Where did the idea come from that kings, queens, prime ministers, presidents, and all other elected officials are people of integrity and intellect? A Jewish friend who is in his late eighties said to me during a business meeting, "Bob, no matter what, we must support our president, or all is lost."

I responded, "So, if you discovered a Supreme Court justice was selling his or her decisions to the highest bidder, you'd still be okay with them deciding if you should be hung or not? If you discovered your Rabbi was slipping around with your wife, you'd still seek his religious counseling?"

He said, "That's different. The president always has our best interest at heart even when it doesn't look like it."

I changed the subject. Debating false pride is like trying to converse with a Tasmanian Devil.

US Politicians are hired to impersonate a Christian first and then an accountant who will reduce taxes for his employers and the wages they have to pay their employees. Above all other industries, the defense industry moguls have provided us with every president since Eisenhower. And it will be this military-industrial complex, or Weapons of Mass Destruction Sales & Services, that will end up destroying the very ones who count on it for protection. The United States arrived at its zenith through industries that embraced life, not death. Our aircraft carriers and F-16 were useless again a sixteen-man invasion with box cutters. The bottom line, a flag in a politician's lapel, like a Bible in a preacher's hand, signifies neither a love of country or God. Still, it is not these sociopaths who are the root of the problem; it's the false pride, apathy and greed of all Americans. I receive hate emails daily for suggesting that what this country really needs is another Great Depression. There is a surplus of fat and arrogance in this country that will only be purged by total humiliation and hardship. Stringing popcorn for your Christmas tree decoration and getting a shirt that your mother made for you with her own hands will bring back the Spirit of Christmas that Play Stations, cell phones, and the keys to your own car are without the ability to convey.

"Difficulty, my brethren, is the nurse of greatness — a harsh nurse, who roughly rocks her foster-children into strength and athletic proportion." - William Cullen Bryant

Bob Miller Writes