Posted by
CyberMom on Thursday, March 12, 2009 2:29:34 PM
The third, most controversial and key turning point in our history is another 20 year period or so, leading us to just before today. From 1965 until about 1985 - the changes that would take place were devastating to this country and its people...
The death of our President, John F. Kennedy, had so dramatically affected Americans, that the nation's desperation would quickly turn to apathy. Unlike before, when the people were outraged, the Government did not act. Instead, conspiracies were thrown around, people were shooting each other, segregation was still a foul taste in everyone's mouth, the hopes and dreams of the space program were keeping everyone on edge, and the threat of the big, "communist regime", kept men, women and children awake at night. We never saw Russia attack. We were never at their mercy. We had been bringing them supplies in WWII. But, the history books, much like the media, had already begun to be altered. The government had become a giant wheel spinning out of control. Lyndon B Johnson refused to make any major policy changes during his time because of the sensitive position the country was in. He could have declared war on Canada at that point and we would have blindly followed. But, thanks to the 'boost' in the economy, government support of "arts" programs, bailouts of large companies and an ever-growing increase in the national debt and respectively, taxation, unemployment was beginning to grow.
People were scared. There were a few minor skiffs... as we had a Korean War, Manuel Noriega (sorry if the spelling's off), and eventually the Vietnam "Police action", but these were not the economy boosters the US wanted. You see, as we had not bore the brunt of the world wars, their truly devastating effects had not been felt at home. Japan had not sought to suck America - a nation four hundred times its size, and its open-bordered neighbor, into the war. We brought ourselves in. And, in doing so, the capitalists and government had developed a plan to get richer and more powerful. But, here's the catch - that takes us right back to the old days of the English Monarchy, when there was a HUGE separation of classes, and the poor and the hated fled to America. We were moving back in that direction, and the blind control the Government once had, went by the wayside. The protesters in college tried to raise their voices, because their fathers, the ones who had fought in WWII, told them to be patriotic, told them to believe in their government and country and warned them about the REAL horros of war. Unfortunately, the US, hoping to involve themselves in a war in Vietnam with the support of their allies, failed to understand that our allies didn't want another war - and not only was Vietnam NOT a war, but it was not a world-issue that required "big brother's" involvement.
Without that backing, we had to institute a draft program - again. And, the youth, who had been taught wealth was good, getting to be free and do what they wanted (the "appeasing of Americans that capitalists and government put into place to do what they wanted just after WWII), didn't understand why this was happening. The were rebels all right - but rebels without a cause or a clue. And, the media fed on it. The media showed the terrible images of war, for the first time, fueled by the government to do so (you don't think, over in Vietnam, the government couldn't control the images being broadcast or what was said? C'mon - don't be THAT naive), in an attempt to gain the American support to enter the war, learned the valuable lesson ALL over again, that people weren't interested in attacks that DIDN'T involve American soil - anymore than our allies were interested into jumping headfirst into a war that DIDN'T involve them!! The so-called '60's children' of peace and the attempts by the government to gain support through fear, inevitably failed, leading to an unparalleled state of apathy, world-wide. Other nations were not unsympathetic to the needs of Vietnam, South America or Korea; nor were they blind to the importance of keeping dictators under some element of control. But, they were also trying to build their economies back up, having relied on the U.S. for fat, too long, realizing that they had given us way too much leeway, and were not about to put themselves back in a hole while we prospered.
And, unfortunately, with good economic times, comes increases in family sizes. And, our population grew... and it grew... and it grew. Suddenly, we had more crime, more poverty and other issues such as educational declines. Capitalists had abandoned their goal of supporting the growth of the people, and were interested in only one thing, themselves. During the 'high-times' of prosperity during and after WWII, education was a secondary issue to be given lesser value. At least, for the common man. Unskilled workers, without unions, were trying to position themselves as valuable employees in trades where labor unions were not going to exist, such as restaurants or grocery. While "distribution of wealth" as its dubbed and so freely [and incorrectly] forced upon the current, Presidential regime, existed following the first Civil War when injured soldiers begun to receive pensions of a sort, following WWII, the specialization of industry, the lockdown of labor unions to the educated/trained, for a vast majority of the economy, left a lot of people without work. While desegregation was an important and crucial step to American History, a lot of colored folks entered into the military, being unskilled labor capable of working in any other fields. Those who couldn't enter into the military, fell under the umbrella of the Democratic-socialism model, and a 'redistribution of wealth,' through the Department of Human Services, took hold in this country.
