America Had Intention

Not long ago, America had "intention" and strode for improvement...

But like weeds, the unbridled growth of financial institutions (as below)

... overgrew the rest of the garden, strangling things, blocking the sunlight for others, and using others to climb over.  Because of them, the gardeners have gotten fed up and don't bother taming the overgrown mess.  Surely, the garden will fall into wilderness.

     It's not too far from the 1920s silent film, "Metropolis".  Talk about "predicting the possible future"!  Considering the recent presidential election, folks ought not be too surprised that our system elected an unqualified, sideways-talking blowhard.  

Just look at our ignorant populous:

-People are happy to squander hours watching idiotic "reality TV".  They aimlessly buy whatever products the show sponsors/features.
-27 national surveillance agencies permit bad things to continually happen.
-Brainless daytime talkshow hosts ramble about oneness yet capture the attention-span of their audiences.
-Banks responsible for 2008 go unpunished and still reward their illegally-acting bosses with bonuses.

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-Automakers that squander profits and produce inferior products are propped up by the government, like a Soviet arrangement.
-Supposedly smart modern women endure 6-inch high heels, which pediatrists warn against, as bunions, calluses and bent toes develop forever (as their tradeoff to look good for a few years).  It reminds me of the ancient Chinese "foot binding" to keep women slower and tame.
-Aviation and rail travel halted progress and haven't sped up in half a century, despite possibilities or what other nations do.
-Public trains like the Long Island Railroad price-gouge customers during needed "peak" times.  (Could you imagine if grocery stores or gas stations or toll bridges did that?!)

-Police forces gain more funding and "toys" while traditionally crime-riddled neighborhoods remain that way.

-People aspire to be cops and teachers for the tenure, retirement packages and lack of work involved.
-Slumlords are allowed to operate sub-standard housing, despite a plethora of violations being unattended.  (Slumlords and tenement housing should've been eradicated a hundred years ago!  Why has it NOT changed?!)

-Eateries that are closed repeatedly for health violations are allowed to reopen (sometimes with a new name) and keep their licenses.  
-Lobbyists have choked our federal system so that corporations run amok with American farming, sugar, oil, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, armament, drugs, and technology.
-Instead of seeking preventive or holistic remedies, consumers mimic sheep as they overdue prescriptions & pills from drug manufacturers and pharm-bribed physicians.  

-People are okay paying for tap water.
-Want to see "stupid"?  Look at American drivers attempting to maneuver/park their cars.  You read 15th century literature about peasants' feeble-mindedness, and it's amazing that cluelessness persists into this millennium.

-How few people donate their time for "good causes": singing at nursing homes, random acts of kindness, holding a door for someone.
-How few organizations are created with a sense of charity/"helpfulness to community" that Wikipedia was?

-St. Jude's Children's Hospital is one of so few to offer free/affordable preventive care.
-How customers are allowed to buy merchandise, keep the price tags on while they use them, and return them for a refund.
-Why our society values "nice guys" so little.

-How you read a rant like this every year... and people don't seem to learn to behave better.  Where's the common sense?

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-Cellphone users ignore all the knowledge that they could glean from their handheld internet access.  Instead, they chase after consumerism, pornography, overpaid athletes, and "music artists" who can't really sing on their own.
-Churches are tax free yet squander money on themselves instead of improving the less fortunate.

-A tameless military budget can't manage proper Border Control.
-Corporations avoid taxation, while citizens pay nameless taxes (and surcharges and fees) without representation.  Commission paychecks are reduced by half via taxes.  You pay taxes when earning money, then taxed again if you give some as a gift, and then it gets taxed again when you die.
-Our powerful nation has crumbling/neglected infrastructure ... also similar to Soviet or ancient Roman problems.
-Gay culture fought against being called "irresponsible, shallow, drug using, sex fiends"... yet--thanks to modern behavior/choices--it's still famous for all that.

-Drivers Licenses don't require updated photographs--even after 40 years!
-Almost any unqualified idiot can obtain (and keep nearly forever) a driver's license.  No wonder we have so many drivers who can't drive.
-Criminals with long lists of convictions are released regularly, again and again.
-My grandpa's generation would've stopped to help an accident victim.  Nowadays, people fear a lawsuit from helping a victim!
-In 1932, NY Governor (later President), Franklin D. Roosevelt observed, "The increase in real estate taxes is due wholly to the costs of local governments.  These taxes are too high.  Local government in many communities has been guilty of great waste and duplication."  Nothing has changed in 80 years!  NYS still has the highest property taxes in the nation: 2.5x the annual income tax.
-Tax payers overpay but don't move against their worsening quality of life: "armchair politics".
-Self-absorbed American tourists would rather see the faux "World Showcase" at Disney World or the faux Venice in Las Vegas, rather than see the authentic cities (at the same cost).

Wake up, America!