yes, "politics is downstream from culture" - I wrote as much a few yrs ago:

Submitted by Mark (United States), Jan 3, 2013 at 11:41

Goodbye, America

July 29, 2010

That's it; the United States of America as we knew it, a beacon of freedom and prosperity throughout the world, is on the way out. As any one who has been paying attention knows (e.g., note the Tea Party), our government is working at full intensity to destroy traditional America, with its values of individualism and freedom. It attacks our patriots and our friends, and coddles our enemies, foreign and domestic. There is plenty of documentation on these points, and it has been frequently recited in some quarters.

While to a degree, this has been a long term trend, it has greatly accelerated with recent elections that put Democrats in charge of Congress in 2007 and Obama in the presidency in 2009. This sad state of affairs has been a cumulative result of the leftist/socialist takeover of the country's media, entertainment, academic, and bureaucratic establishments, and their indoctrination of the populace with their ideologies. Another negative effect of globalization has been its own contribution to these forces – convincing Americans that we should be less like ourselves and more like the rest of the world, dysfunctional as it is.

In recent months, many Americans have been optimistic that we would be able to reverse this leftist/socialist/statist tide in the next few elections. But, sad to say, we are likely past the turning point; the forces opposing traditional America have become entrenched, have surpassed critical mass, and will be largely impervious to attack for a generation or more. No previous congress or administration, Ronald Reagans' included, was able to significantly reverse the inexorable increase in the growth of federal spending, regulation, and bureaucracy. And the forces of bureaucracy and its entrenched interests are much larger and more powerful now than they were even in the recent past.

Even when the forces of freedom think they have attained a great victory – such as with the election of Scott Brown to be senator from Massachusetts – that turns out to be illusory. Republican politicians vote to burden you and the businesses that create the country's prosperity as do the Democrats, just not quite as much. (Brown just voted to impose burdens, racial quotas, and restrictions as part of the so-called financial reform bill.)

Even if Republicans such as Kirk in Illinois and Castle in Delaware win in November, they are likely to side with the big-government Democrats more often than with you. Kirk had voiced support for the inexcreble "cap and trade" idea. Another Republican candidate, Portman in Ohio, is no friend of Americans, either. As George W. Bush's Trade Representative, Portman granted Saudi Arabia a free trade agreement, even when he was told, and when it obvious to all, that the Saudis had absolutely no intention of fulfilling the purported conditions of the agreement. One of those conditions was that the Saudis end their trade boycott of Israel.

It has been said that people deserve the government they get. In this case, that may be particularly true, at least for the slight majorities that have elected our leaders, given that America's traditional values prominently included individualism and taking personal responsibility. That Americans may lose their liberty because they effectively voted to abdicate their personal responsibility in favor of nanny-state big government is an unfortunate irony.

But worse, in contrast to our grandparents' time when many of them could escape oppression by fleeing to America, now there is nowhere else to go. Or, if you know someplace, please let us know.

http://markgold.wordpress.com/goodbye-america/

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".