This was a major setback in our history and a major reason for our continuing, economic decline. Not race - not color - but rather than invest money into education and reformation of lives into a working class, the governmental body chose to 'appease' the people, still hoping for their support in Vietnam, and instead, created an ever-growing number of apathetic citizens. The police force had already grown. The capitalists were already specializing their industries and taking hold. Opportunity for new enterprise was dwindling. The "American dream", that our forefathers had with ownership of land the ability of the individual to survive was lost. This period in American history really began the segregation of classes. What was labeled a Democracy, looked more like a monarchy, just with the occassional vote or two thrown out there to let the people feel in control.
The electoral college controlled the Presidency - and the two legislative parties controlled the candidates. New laws, limiting candidates to the special-interest groups of lawyers and well-to-do were put into place under the pretense that we should have "educated" candidates - forgetting the fact that President JFK was also a womanizer... so much for 'education.' Then came the 80's. Sure, the 60's and 70's had their own problems, but as parents of children in the 80's, they didn't remember the war. They weren't as 'patriotic,' and the injection of government into our daily lives was already so widely accepted that people quit caring. If rallies were held, guards had been there to 'control' people. If riots had been held, the government was sure to mace and beat people back. For those of you who haven't watched this on video - watch it - then watch the police force in Iran or Iraq versus its people.. or the student in Tienneman Square (spelling?) who stood against the Chinese Army - and see IF you can see a difference. The children of the 80's were still taught to trust their government and their leaders, but holywood and televesion had already been systematically desensitizing us all. The government DIDN'T want attention. News stories faded into the background. Private enterprise was locked down, educational books changed to fit an approved 'format' of the truth and attempts at the 'little' people reaching the stars were easily and quickly thwarted. Example? How about being a student in school and watching as the first "teacher," a non-astronaut, was to go to space, and on the way up - her shuttle exploded.
No other time had this occurred. Sure, rockets failed, the technology the capitalists and government were building was falling apart because greed had exceeded the desire for quality or doing something good, but this was profound to all of America? Why? There were teachers from the 60's who didn't "buy" into government or hollywood induced propoganda. They were willing to stand up and continue to teach their students that death-rock-metal, or rap was not the way to go and to not trust the man who was trying to "weed" out the lesser class (in their opinion) through these media. But, when the teachers watched as one of their own, died in a way that should not have happened.... when technology and the space program that had brought 'hope' came to a stand-still, a lot of their 'spirit' was dashed. Of course, all these things I point out are isolated incidents... important... but isolated. The truth is, this type of action was taking place around the country.
And, was the media controlled? I'm sure you heard about the U.S. cities - entire cities - that disappeared, right? Did you read about the Roanoke colony in your text book and understand its meaning? What about the occassional F-16 that was doing routine flights and "accidentally," fired a fully-armed missile into a city, killing thousands? (mind you - the process involves entering a security code, arming the missile - because they CAN be fired unarmed so as to NOT explode - then lifting the 'release' on the fire button and THEN firing!!). Of course, you remember the exxon-valdez incident, right? Maybe you wouldn't know until almost 20 years later that it wasn't what we were told, and that it was supposedly an engineering mistake that left a captain and crew, desperately trying to stop the collission, helpless. Perhaps you've heard all about the pirates who were hijacking oil tankers and holding them for hostage? No? Probably because we don't remember a whole lot of news in the 80's... and because a lot of this wasn't there. That's where people like Geraldo Rivera came from - emerging from the media silence with a loud voice, spouting off controversies, to get the people's attention.
Mind you, Reaganomics and a growth spurt in education really helped a lot of the economic conditions of this country. Unfortunately, in order for that to work, it required continued support of the Capitalists, continued socialist (wealth distribution) policies, and even he believed in (or perhaps didn't understand the full ramifications of supporting) a continued growth in governmental power, income, authority and injection into the lives of the people.
Why is this a turning point? After all I've explained - for only these few reasons:
1. Apathy replaced nationalism.
2. The lack of continued growth in wealth caused that good, old, American "Pride," to give way to selfishness.
3. Welfare changes had begun the road to a social decline.
4. Government monitored media lead the way to densensitization.
5. An apathetic people gave rise to a growing police force, more uncontrolled bill passing by Legislature, and departments such as DHS/CPS were formed to be injected into American lives by those who had been 'hurt' but never saved, unaware that the legacy they were starting would become part of a fascist regime.
6. The government was NOT about to let go of its hold on the people... its power was growing too large... in direct relationship to the greed... capitalism was competing with it, continuing to mandate the legislative laws, and socialism continued to rear its ugly head, all the while, a somewhat close representation to what Democracy really was, continued to be offered to the people...
and, this is the last, key turning point that has 'occurred; - as we are in the next, major one now.