President Biden’s State of the Union speech and the various responses made me think about what the actual state of the union might be…

Regardless of our perceived state of the union, the United States of America is the gold standard for large-scale freedom and economic opportunity with its vast and diverse population. There is little doubt that our nation is in decline, with the past years accelerating the slide into corruption, chaos, and an increasing polarization that appears driven by progressive socialist democrats to destroy the present system and to “build back better” with a theoretical ideology that promises much but delivers little but misery.

Some areas of concern…

One of the most significant factors contributing to the decline of the United States is the corruption of its political class, including the so-called elites and experts in the bureaucracy. It appears that the number of aging legislators and the rise of “professional politicians” are dramatically shifting political allegiance from represented constituents to moneyed special interests and allegiance from doing what’s best for the nation to feathering one’s nest.

With never-ending spending that is crippling our future survival and impacting our standard of living. Who is asking about those who led the color revolution in a corrupt Ukraine, alledgedly sabotaged three out of four Nordstream piplines that did not allow Ukraine to collect fees from a pipeline passing through their territory. Why are we spending $140 billion dollars to prop up a corrupt Ukraine government while ignoring our inner cities. Truth be told, between Presidents Obama and Biden, the U.S. created the conflict with Russia. Possibly to cover-up the billion dollar grift and money laundering that benefited U.S. politicians, their families, and their special interest friends. Not to mention those who sold out to China.

Another significant factor is the uncurtailed power of “systemically important” financial institutions and technology-based platforms. We were assured that the Dodd-Frank legislation would curtail the size of systemically important institutions, yet we find these same institutions growing more powerful with time.

Likewise, the growth of lightly-regulated asset managers like BlackRock with $9 trillion in assets under management, Vanguard with $6 trillion in assets under management, State Street Global Advisors with $3 trillion in assets under management, Fidelity Investments with $2.5 trillion in assets under management, and Invesco with $1.5 trillion in assets under management – all apparently willing to shade their fiduciary duties to their shareholders and empower so-called “stakeholders” as they become activist investors advancing a progressive socialist democrat agenda. All institutions are headed by mega-wealthy executives who are terrifically overcompensated in relation to the services they render.

Another significant factor is the rise of a corporatized media whose executives are increasingly susceptible to regime politics as they protect corporate assets, avoid onerous regulations, and feed off of regime contracts, grants, subsidies, and limited competition. These are the people who shape the news and narratives, including censoring the news and canceling platform access to individuals with dissenting opinions and viewpoints, no matter how credentialed and credible they might be. These were the journalists who claimed to “speak truth to power,” and have devolved into regime toadies. They are replacing the news with narrative and spewing pure propaganda targeting Americans.

Another factor contributing to the decline of the United States is political apathy and political polarization. As people struggle day-to-day, many have given up on the system and plod along, thinking corruption is the new normal and apathetically accepting whatever the next day brings. Even more damaging is a large segment of the population that is more divided than ever before, with people on both sides of the political spectrum unwilling to compromise or work together for the good of the nation. This has resulted in a lack of progress on important issues such as healthcare, immigration, and the economy, leaving many citizens feeling frustrated and disillusioned with the political process as our nation falters.

Let us not forget the decline of the United States is also being fueled by a rapid decline in its critical infrastructure. The nation's electric, water, gas grids, roads, bridges, and public transportation systems are in dire need of repair, replacement, or buildout to meet growing demand, seismic conditions, and hardening for a potential enemy attack. All, while we are spending billions of dollars on trains to nowhere anyone wants to go and will never be able to pay forthemselves. Perpetual union jobs is the desired goal.

We have allowed ideologues and demagogues to destroy our economic lifeline -- the energy sector. What used to be reliable, cost-effective energy is now unreliable, expensive energy that makes us more vulnerable to external events like weather and military attacks.

We find politically-directed funding being routed into social programs, vote buying, and the special interest quid-pro-quo deals that ultimately fund political campaigns. On the corporate side, we find funds diverted from capital-intensive projects into supporting the Wall Street Wizards and the company’s stock price – all to the benefit of executive bonuses.

There should be no doubt that the lack of infrastructure investment has contributed to a decline in the quality of life for many citizens, in addition to failing to keep pace with the changing needs of a rapidly growing population-- further exacerbating the problem.

Another significant contributing factor to the decline of the United States is the decline in its union-dominated education system that seeks to indoctrinate rather than educate. Producing functional illiterates dependent on the very technology that will ultimately cripple opportunities for their advancement. The administrators speak about competing in a global marketplace, yet produce students that can’t compete in their local region. The issue is not a lack of funding, it's the union-dominated leadership of the educational system obsessed with turning out progressive communist democrat activists rather than independent thinkers who favor individualism over collectivism..

A decline in its national security is also fueling the decline of the United States. While our nation faces numerous threats, both foreign and domestic, the government has been increasingly filled with unregistered foreign agents and those who are willing to sell out our nation for the proverbial thirty pieces of silver – said to be the worth of one slave in ancient times.

Not only are we crippling our military with limited funding, politically-advantageous projects that don't meet the nation's needs, the military’s leadership is slow to respond to actual threats, while they engage in ridiculous and counterproductive social engineering. This leaves citizens feeling vulnerable and insecure.

In addition, the country's military is overextended, with our weapon stockpiles dwindling, and with troops deployed in numerous countries around the world -- leaving our nation unable to respond effectively to threats facing our nation. Our enemies are given a seat at our table – primarily through front groups, foundations, consultancies, and non-governmental organizations who use our own laws against us (lawfare). Many exist as self-funding, tax-exempt organizations.

We are allowing our enemies to buy our assets and build military capabilities on our shore. Witness COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company) with a major container operation in the port of Long Beach, California. No such American properties can be found in China.

Finally, the decline of the United States is being fueled by a decline in its reputation on the global stage. The country's reputation has been tarnished by a series of foreign policy failures and the open derision of our country’s leadership. We are neither respected nor feared under the current regime. While we still are a global leader, much of our nation’s current diplomatic accomplishments are due to bribes for photo ops and phony statements from foreign leaders.

Bottom line…

There is no doubt in my mind we are being screwed, primarily by progressive communist democrats and their embedded RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) like Senators Mitt Romney, Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell, Susan Collins, etc. Whatever slim majority we might have in Congress, it is rendered ineffective by the aisle-hoppers who are quick to jump the aisle.

-- Steve