Commentary: A Colonel’s Lament

Periodically I post the thoughts of my friend, Lt. Colonel Steve Hyle, USAF (Ret.)  Steve spent twenty years in the Air Force, served two Presidents, administered the Shuttle Challenger Commission and with Tom Clancy planned the 175th anniversary commemoration of the Battle of Fort McHenry.  The Challenger days were dark but as he writes today the sun may have permanently set on America:

RUMINATIONS – by the Yankee Sky Dog
The Movie – It's a Mad Mad Mad World – Was Ahead of Its Time.

We all reflect back and happily remember “the good old days”. Until the world went mad, we were in fact living what would become the good old days. No more. It is beyond my imagination that the next generation can reflect back to the present as a great time to have been alive.

The country is upside down. Incompetence is rewarded. Hard work is penalized. Illegal law breakers are rewarded with benefits that others work for. God is demonized. Police now must fear that they will be arrested for arresting the criminals. Our military must now lower its standards to accommodate those who are not qualified or fit to protect us from our enemies. Environmental wackos have done more to destroy the environment than they have ever done to improve it. We only need look at California.

Our younger generations haven't a clue as to what at one time made America the greatest nation on Earth. They know more about the putz Justin Bieber than they do about our Founding Fathers. The preponderance of college graduates don't know the difference between capitalism and socialism. Most can't tell you who won the Civil War. Schools are traumatizing and suspending young students for daring possess anything that might resemble a gun. Today's children are taught more about Islam than all other religions. Several school systems have gone so far as to announce that they will no longer distinguish between a boy and a girl.

We long ago ceased being a country in which the citizens are represented by their Representatives in Congress. Career politicians, lobbyists, an indifferent and ignorant electorate, and the need for power and money far outweighs doing what's right for the country. Our Representatives have sold their souls for the almighty vote from Illegals and criminals. Doing what's right for America is a long lost concept to those we stupidly elect and re-elect.

For most of my life I was an eternal optimist. No more. I certainly do pray that history will prove me wrong. But, I see no way that America can right itself. Regardless of who occupies the White House or the political make up of Congress, I fear the giant snowball of America's decline is rolling down hill, too fast and growing ever bigger, to stop.