The United States has been at a financial, social, and leadership crossroads for at least the last twenty years. 

Whatever approaches we've used in the past to fix our country have failed. 

Mistakes we've made are cumulative; in a sense, we are paying perpetual interest for those blunders that compound daily. 

I was talking to someone the other day in the national defense realm who said:

"There are X number of priorities we rank as essential for the nation's safety.  However, there are resources for only a subset of those priorities if we fully fund them, or we can spread the resources over a larger number of priorities with a commensurate slowing of the pace and risk of not being ready when needed." 

He went on to say that we waste billions on projects frequently abandoned along the way to technical readiness or even during procurement for political reasons and, ever more commonly, execution failures. 

America's shift from defending against insurgencies and terror to great power defense has fallen far short of the importance of being able to win wars thrust upon us.  At one time, national policy was to be able to fight two major wars at the same time.  Due to a lack of resources, our policy changed to fight one major conflict while holding off the second until we finished the first.  Again, our policy changed to fighting a single war at a time due to resource allocation issues. 

The reality is that we may not be up to the task even for that.  Did the underlying requirements change, or did we lower our expectations because we lacked the will to fulfill the requirement?

Many Americans believe we are militarily involved in too many places for the wrong reasons.  I'm frequently told that everything's about money and the all-too-familiar Military Industrial Complex. 

When I hear people talk like that, I immediately remember how unprepared we've been almost every time we're faced with the need to fight wars to protect our way of life. 

Our enemies depend on our fickle nature toward defense as well. 

The next global war (and there will be one) could see tens of thousands of American casualties in a short amount of time and will decisively either see us stay free or subjugated to some power bloc. 

Those kinds of wars (still non-nuclear) won't last long; they are just too kinetic and resource-intensive. 

The next conflict could be a "come as you are" war with little time to prepare or ramp up.  We must reconcile our desire to be free with the requisite costs that accompany them.  Defense is way down the ladder of priorities for progressives who see our enemies as likely future partners.

We need a national dialogue on the priorities of a national government and its relationship with the states and its people. 

Historically, the federal government was to be constrained by the 10th Amendment, allowing the federal government only limited powers:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

The federal government has claimed supremacy in almost every field and endeavor.  This is the proximate reason states have lost much of their power as our Constitution requires.  This directly contradicts the Founders' master plan to maintain tension between the states and the federal government to preclude precisely what has happened: a takeover of the country by the administrative state and rogue politicians, all subject to the whims of a Deep State that actually governs the country. 

A fair description of what the Deep State is is difficult to find on the Internet.  Don't be surprised; all the electronic media are part of the Deep State. 

I like Doug Casey's definition best:

The American Deep State is a powerful informal network that controls most institutions.  You won't read about it in the news because it controls the news.  You could say the Deep State is hidden, but it's hidden in plain sight.  The Deep State is involved in almost every negative thing that's happening right now.  It's essential to know what it's all about.  The Deep State uses and hides behind the State itself.  It is intrinsically evil and destructive institution, which is based on force.  Like a metastasized cancer, it can no longer be easily eradicated.

The discussion we need to have would not be an easy one. 

We aren't the same people we were 50 years ago, much less 250 years ago.  It isn't even arguable anymore that personal freedom is no longer the most important of the freedoms for many. 

Surviving and getting by is the highest aspiration many have.  The propensity to exchange liberty for trinkets is manifestly accepted today.  If put to a popular vote, free things would win over individual freedom every time.  Yet, we must find a way to have this debate on our future without resorting to mob rule. 

We can take one of several avenues while we still have time to make the decisive turn towards sanity and self-reliance that can see our country return to its roots, prosper, and continue.  I am a proponent of an Article 5 convention while we still have majority control of the states. 

An Article Five Convention would:

Be called by the state legislatures to propose amendments to the Constitution.  It is not a constitutional convention.  It cannot throw out the Constitution because its authority is derived from it.

Through this mechanism (there may be others), we can reclaim our country from those who would see it end as we know it.  To learn more, visit the Convention of States.  Our demise is certain if we don't start a national debate that is open, honest, and fair soon—calling all would-be patriots to step up and join the discussion.

God Bless America.

Allan J. Feifer is a patriot, author, businessman, thinker, and strategist.  Read more about Allan, his background, and his ideas to create a better tomorrow at www.1plus1equals2.com.

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