Letters to the Editor: The decline of democracy isn’t a both-sides problem. It’s only part of it.
By Paul A. De Marco
President Barack Obama’s recent speech to the nation in Prague on the threat of the “unthinkable” should be taken as a call to arms for the United States to expand its role in the world, and to become a global leader of democracy, peace and freedom.
America’s leadership is in decline. Its influence is waning. The world is increasingly looking to the United States as the one hope for peace.
As a result, our nation and world are sliding into a grave and dangerous abyss.
Obama’s speech was a wake-up call, but only a few have taken heed. In fact, the majority of the world’s voters appear to be asleep at the switch.
When one looks at the world’s political issues and the trends there is a clear pattern to the world’s growing discontent. In no particular order, we’ll consider some of the more glaring examples:
First, the world’s elites have squandered the enormous power and wealth they have accumulated, all in pursuit of power and wealth. In other words, they are more interested in being wealthy than they are in being great leaders, freedom fighters or great scientists.
The result? The world is no longer a place where the vast majority of people can live in prosperity. In fact, it’s a place of widespread poverty, unemployment and despair.
The world’s elites are now more interested in being in bed with global elites than in working with people and making genuine and lasting progress toward a better world.
We no longer live in a world where the world’s economic giants, such as American oil companies and banking giants, are actually working for the common people.
Nor are we dealing with leaders who give the world a true sense of democracy, freedom, independence and sovereignty by being willing to engage with other people of good conscience, while opposing the destructive, wasteful way many of their elites engage and interfere in the affairs of others.
The world’s elites are increasingly not concerned with making a genuine difference in the world. They are now focused on controlling people’s lives and destroying others’ lives.
The world’s elites are now more interested in making a difference than they are in making a difference and making the world a better