NBC’s Tonight Show host Jay Leno walks around Los Angeles streets asking easy questions of young people.  His questions equate to what a sixth grader must know to move on to the seventh grade.

“Who was the first U.S. president?” Leno asked on a recent show.

“Richard Nixon?” an 18 year old girl answers.  “No, no, it was James Dean!”

“Who was Charles Lindbergh?” Leno asked a guy crossing 77 Sunset Strip.

“I think he made cheese,” the man answered.

“How many eggs in a half dozen?” Leno asked another man.

“How many in a dozen?” the man answered.  “If’n you tell me dat, I can figure it out.”

This may come as a surprise, but more Americans voted for an American Idol contestant than voted for George Bush to become president of the United States.  Half of all eligible voters in the U.S. fail to vote in national elections. In excess of 80 percent of voters do not vote in local elections. 

“Why won’t the people in Congress serve Americans?” a frustrated voter asked me at a convention.

“Because they serve corporations, money and the elite,” I answered.  “Not enough Americans voted new people into office.  All you get is the same old men with the same old thinking being bought off by moneyed interests--running this country into the ground.”

Little wonder this Constitutional Republic fails in the early part of the 21^st century!  Back in 1776, a man asked Ben Franklin what kind of a government the framers created. “A republic—if you can keep it,” Franklin quipped.

Not creating term limits for Congressional representatives proves the worst mistake of the Founding Fathers.

In the last 20 years, American apathy rose while Congressional ethics dropped.  Voters return inept, corrupt and marginalized politicians back into office term after term.

What do you get?  You get money laundering by Tom Delay of Texas.  Duke Cunningham from California accepted $2.4 million in bribes! How about Jack Abramoff bribing more senators and House reps than anyone knows?  You’ve got Senate majority leader Harry Reid mixed up in fraudulent real-estate deals that get covered up.  Who endorses pork-barrel projects that waste millions?  How about the billions vanishing into unknown hands in Iraq as reported by NBC’s Brian Williams in the “Fleecing of America”?  What about the president of the United States falsifying facts to plunge this nation into a war that is/was unconstitutional and contrary to international law?  What about unguarded borders that allow terrorists, child molesters, killers and $130 billion in drugs to cross annually that addict and kill our kids?

Why has our republic degraded to its present abhorrent condition?  Why have our leaders failed us?  Why do the majority not represent us?  Why won’t they uphold the U.S. Constitution?  Why do they experiment with our future by dissolving our sovereignty?

Here’s why!

A republican form of government requires four standards:

1. It demands a highly educated population manifesting critical thinking that participates in the affairs of the nation.
2. It requires that citizens invest in a similar moral code.
3. It insists on a mutual ethical system abided by all.
4. It must engender a single language whereby all citizens can discuss, debate, come to resolution and initiate mutual beneficial action for their society.

As to point number one, today, less than 25 percent of California high school students graduate.  Nationwide, 60 percent of Blacks and Hispanics do not graduate from high school. As verified by Jay Leno, average citizens today lack the education of a sixth grader.  Reports show that 35 million Americans suffer functional illiteracy, which means they cannot read, write or work simple mathematics.

As to point number two, does female genital mutilation, cock fighting, dog fighting, animal sacrifice, welfare fraud into the billions of dollars, 50 percent unwed mothers, free lunches for millions of poor children of non-citizens—exemplify this nation’s moral code?

Point three showed its breakdown during Hurricane Katrina with rampant looting, outright fraud and mismanagement of millions of dollars.  If you look at Congress, you see corruption at every level all the way to the White House.

Finally, by traveling through Los Angeles and many sections of Chicago, New York, Miami, Houston and dozens of other U.S. cities—you will not be welcome nor will you be understood if you speak English.  Are you familiar with, “Press 1 for Spanish; Press 2 to English,” by more and more businesses.  As Emanuel Kant said, “The two great dividers are language and religion.”

If the current overload of the four aspects for a successful republic continue, Ben Franklin’s concern with losing this republic will become our reality.  Without a doubt, via national apathy, lack of critical thinking, loss of our moral compass, destruction of our ethical standards and loss of our cohesive language--we lose this republic day by day, week by week, month by month, year by year until it degrades to Rome’s fate.

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