Spying on citizens and undermining political rivals using government agencies with impunity. Dividing and conquering the population by using a government controlled media propaganda machine while economically subjugating present and future generations by spending and borrowing ever-increasing amounts of money with no end in sight and no possibility of any repercussions. These are not the actions of a nation that is moving ahead but a nation that is in the final stages of collapse.
But as we all know, America can’t possibly collapse just as Rome couldn’t possibly collapse and that kind of denial was the force that sustained the steady decline in this country. What separated The United States of America from the rest of the world and made her the most free, wealthy and powerful nation and the envy of the civilized world were the principles upon which she was founded on. But those principles that were so unique in government and so eloquently crafted by men of courage and conviction are now nowhere to be found and so the America that was created and sustained with the blood and sweat of countless heroes is just about coming to a close.
Some Americans, far too few it seems, have asked how an anti-American, Marxist President like Obama, who has openly supported America’s enemies, habitually lied to the American people and routinely ignores the United States Constitution was ever able to rise to the office of Commander and Chief not once but twice? Or how, in a country of over 300 million people, the Bush family can have two and possibly three members preside as President?
To answer that question we need to look squarely into the eyes of the human condition that has shown us that good men and women can be corrupted under the right set of circumstances and the current election process is a smorgasbord of temptations and traps leading to corruption. And if good men and women can encounter such a tug of war for the soul, imagine the opportunities that lure those individuals not needing any incentives to fully take illicit advantage of the office they seek. We also need to look at the millions of dollars corporations are allowed to invest in the election process. The Supreme Court held that campaign contributions by corporations are a form of free speech protected by the first amendment. But money is a quantified resource that wields immense influence in a society where few have it and many do not and consequently tips the scales in favor of those with more. People are not born with a God given amount of money but they are born with the God given desire to express themselves and that is what is protected under the Constitution. When giant corporations are allowed to purchase influence is it not the same as purchasing votes and so would the Supreme Court also hold that purchasing votes is a form of free speech? Wouldn’t that defeat the whole purpose of voting?

The Election Process
And so one of the core causes of the rapid collapse of America is not just a particular President or Congress but an election process that is greatly influenced by the essential contributions of large soulless corporations. Corporations who are attracted to the election process because of the money that can be made with the help of elected officials.
But what if we limited the influences and power of elected officials? Corporations would lose interest in our election process because they could no longer purchase what was no longer for sale. Limit the influences and power of elected officials and individuals with less than noble motivations would be less likely to vie for public office.
And yet even these measures wouldn’t be enough to eradicate those individuals seeking public office not for monetary gain but to promote an ideology foreign to liberty and alien to the values set forth by the founding fathers.

Lack of accurate and truthful information
Which brings us to another core issue that is destroying the election process, which is the lack of access by American voters to accurate and truthful information. Today’s media, or more accurately put, the propaganda machine for the democrat/liberal party, controls what a large segment of America believes is true; So it’s akin to garbage in garbage out. According to a Pew study, 82 percent of Americans agree that there is at least some bias in news coverage that is more of a liberal bias than conservative. Some examples of this kind of liberal bias include the fact that between late 2012 and early 2013 there were 99 articles that were anti-gun as opposed to only 12 in favor of guns; that’s an obvious 8 to 1 lopsidedly liberal ratio and just one of many such lopsided examples.
Whether you like him or hate him, New Jersey’s Republican Governor Chris Christie, who many think could be running in the 2016 Presidential race saw an endless barrage of front-page news regarding “Bridge gate.” According to the conservative Media Research Center, main street media spent 17 times more coverage to the Christie controversy in the first 24 hours after it broke than anything the IRS scandal had received. Christie was also vilified as a bully in the coverage while in the Benghazi scandal involving another potential runner for President, Hillary Clinton, a democrat, the main street media focused more on Clinton’s health following a fall she had prior to the Benghazi hearings. She was even praised by many of the liberal networks as being courageous for even attending the Benghazi hearings while little was mentioned about her involvement, let alone that she stated, “What difference does it make.” regarding the four dead Americans in Benghazi.
The point here is clear that with the current politically liberal and powerful media propaganda machine, Americans are simply not receiving an accurate picture of the candidates that are seeking office. That along with the fact already mentioned that our election process allows boatloads of campaign money influencing the election outcome and the type of candidates Americans have to select from, is there any wonder how a person such as Barack Obama, with his overwhelming early life indoctrination in communism, his close friendship and support with an American terrorist and his international policies that support and embolden American enemies and put American lives in jeopardy, now sits in the most powerful position in this country. Or where it is completely acceptable even anticipated that politicians, democrat and republican, will say just about anything to get elected with no accountability.

It is a flawed election process married to a broken media that is sinking America. Where Republicans want to protect corporation campaign contributions, Democrats want to pretend that a democrat, liberal media propaganda machine doesn’t exist.
Many will argue that America will always bounce back, however statements like that are more wishful thinking than factual as recent history has shown that taxes and debt continue to climb, freedoms continue to disintegrate and reliance on government handouts and assistance soars. It seems that with each new election, a little more of true America dies and more intrusions into personal freedom become accepted.

In the same way the elephant in the cartoon is afraid of and believes in the power of the little mouse, the American voter believes in the illusion that they are overmatched by the powers in Washington. When that illusion is broken, America will be back on track but not until then.

**The views expressed in this column represent only those of the author and not the board or membership of the Juniper Park Civic Association.