. With the big counter-culture revolution in the 60's they found their platform after McCarthyism died off. They came with the idea that all people could simply work together and all would be equal. Not a bad idea for a bunch of kids who were given everything and didn't know war or intense poverty. After all, they didn't have to do anything for what they had so it made perfect sense. And the outside influence of this was of course from Communist countries that despised the fact the capitalism actually works better and faster than anything else in the history of the world.
Throw in a request from some country called France and we have Vietnam. Now, exit France post haste as soon as we get there (to fight the communists by the way), and we are left in a war where we dribble troops in bit by bit, and they die as fast as we can put them on the ground. Give us a media that is anti-government, anti-war at all costs, anti-everything and you have a new way of thinking.
When we finally pull out we have a country who hates the very military that gives them the freedom to hate the military. We bring in the environment, animal rights, abortion, unending money to the poor... lots of things to take our minds off the big picture, which is the protection and strength building of our nation. We have allowed ourselves to be blinded and we are paying a grave price.
I listen to Michael Savage from time to time and for the most part I like what he says. The other day, however, he goes off on gays. I mean the whole, "two fags doing unspeakable things to each other" rant. He mentions that every major religion in the world is against it and it's so horrible that this general in Iraq is being drug through the mud because he spoke out against gays.
Dude, who cares? It is yet another side show to get our minds off of what is truly important. Honestly we are so far gone as a society that what is truly important will never beat out how Anna Nichole died, so it's almost a moot point. But why is a guy who does see the big picture (or at least I thought he did) allowing himself to be so distracted? Oh yeah, by the way, infidelity is also against every major religion in the world but I don't see people going ape shit over that.
This is what I see is killing America and needs to be addressed, though never really will be:

1) Radicalism. From Imams who live here that have publicly said they were against terrorism, have been caught funneling money to terrorists, to the unending religious right BS. My experience in Iraq showed me that most Muslims have no tolerance for non-Muslims and my experience in America tells me that most hardcore Bible thumpers don't have a tolerance for anybody outside of their faith (Please see the Phelps family from the Westboro Baptist Church for more information. The big difference in my eyes is the whole killing people thing. Generally, and there are exceptions to the rule, the far right don't kill people willy-nilly.

2) Never ending taxes. The government's constant search for more money. In 1950 the GDP was 1,777,300,000 in year 2000 US dollars. Population was 151,235,000. In 2004 GDP was 10,703,500,000 in year 2000 USD and the populations was 293,655,000. http://eh.net/hmit/gdp/
That's 6 times the GDP with only 1.9 time the people. Stunning. Yet we have shitty roads, shitty schools, a military that is too small and underfunded, rampant poverty, jobs flying out of our country... Yet what do the politicians (mostly Dems though not always) want to do? Raise taxes. I understand why the wealthy send the jobs over seas. Taxes here are debilitating. I myself pay 15% of everything I make just in FICA that I will never see again.
3) Unions. Yes they had a purpose in the start of our nation but now they simply tear us apart. GM is the largest auto maker in the world yet they can't turn a profit. They are in business to pay out on all the pensions their retirees have, while at the same time paying some Joe 6-pack with at the most a trade school education, 40 bucks an hour to watch a machine put a widget together.
4) Illegal Immigration) Just ask the Native Americans what happens when immigration goes unchecked. Jorge from Tijuana should not get a new heart on the American tax payer dollars when he hasn't put shit into the system. Anchor babies are your golden ticket if you are illiterate and broke from another country. And no Geraldo, we did not "lure them here". We made a nice life for ourselves and have always allowed people to come in legally. It's not our fault their countries suck.
5) The push by Uncle Scam to make the US population completely dependant on the government. We need the Gov. to tell us how to live our lives. No spanking your kids, no paying for sex, though if you film it you just call it a porn movie and you are OK. We have to label all "offensive" music, Thank you Tipper Gore. And oh, by the way, don't you find it odd that so many Libby rock stars all supported Gore even though his haus frau was responsible for the parental advisory labels we have all over the place? It truly goes to show you that the Libs will back anybody Liberal no matter if they are diametrically opposed to their beliefs.
6) Last but certainly not least, our new found belief that every opinion matters. It used to be if you were a moron you were ignored and that was just fine. Now, even the most irrelevant and ridiculous ideas have backing of one organization or another. The most useless and irrelevant organization in the world, the UN, is also the most dangerous. Though totally opposed to the war in Iraq, even after UN resolution 1441 was passed, they have no problem having 17 current UN "Peacekeeping" operations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_UN_peacekeepers_are_currently_deployed
Seven in Africa alone, where none of the help actually gets to the people who need it. I'm willing to bet there were just as many government sponsored tortures and executions per capita in Iraq as most of those places yet Coffe Cup Annan had a shit fit over Iraq but not The Ivory Coast or Liberia. Always trying to keep the brown man down I suppose.

So that is that. Come on America, let's get our act together. Spank your kids if they need it and don't keep telling them that they are doing great if they aren't. Not everybody should make the team and not everybody should get a trophy at the end of the year. You are doing them a disservice by cushioning life for them like that. Tell the guy who says that the National Endowment for the Arts should pay some hippy 5 grand for a misspelled one word poem to go to hell and shut up, and tell the people who get bent out of shape about a naked chocolate Jesus (thanks Yah) to relax, smoke a bowl, and shut the fuck up. Yes people, Jesus had a schlong and I'm sure at some point in his life he used it for one action or another. Let people smoke in smoking sections, but tell them the rest of us don't want to pay for their stupidity with higher insurance rates because of it. Make it so that if you smoke you don't get covered for smoking related illnesses. Focus on the real problems. Don't keep voting for people who want to raise your taxes because it won't help. Don't think you are helpless. If somebody breaks into your house, don't try to talk your way out of it and call the cops so we can pay for the trial and the 10 years he'll do in prison, as well as the next trial and the next prison term. Instead blow him away. End it all right then and there and don't even think of allowing the family of the afore mentioned ass hole to sue the home owner.
Maybe, just maybe, we can pull this out.