The Post American Age

My first blog:

Seeing that many people are blogging now...I have decided that what the internet needs now is another blog from a 30 something middle-class American...who is not terribly tall.


WHY WE ARE ENTERING THE POST-AMERICAN AGE:

1) For the last 20 years...the United States has over borrowed and over spent...which after the Cold War was utterly stupid because in 1989 the collapse of the USSR made that kind of spending useless.

2) In the Last 20 years...the US has shipped out production jobs (which creates a country's lower middle-class which is the foundation for the rest of the economy).

3) We are addicted to oil and have no true way out...our entire society is based on the need for every adult drive a car...within a year gas will cost $10.00 a gallon and the government isn't prepared to handle this. Nor are we able to fight off the oil companies interests and truly go to a more sustainable energy system.

4) The fact that our elections are not federally funded as virtually ended democracy in our country...since the 1980 election of Reagan, special interest groups have given over 100% more in every single senator/presidential election cycle.

5) Europe has adaptive American goals without corrupting their lifestyles...meaning they live within their means and only take what they need, not burdening themselves with a buy and dump mentality...thus what they accumulate they really use and need...example: only need one car, they only have one car...etc.

6) The United States, after 1989, has used its military in an unchecked manner...thus over extending its forces and ruining its overseas popularity.

7) The Two main political parties in the US have become two close together and do not represent enough of a choice for voters...EVERY other industrialized nation has at least 3...with a average of four main political parties, thus giving options.

8) Capitalism has clouded the entire medical and higher educational fields...health care/medicine should be a right for the betterment of humanity, not to profit monetarily...and higher education should not be an elitist institution where only 20% of the population can afford to attend.

9) The overall "new" thought process in America has now become "you are what you do for a living and the importance of life is to buy more things"...places like Brazil, France, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany...the focus is much more on doing things you feel passion about and being who you want to be.

10) An elitist attitude...American, since the end of the Cold War, has had a sense of superiority over all other cultures and countries. This attitude has accompanied the downfall of every great empire/civilization: British Empire, Roman Empire, Spanish Empire, etc. and has caused unhealthy rises in nationalism and religious conflicts (Catholics are better then Natives, Protestants are better then Catholics, Catholics are better then Muslims)...and shit look what happened in Germany and Italy when Nationalism became unchecked.

11) Last but not least...the Middle Class of America is completely afraid to rock the boat, because we are so in debt that we are afraid if we lose even a few things the house of cards will come tumbling down.