Whispers in the wind

I'm hearing a similar thread weave it's way around the blogsphere. There is an opinion or perhaps a spreading fear that the U. S. is in decline. More, all of western culture is on it's way out. When I say western culture I mean specifically the ideals that brought about things like the Bill of Rights. In so many parts of the world, the people have no guarantee of freedom. At least we have a contract.

It is all about different things too.

• Illegal immigrants, and the shitty laws that grant them tax exempt status for free. I mean, why bother going through the motions of becoming a citizen if they are just going to have an amnesty every twenty years?
  
• The gathering rage of Sharia. That is the kind of law that Osama bin Laden and the Osama bin Laden Al-Qaeda boys want. It forbids all music, dancing, drinking, images of the prophet, free will (Really, you must submit to god and refuse to listen to anything that does not fall in line with those teachings.) Oh, and puppies too. That's right, no more puppies.
  
• Big brother eroding our rights from within.
• Lack of law enforcement of existing laws.
  
• The media eroding our morals. Sex sells.
  
• The media blowing covert operations with the click of a mouse.
  
• The media bias to the left. If you don't believe that, you are reading the wrong blog.
  
• Censorship in the name of religion. See Sharia above.
  
• Over zealous intellectual property enforcement. These laws stifle creation and development of new ideas, not promote them.
  
• Self serving politicians who will not work for change that doesn't put them in charge.
  
• Politicians taking money from known terrorist organizations. Heck, someone even said Carter took money from the Saudi royal family, or some such. Something about a loan.
  
• Fences, walls, borders and lack there of.
• Political Correctness preventing law enforcement from identifying bad people. Of course now they say the next group will be average looking Americans. And why not?
  
• European countries becoming a Muslim majority. This is true. Just look at the numbers. Remember what happens when the Palestinians got the vote? They voted the terrorists in charge.
  
• The UN being run by small countries with horrible human rights and economic records.
• Every one we are fighting in all three wars we are in are civilians. No one but our side ware uniforms. We will probably never fight a 'real' war again.
  

I'm quite sure I've missed many. If you pile all of these things on top of each other, it does look like curtains for the U. S., but I think it will pull a Mr. Burns. That is, all our enemies will pile on top of each other trying to get in the door and get stuck. This will leave the U. S. to survive well in to senility. That is the stage I'm looking forward to. It reminds me of the fall of the British Empire of the early twentieth century.

Well, maybe not. These are problems. There are more. I'm sure I missed some. These are just the ones off the top of my head. I bet there are a couple of duties no one knows about. Notice I didn't mention the below only because I didn't happen to hear them in a blog today.

• The environment. Is there a problem? Would it have happened any way? What should we do to fix things? Can we fix things? Should the U. S. be expected to foot the bill for the entire world via Kyoto.
  
• Population. Too many or two few of a given attribute or another.
• Education. Mainly the lowest common denominator approach that kills the genius factor. We will never generate another Einstein with this educational system.
• Pharmaceuticals and the diseases that don't get cured because it is not profitable.
• In the age of communication, growing divisions between races, economic backgrounds, political backgrounds, religious backgrounds, ... take your pick.
  

It seems like the internet, the great communication medium, has just made it easier for us to realize how much we hate each other. I don't have a conclusion. I don't have an answer. I just take the next step, try to keep my family fed.