The Blagojevich Factor? 5 Most Corrupt U.S. States

Please, folks, get a grip. There are so many self-evident truths that we have blithely ignored for years that the worst offenders are hiding in plain sight.

Wall Street was largely unregulated and even more largely misunderstood for years. Result? Surpriiiise!

Unions (all unions, but specifically the auto unions) have had one ultimate goal for decades: more pay (or other compensation) for less work. Result: Surpriiiise!

Lobbyists have been allowed to run unfettered, unregulated, unnoticed and largely unreported for decades, giving politicians ungodly amounts of cash and other valuables, all the while maintaining that they were buying ACCESS but NOT INFLUENCE! We have allowed and even condoned this. Result: Surpriiiise!

The problems that stem from the rich, the powerful and the media darlings aren't new to the scene. The miracle is that we haven't sustained several major setbacks before now.

If I wanted to destroy the U.S., one of the first things I would do would be to further enrich and empower the teachers' unions. They already have a head start on making us a second-rate (or perhaps much worse than that) country when it comes to math, science (read:technology) and language. And that's just one example out of dozens.

No WMD's are necessary to topple us - merely a little patience. We are busily doing to ourselves what no foreign power has been able to: destroy us gradually from within.

Our greatest enemy is APATHY - plain and simple. And it's winning, big time.

Bruce of MS 5:52PM December 16, 2008