NEW AMERICAN TRUTH: December 2007

The Year In Review
Frank Borelli

As I sit and look back across the calendar year it occurs to me that just a few things stand out. Some of them are quite personal while others carried national or worldwide impact. Let’s turn the knobs on our time machine and start our visit back in time in January of 2007…. Wee doo… wee doo… wee doo… wee doo…

Throughout the year there are a few things that seem to have hung over the United States like a cloud: the pre-presidential candidate race… the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan… school violence… illegal immigration and others. Just like with the commercial holiday season that seems to start earlier every year, the presidential candidate race seems to start earlier and earlier. This time around, since President Bush can’t run again, it’s a fairly wide open race. The two front runners for the Democratic party, Hillary Clinton and Barrack O’Bama each have their own appeal. It will be interesting to see how that works out since Hillary might be counting on the African American voter base… and it’s safe to assume Barrack is hoping for the same thing. Americans should probably take a very close look at Barrack’s background and consider whether or not they really want a president who is so closely tied to the Muslim faith at this point in time. Then again, they should probably also look at Hillary’s background and wonder if they want a president who made millions for her memoirs after spending eight years incapable of remembering anything. To be fair, on the Republican side we have a collection of gentlemen who seem to have a hard time clearly stating what they believe in. And once they do, it takes a couple weeks and they correct what they misspoke. Politicians. Yuck. But we’ll suffer through more of this until the party primaries and then we’ll only have to put up with two of them slinging mud at each other.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue. Flat statistics show that the troop surge has had a positive impact on the effectiveness of preventing insurgent acts. Still, violence continues as religious sects attack each other over their differing beliefs. Until they can learn to discuss their differences rather than bombing each other over them, there won’t be a peace in the Middle East. While religion doesn’t appear to be the problem, the fanatical interpretation and attempted forced enforcement of that interpretation DOES seem to be the problem. The problem though is more cultural than religious in nature and, thankfully, the culture seems to be changing slowly but surely. Such a change will take decades of education and governmental change. We’ll have to wait and see if the Iraqi people – along with the citizens of other middle eastern countries – have the endurance and deep desire to move into the 21st century in a peaceful and productive manner.

School violence has peaked at all time ugliest levels this year. Including Cho’s attack at Virginia Tech which claimed 32 innocent lives, the 2007 calendar year now boasts more attacks, either completed or prevented, than any other year in documented United States history. Looking back across the past two decades we can see where school attacks went from an average of one each year, to three, to six and then more than twelve last year. This year we’ve passed fifteen and the year’s not yet over. Police and Sheriff’s agencies nationwide have evolved response protocols and train in new tactics, but no matter how fast they arrive, it can still be too late. Cho did an awful lot of killing in less than eight minutes. Police were on the scene within just a couple minutes and took another to breach the doors Cho had chained shut. The response was outstanding. No community could ask for better. But still… 32 dead. How can we prevent that?

Illegal immigration is still a hot topic and there seems to solution available that will make everyone happy. Well, even attempting to find one is asinine. With approximately 10% of America’s 300 million person population here illegally, it’s a fair bet that at least 10% of the population will be against any type of immigration laws or enforcement. To that the country should state a collective, “Oh, well.” As America moves forward in an attempt to secure itself geographically and politically, it has to recognize that the cultural diversity that is of such great value in our melting-pot can also be the cause of the crumbling foundation in our belief system. America was built on and in support of a certain base of values. The cultural variety in our country can, if unchecked, deteriorate that base of values. Once the foundation is gone the rest will crumble. Illegal immigration needs to be dealt with in a positive aggressive fashion. Americans need to dedicate themselves to securing the Homeland in the image our forefathers constructed.

As this is written the Supreme Court has announced that it will consider a case that came out of Washington DC that involves a direct question about whether or not the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution – the right to keep and bear arms – applies to individuals or groups. Using that case as a focal point and looking back across the past couple decades we can see a general movement in states across the country back toward empowering citizens to defend themselves and their properties. Starting with the passage of many “Shall Issue” laws and then many states that have some variation of the “Castle Doctrine” or the “Stand Your Ground” legislation, laws are growing to support the average citizen who refuses to be a victim. Hopefully this is representative of the changing attitude of our citizens in general and we’ll see the Supreme Court uphold the correct belief that the 2nd Amendment – like all the first ten amendments – is an INDIVIDUAL right.

On the financial side our real estate markets are not in good shape. Home values that had been so inflated in the past few years have now started to come back down. Mortgages that had been granted with interest only payments or adjustable interest rates are seeing lots of foreclosures. The stock market has been volatile with losses as great as 300 points in a single day and 500 across two. Oil prices are outrageous and gas is over $3 per gallon as we near the end of 2007. Our economy is in danger and our dependence on petroleum is biting us in the collective ass. As we approach Christmas and all the gift shopping is done, the price of gas will be felt in the marketplace. People simply don’t have as much money to shop with and the credit industry is hurting as well. One can’t help but wonder if Exxon-Mobile will express any guilt at all when they post multi-billion dollar profits again for the fourth quarter?

As we look forward to 2008 we can expect:

- To put up with more political rhetoric from the candidates running. Maybe we’ll get lucky and someone among them will talk about their values and the direction they believe our country should move in… but it’s improbable. More than likely we’ll endure plenty more mud-slinging and talks about welfare / assistance programs.

- To see the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue. Iran continues to be troubling and hopefully won’t get out of hand. Between the Iranian President and his Venezuelan counterpart though, world peace isn’t likely to break out in ’08.

- To see school violence continue if it doesn’t escalate. Until such time as the students, teachers and staff are taught how to fight back with speed of aggression the timelines of killing will continue and we’ll see more children killed.

As negative as that outlook seems, it’s a comment on the strength and dedication of our American citizenry that we continue to press forward. America continues to be the bastion of justice and liberty in the world. America leads the entire world in treating citizens with respect for basic civil liberties. It’s something we can all be proud of and dedicate ourselves to supporting.