The perilous future after the election

As one gets older, there is a tendency to look at things from a broader perspective.

That is what I am doing with respect to this and future elections at the federal level.

We have become and are by most measures the most prosperous country, the most powerful country, the most generous country, the most heterogeneous (diversified) country, the most democratic country with the most freedoms, the most religious country and probably some other mosts.

We are hardly perfect. Some would say we are the most decadent (Hollywood, etc.), selfish (wealthy vs poor), ruthless (treatment of native Indians), etc., but even with all these worts, and yes, some of what they say is true, they do not even come close to overcoming our strengths.

What has made this country so great? Well, it is many things. I believe it stems from our heritage and where our founding fathers came from.

They believed in individual freedoms vs. forced collectivism, states' rights vs. federal domination, religious freedom vs. state sponsored secularism, etc.

What concerns me is that just during my lifetime, this system has been slowly changed and eroded in favor of forced collectivism (socialism) at the expense of individual freedom, growth of federalism at the expense of states' rights, growth of secularism at the expense of religious freedom and changes to the constitution through court rulings at the expense of due process and the original language and intent.

I suppose it is inevitable the masses will always eventually favor wealth transfer by whatever means and getting the most for as little as possible.

Those leaders who favor this type of populism do it for the power they get to control the process and the people, and in some cases, for their own accumulation of wealth.

This has been the history of the world. This history is well documented in the "Road to Serfdom" by Friedrich Hayek, and the results are not pretty.

Roland G. Ley

Arlington Heights