“I don’t measure America by its achievements, but by its potential.” Rep. Shirley Chisholm (1924-2005)

This is a statement to ponder, one aggressively forcing a man, woman or child to grasp reality and assess their station in life. Does the definition of a person (and their personal gains, losses and movement through history) gain recognition only in the historical sense; or is it a matter of dynamic growth, progress and continuing triumph accomplished daily?

One wonders.

America’s recently hit a rough patch on the road to excellence, the chosen course of travel since the 1600s. That path’s defined by attempt, failure, reengagement with the goal and attainment of the success needed to measure the movement. Sometimes it’s saddening, mystifying as to why any particular effort was rewarded or not. Sometimes they’re Pyrrhic victories, where losses are so ruinous it appears as no victory at all. But still we’ve always moved toward the American definition of greatness.

That greatness was always uniquely American in nature. It’s a greatness sometimes defined by the stubbornness of the individual actors in the tale. They chose the fight (or had it chosen for them), selected the tactical course, modified attack and retreat elements and worked relentlessly toward the placement of America at the forefront of progress. Our successes were uniquely American in nature.

It’s our trademark, a defining element of our national character. It’s a brand we seem tentative to pursue lately.

American politicians are theorizing about America’s course in the “free” world and marketplace. These theories are developed from the teachings of people who never proved the strength or resilience of their econo-political hypotheses or speculation. Great experiments in foreign lands (now proven to be failures in the realities of world contest) are gaining a new life in the fertile imaginations of American scholars, theoreticians and social scientists.

Why?

Because Americans have always believed they can do anything, with bigger and better results than anybody else. This is normally the case. After trial and error, the dedication of valuable resources and time and the overwhelming strength of America’s “Can-do” spirit, we’re proving we can succeed in a bigger way concerning economics than the Europeans ever conceived.

Under George Bush, Barack Obama, and most specifically the Congress of the United States, we are tanking the economy of the United States in a faster, more efficient manner that Europe ever dreamed of. We’ve gone from fiscal progress and prosperity to encroaching economic desolation in less than twelve (12) years.

Through generalized complacency and benignly accepting modern Progressive-Socialist-Statist Politics’ tenets, the American people lost control of their government. They dropped control into the hands of incompetent, self-serving people granting themselves demi-godhood. As it was under Teddy Roosevelt, then handed to Woodrow Wilson, it was ordained all Americans must pay homage to their government. That government owes NO fealty or loyalty to its electors. Government regressed from servant to a class structure in its own right.

America was a land of immigrants and refugees seeking freedoms unknown in other countries. There was room for growth, for prosperity. It was a land where a person could pursue the greatness he wasn’t allowed to tap into under the monarchies, oligarchies and dictatorships of the European continent. America was a land of promise expecting no more of the inhabitants than that they give their all to succeed and leave the country a better place for them having come here, than before they graced our shores.

Men and women chose to individually pursue prosperity, not walk in lock-step toward a graying dusk of political, economic and social stagnation brought about by feckless, corrupt politicians. This was the history of man: the few always working to subjugate the many. In Europe they issued crushing dictates of the upper classes. They did it by diktat, edict and proclamation.

Now; in America, we do it by Statist/Presidential decree ignoring the people’s representatives. These same representatives accomplish the moral equivalent of diktat by using non-representative legislation. I ask you: What’s the bloody difference?

Read the quote again. It defines America; not politicians.

Thanks for listening.