No. 972 - SHOULD THE TRUTH HURT?

No. 972

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

SHOULD THE TRUTH HURT?

Please raise your right hand. Do you promise to tell the truth, nothing but the truth, so help you God? Congratulations, you have just become a witness in one of the most important trials in American history.
In case you have not noticed, America is on trial, and has been for the past several decades as to what kind of nation we are going to leave our children and grandchildren. This is what I thought about the other day when a reader sent me an article that has been making the rounds on the Internet but needs to be examined in the clear light of day.
The article is titled “Canada’s Top Ten List of America’s Stupidity.” It is obviously a take-off on David Letterman’s Top Ten list that he has featured on his late night CBS talk show for many years. As Americans, none of us want to be preached to by our neighbors to the North, but regardless of the author, this list contains some things that we all should think about and see how it could impact us in the years ahead.
First, I don’t like negative news or information, but sometimes it’s necessary to hear the truth, even if we don’t agree. In other words, even if the truth hurts, we still need to hear it.
See if you agree or disagree with the following 10 points:
“No. 10 - Only in America could politicians talk about the greed of the rich at a $35,000 per plate campaign fund-raising event. No. 9 – Only in America could people claim that the government still discriminates against black Americans when they have a black President, black Attorney General and roughly 20 percent of the federal workforce is black while only 14 percent of the population is black. And 40 percent of all federal entitlements goes to black Americans (three times the rate that goes to whites and five times the rate that goes to Hispanics.)
“No. 8 – Only in America could they have had the two people most responsible for the tax code, Timothy Geithner (the head of the Treasury Department) and Charles Rangel (who once ran the Ways and Means committee) both turn out to be tax cheats who are in favor of higher taxes. No. 7 – Only in America can they have terrorists kill people in the name of Allah and have the media primarily react by fretting that Muslims might be harmed by the backlash. No. 6 – Only in America would they make people who want to legally become American citizens wait for years in their home countries and pay thousands of dollars for the privilege, while they discuss letting anyone who sneaks into the country illegally just ‘magically’ become American citizens.
“No. 5 – Only in America could the people who believe in balancing the budget and sticking by the country’s Constitution be thought of as ‘extremists.’ No. 4 – Only in America could you need to present a driver’s license to cash a check or buy alcohol but not to vote. No. 3 – Only in America could people demand the government investigate whether oil companies (Marathon Oil) are gouging the public when the return on equity is less than half of a company making tennis shoes (Nike). No. 2 – Only in America could the government collect more tax dollars from the people than any nation in recorded history and still spend a trillion dollars more than it has per year and complain that it does not have enough money. No. 1 – Only in America could the rich people, who pay 86 percent of all income taxes, be accused of not paying their ‘fair share’ by people who don’t pay anything at all.”
Well that’s it but it kind of makes you wonder about the future doesn’t it?
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)