All of our problems with offshore junk and the disappearance of American jobs can be traced back to the American voter. They just keep voting for the same lunatics time after time, the same lunatics who made it possible for China to export their junk to this country and kill American jobs. You can't blame American manufacturers for jumping on the China bandwagon, they have to show a profit on the bottom line to be competitive in business and to placate their shareholders.
The problems with Congress can be explained with this little story of the 5 Monkeys. It is unclear if this experiment actually happened or not, but again, it explains why nothing gets done that would benefit Americans as a whole....
The human behavior of not challenging assumptions reminds me of an experiment psychologists performed years ago. They started with a cage containing five monkeys. Inside the cage, they hung a banana on a string with a set of stairs placed under it. Before long, a monkey went to the stairs and started to climb towards the banana. As soon as he started up the stairs, the psychologists sprayed all of the other monkeys with ice cold water. After a while, another monkey made an attempt to obtain the banana. As soon as his foot touched the stairs, all of the other monkeys were sprayed with ice cold water. It's wasn't long before all of the other monkeys would physically prevent any monkey from climbing the stairs. Now, the psychologists shut off the cold water, removed one monkey from the cage and replaced it with a new one. The new monkey saw the banana and started to climb the stairs. To his surprise and horror, all of the other monkeys attacked him and beat the snot out of him. After another attempt and another attack, he realized that if he tried to climb the stairs, he would be assaulted and beaten. Next they removed another of the original five monkeys and replaced it with a new one. The newcomer went to the stairs and was attacked and beaten. The previous newcomer took part in the punishment with enthusiasm! Likewise, they replaced a third original monkey with a new one, then a fourth, then the fifth. Every time the newest monkey tried to climb the stairs, he was attacked. These new monkeys had no idea why they were not permitted to climb the stairs or why they were beating any monkey that tried. After replacing all the original monkeys, none of the remaining monkeys had ever been sprayed with cold water. Nevertheless, no monkey ever again approached the stairs to try for the banana. Why not? Because as far as they know that's the way it's always been around here. People do the same in the workplace. How many times have you heard "It has always been done this way. Don't mess with what works." Instead of challenging these assumptions, many of us, like the monkeys, simply keep reproducing what has been done before. It's the easiest thing to do.
So it is with the United States Congress and other groups of lawmakers across the country. "Go along to get along". The way to fix this is to vote in
ALL NEW lawmakers every time there is an election, but that will never happen without a 180 degree turn in the mindset of the American voters and we have about as much chance of that happening as we do of living to see the 2nd coming of Christ.
Once in a while, us voters will encounter a new candidate for office who has the spark of wanting to change the system for the better, so we vote him/her into office and expect great things from them. And it always turns out the same way, as soon as the new Senator or Congressman attempts to climb the ladder and secure the banana for his/her constituents, he/she is attacked by the other members of the body and told that if they want to ever have any of the other members of the body to vote for any legislation that will help the new member's constituents, they had damned well better "go along to get along" and the spark dies.
It will not always be this way. These great United States of America, this noble experiment, is on the way out and we have nobody to blame but ourselves. Each new democracy that has flared up on this planet has gone through the same evolution and has ended with a revolution and replacement of the democratic form of government with a dictatorship. So it will be for America.
From Bondage to Spiritual Faith
From Spiritual Faith to Great Courage
From Courage to Liberty
From Liberty to Abundance
From Abundance to Complacency
From Complacency to Apathy
From Apathy to Dependence
From Dependence back into Bondage
Folks who are smarter than I am figure that we are currently in the Apathy to Dependence stage.