Invariably at some point in the history of a nation an event occurs which precipitates or dramatically accelerates the potential demise of that nation or empire.  The United States experienced such an event in Dallas fifty years ago Friday.

Within months of the assassination of John Kennedy, America turned dramatically to the left as the avowed disciples of Franklin Roosevelt and European socialism assumed the reins of power and were the catalyst that unleashed into the American mainstream those true-believers in Marxist ideology determined to transform the nation, and who have now metastasized into a cancer on the American society.

President Lyndon Johnson, in league with an overwhelmingly Democrat-controlled Congress, shamelessly exploited the nation's grief over the death of its youthful President and willfully steered the nation onto the course of massive government intervention into the day-to-day lives of all Americans, and unfettered social spending as personified by a myriad of welfare programs enacted under the rubric of the "War on Poverty", the passage of Medicare and Medicaid, and the unleashing of an avalanche of new regulations.  The inexorable transfer of unbridled power to Washington and the political expedient of unsustainable promises to the American people had begun in earnest.  

Over the past 50 years the Democratic Party became the unabashed promoters of these policies, while many in the Republican Party, the most notable exception being Ronald Reagan, the enablers.  As a result, the American economy is now in a near-permanent state of stagnation and the nation has embarked on a headlong dash into bankruptcy.  While the population of the country has increased by 70% since 1963, the national debt has ballooned (on an inflation adjusted basis) 620% over the past half-century from $2,400 Billion to $17,200 Billion; however more ominous is the increase in unfunded liabilities since 1963 from an inflation adjusted $12,700 Billion to $127,000 Billion today. (http://www.usdebtclock.org/)

Although the adjusted Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by 250% during these past 50 years, inflation-adjusted household median income has only grown by 30%, thanks in part to federal, state and local government spending which has increased by 375% and now siphons off 41% of the national GDP as compared to 26% in 1963.  The primary factor: entitlement and social spending at all levels of government has increased a phenomenal 767% since 1963 ($450 Billion annually (inflation adjusted) versus $3,900 Billion today) (http://www.usgovernmentspending.com)

 Further, as an indicator of the tentacles of a massive central government intruding on the day to day lives of all Americans, the Code of Federal Regulations (the official codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations of the government) is now approaching 180,000 pages (the height of a seven story building), an increase of nearly 500% since 1963.  The culmination of this authoritarian trend toward the complete loss of freedom and privacy is the chaos that is ObamaCare and security agencies (such as the NSA) monitoring the daily activities of the citizenry.   

However, it is not just the unrestrained growth of government and disastrous fiscal and monetary policies that has brought the country to the precipice it is also the denigration of American society and the transformation of the American ruling class -- a large percentage of whom currently subscribe to socialist political philosophies.  This is a ruling class that now has access to trillions of dollars and the unchecked power of government at its disposal.  A by-product of which is the astronomical rise in political corruption and cronyism as well an ill-educated and ill-informed citizenry.

This process had its beginning in 1964 through 1968 as the Johnson administrations misguided and grossly mishandled Vietnam War spawned a broad anti-war movement.  The ensuing protests unleashed far more than just a demand for an end to the war.  Those that blamed America for all manner of alleged sins in the past and determined to transform the United States into a socialist/Marxist nirvana were able to step out from behind the shadows and enter the mainstream of national legitimacy.  This swarm of locusts soon enveloped the higher levels of Academia spawning countless clones to further infiltrate and dominate all strata of the education, and media/entertainment establishment as well as assume control of the Democratic Party.

Not only by debasing the curriculum throughout all levels of schooling but through propaganda disseminated by the media/entertainment complex American society was gradually but inexorably altered to reflect the left's determination to upend the basic moral and religious underpinning of society, thus assuring the populace would look to the government as their savior.  This process, underway for nearly two generations, has eventuated in the creation of a massive class of low-information and dependent voters unconcerned about the nation's future and susceptible to all manner of lies and propaganda from unscrupulous national leaders.

The most doctrinaire, dangerous and devious occupant of the Oval Office in the nation's history is Barack Obama -- the son of an avowed Marxist father, who not only in his childhood, but during all his formative years, was immersed in radical ideology.  He would not be president today were it not for the consequences of the events that took place on the 22^nd of November 1963.

It is always hazardous to speculate how someone would have governed had they lived to do so and were re-elected to a second term.  However, John Kennedy, by his actions as President revealed himself to be someone who believed in controlling government spending and reducing taxes as a necessary catalyst for economic growth.  Further, based on his experience with the Bay of Pigs debacle and the Cuban missile crisis, he was very circumspect about involving the United States in a massive military venture such as Viet Nam.   One thing is certain, however, he clearly was not a disciple of Franklin Roosevelt and American socialism despite being a lifelong member of the Democratic Party.

Lee Harvey Oswald, steeped in Marxist ideology from his years in the Soviet Union, was, in his addled thought process, convinced he could change the course of American history by murdering John F. Kennedy.   He has succeeded far more than he would have ever imagined.  As the American people pause and reflect on those fateful days in November fifty years ago, they must not only remember the man but the consequences of his assassination, as only they can reverse the tide of history.