It is now an unquestionable reality that the United States is no longer the beacon of freedom and hope for all mankind.  As America careens toward not only a fiscal cliff, but a societal one, theories abound as to why, including changing demographics and technology. But the answer is relatively simple: an increasing number of people in the United States, in their pursuit of lives of relative ease, have turned their backs on the basic rules of human behavior as espoused by Judeo-Christian teachings and have instead placed more and more trust in man.  

The moral fiber of a country, and the religious basis upon which the United States and European nations developed, is being replaced by a misguided faith in people.  Although mankind has accomplished great things, the human race has always been overwhelmingly susceptible to its base nature.  The historic consequence of repudiating established moral and ethical guidelines is a society that gradually and inevitably becomes devoid of humility, honor, decency and respect for the uniqueness of all mankind.

Within that society, the governing class inexorably develops an unrestrained craving for power and self-aggrandizement which ultimately manifests itself in the subjugation of the populace--either by force or the exploitation of the primary human foibles of greed, envy and lust coupled with state control of the means of individual livelihood.  The major casualty of this evolutionary process is the abandonment of God-given rights of life and liberty eventuating in a collapse or violent overthrow of the society.

In the most recent national election cycle the Democrats and the Obama re-election team, with the complicity of the media, cast aside any pretext of honor and integrity as they, utilizing today's all-encompassing media world, engaged in the most deceptive and unethical campaign in recent American history.  In order to maintain their grip on power the end justified any means.   Including playing on and exacerbating the fears and foibles of the populace while promoting government, controlled by the Democratic Party, as the source of salvation and survival.

The message being conveyed to an ever larger portion of a willing and susceptible American population is: there are no restraints on personal behavior and it is acceptable, using the auspices of government, to forcefully take from one group and give to another. In fact by the mere circumstance of living in America one is entitled to a livelihood and a vast panoply of rights as defined by and granted by the government. 

As this mindset takes hold in any country, a calamitous cycle begins.  In order to satisfy the unleashed greed and envy of more and more people and to fulfill unsustainable promises, the governing class must tax, spend and borrow at an ever-increasing rate until they can no longer borrow on the open market or tax a rapidly diminishing producer class.  At that point either the nation descends into chaos or revolution or its leadership embarks on war and conquest.

Over the past century, the nations of Europe, by tolerating the ascendancy of man's ignoble nature, experienced the near-total destruction of a continent and the loss of countless millions of lives in two wars, and the emergence of communism.   Yet today, many of these same nations are again facing tumult and instability.   Their ruling classes and populations have become almost universally agnostic, as the pursuit of an unfettered lifestyle has become the new religion.   Further, an overwhelming percentage of the people look to and rely on government to satisfy their needs and their expectation of an ever-growing standard of living.  These needs and expectations can no longer be met as these nations are now bankrupt. They have destroyed their economic base attempting to placate the populace and honor their unsustainable promises.

Rather than face reality, these governments and their citizens do not have the fortitude and determination to make the difficult choices and change course, as they live in societies that have repudiated the ethical and moral guidelines that should govern human behavior and were once the foundation of these nations. Their descent into chaos is unstoppable.

Unfortunately, a majority of the American people, as revealed in the most recent national election, whose numbers have consistently increased over the past twenty years, are choosing to follow in the footsteps of European political, economic and moral failings.      

In the post-mortems following the re-election of Barack Obama, many Republicans and conservatives were focused on the usual platitudes of better messaging or to be more "inclusive" as the solutions to winning future elections and reversing the course of the nation.   Nothing could be further from the truth.   The American left dominates the cultural and political scene because they exploit and appeal to the most fundamental trait of the human race: the desire to survive and prosper with the least amount of effort and hardship. 

 No amount of conservative messaging or supposed inclusion will counter that human impulse as long as the government, controlled by its current leadership, can tax, print and borrow money while convincing the people all is under control, there are no behavioral boundaries, and as for whatever problems that do exist -- they are the fault of the greedy, self-centered and anachronistic political opposition.

The United States is now at the point where the last chance to avoid an ignominious fate is for the nation to descend to the depths of experiencing first-hand the early stages of the turmoil and suffering extant in Europe and elsewhere. Perhaps when reality does finally set in, the people will turn to the leadership of their fellow citizens who are still committed to the nation's founding tenets. Unlike Europe, there remains in America a large swath of the populace that lives by and understand the importance of not only the moral underpinnings but the historical success of individual liberty and freedom.

However, in order to weather the potential catastrophe looming over the horizon and the tumult inherent in a requisite change of direction, the American people must begin to acknowledge that throughout history, the key to peace and prosperity lies in a relationship with God and striving to live by traditional moral and ethical guidelines. In the 1840's Alexis de Tocqueville wrote: "Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith."  Once established, liberty cannot be sustained without a just and moral society