What has happened to America?

[rangerrebew]

What has happened to America?
 
Amb. Jack Matlock on Israel, Ukraine, and why he couldn't repeat the most inspired passages of his July, 4, 1982 speech.
 
JACK F. MATLOCK JR.
DEC 06, 2023
Rummaging through my accumulated papers, I just came across the English translation of a speech I delivered in Czechoslovakia on July 4, 1982, when I was American ambassador in Prague. At that time Czechoslovakia was ruled by a Communist regime imposed by the Soviet Union.

As I perused it, I realized to my dismay that today I could not honestly make many of the statements in this message.

Here are some of the key paragraphs and my reflections on them today:

“I am pleased to send greetings to the people of Czechoslovakia on this 206th anniversary of my country’s independence. It is a day when we Americans celebrate the foundation of our nation as an independent, democratic republic, and a day on which we dedicate ourselves anew to implementing the ideals of our founding fathers. For us, the bedrock of these ideals is the proposition that states and governments are created by the people to serve the people and that citizens must control the government rather than being controlled by it. Furthermore, we believe that there are areas of human life such as expression of opinion, the practice and teaching of religious beliefs, and the right of citizens to leave our country and return as they wish, which no government has the right to restrict.”

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/jack-matlock-speech-america/

[rangerrebew]

It has become a utopian, bleeding heart, fiscally irresponsible, indoctrinated, undereducated, third world, broken down country.

[catfish1957]

Degredatation of leadership, and 535 in DC who have spent like drunken sailors on weekend leave for almost 40 years.  Moral decay that infected our society 10X quicker and more insidious that the Romans suffered their last 200 years.

I wouldn't invest in the long term interests of this country if my life depended on it.  I'm that pessimistic.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Stratification of American Society based upon income and access to higher education - white collar vs blue collar.

White collar perceives itself to have greater value than blue collar.  White collar holds the keys to power via suburban electorate.

[roamer_1]

We've fallen away from God, plain and simple.

There it is, in a nutshell. 

"If my people, who are called by my name..."