Truth

TRUTH; an unfamiliar term today.  We fear it.  We avoid it.  We hide it.  We hide from it.  We are angered by it.  Truth, though, is what we need to hold on to if we as a people are going to continue to live freely in America.  For far too long, truth has been ignored, abandoned, and rejected by our so-called leaders, our educational institutions, our national media, and the vast majority of the population.  It's been excised from our national lexicon and, instead, we have turned to emotions: fear, distrust, and anger, to rule our lives.
Nearly a hundred years ago, our national leaders decided to not bother the people of America with truth, fact, or honesty, but, rather, to manipulate them with emotions wrapped in lies, rumors, and dishonesty.  It's easier to herd a nation of people when they are angry and fearful of their neighbors than it is to lead them with the truth.  As long as the Glorious leaders promised to keep the feared fellow citizen from hurting us, taking from us, or having more than us, we allowed ourselves to be divided into voting blocks to be wooed, manipulated, and bought with "free" government stuff. 
The truth of it all is that we've been, over the last century, conditioned to believe that our government is the center of all truth and all benevolence and all justice in this country.  The truth of it all is that our National media outlets are nothing more than mouthpieces for government power.  The truth of it all is that most educational institutions--including most of the public school system--are no more than institutions of indoctrination; teaching that America's "greatness" is a lie and that our government is the answer to all our problems.  The truth of it all is that our national government has taken unto itself more power than is legally allowed by the very Constitution that all our so-called leaders swore to uphold.
The truth of is all is that we've is that we now lay on our leaders--and particularly our current President--the powers of a superman, and that we look on members of our Congress as benevolent (unless they're on the "other" side) sages who can legislate away all fear and danger in our lives.  Meanwhile, our liberties continue to erode and fall away in our fatal indifference to the quickly building, and too successful, attacks on our freedoms.   We will soon find ourselves subject to a self-avowed, all knowing, all caring, and all powerful leader.  He will be the leader of a government of "experts" who will rule every aspect of our lives and he will be beyond question or criticism (to do so will bring retribution and punishment).  He will demand total loyalty and worship...or else.  Whether we need it, want it, or accept it; it will all be done for our own good.  With promises of economic security, sharing of wealth, and the bringing down of the successful, we keep voting for, and supporting, leaders who lie and manipulate for the sole purpose of gaining, growing, and retaining power; power over us.
In a quote attributed to Scottish noble Alexander Tytler (though not verified)  the dangers to a Democracy (though, in America, we actually have a Democratic Republic): "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years." 
In a quote attributed to numerous authors (no one can find the first use of it), we see our future:  "Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage."
Here we sit, voting for those who promise us the most from the government coffers, and looking at the list, it's inarguable to say we are not going from the apathy stage to the dependence stage as we go about our lives today.  Only one step away from bondage, we allow ourselves still to be drawn around like an oxen is drawn around by the ring in his nose.   We should all be ashamed and fearful of what's happening, but, as our government wants us to be, we are to busy fearing, hating, and wanting to punish our fellow Americans--OUR NEIGHBORS--for not thinking, speaking, and acting the way they should...as our government says they should. 
Shame on us!