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AMERICA
FOREWARNED!
WatchOut For the 1980s
by
Gene H. Hogberg
Like an individual, what a nation sows, it also reaps.
And America will soon reap the whirlwind- a lesson for all the world to see.
N
OT LONG
ago, the
United States of
America was the un–
cha lle nged leader of
the Western world.
Respected by fr iend and foe
al ike, jealously adm ired by
many, a r ich, dynamic America
fo r years set t he pace a nd pro–
vided the model for world eco–
nomic development.
Mi litari ly, a string of all iances
worldwide, backed up by U.S. mus–
ele, contained adversary forces.
How times have changed!
Today, America's trad it ional
heavy industr ies, sucb as steel, are
affl icted with low capaci ty, high
unemployment- and often, stag–
gering losses. The United States is
losing the race against the aggres–
sive economies of East Asia.
In matters of mutual defense,
America's leaders almost plead in
vain for NATO partner countr ies
in Europe to continue to trust in
Washington's faltering leadership,
cha llenged as never before by the
burgeoning mili tary might and
polit ical leverage now exercised by
the Soviet Union.
Cur sed in City an d Farm
At home, governmental leaders,
despite efforts to correct years of
economic mismanagement, confront
the prospect of staggering federal
deficits for years into t be future. T he
nation's social security system ftoun–
ders on the br ink of insolvency,
May 1983
threatening the latter-years' liveli–
hood of millions of people.
The core of one big Amer ican
city after another vanishes into a
social vacuum of chronic unem–
ployment, crime and d rug addic–
tion. Costly city-center renewal
projects cannot mask the ugliness
that all too often lurks just behind
their glittering facades.
In tbe countryside, bankruptcies
soar as farmers, many owing
hundreds of thousands of dollars
eacb, are forced out of business,
caught in the vice of rising costs,
record production levels and plum–
meting prices.
To those wbose eyes are open,
it's nota pretty picture. In fact, one
is forced to ask
why
is America
"cursed ... in the c i ty, and
cursed ... in the country" (Deut.
28: 16, RAV)?
Why has al! this happened to a
country that, less than two decades
ago, thought that it could not only
have its way in world affairs, but
could embark upon what its leaders
promised would be a "Great Socie–
ty" at home?
Yes,
WHY?
Ame r ica' s Ri se and Fa ll
Before we answer, let's look back at
fairly recent history. By doing so, we
can seejust how far down the United
States has fallen in the 38 years since
the end of World War 11 .
On Augusr 6, 1945, an Ameri–
can B-29 Superfortress dropped an
atomic bomb on the J apanese city
of Hiroshima.
Imperial Japan's fate was sealed.
In quick succession followed bomb
No. 2 on Nagasaki (August 9), the
Japanese offer of surrender (Au–
gust
10),
then the U.S. acceptance
(August 14) and the formal surren–
der (September
2).
America was catapulted into the
position as the world's preeminent
power. Jt remained so for nearly
two decades-even during the mis–
sile crisis of October 1962-despite
the steady advance of the Soviet
Union.
But times were cbanging.
19 64 : " Wa t e rshed Year"
On August 5, 1964, 19 years after
Hiroshima, almost to the day, the
U.S. Cong ress overwhelmingly ap–
proved, at President Lyndon B.
Johnson's req uest, the Tonkin Gulf
Resolution.
The resolution authorized the
President to "take all necessary mea–
sures to repel any armed attack
against forces of the United States
and to prevent further aggression."
Congress also approved the use
o f American military forces to
come to the aid of all ied states in
Sou theast Asia requesting assis–
tance.
Thus the way was paved for an
ultimately disastrous mil itary in–
volvement on the part of tbe United
States in Southeast Asia. The years
1964 to the present have witnessed
the steady erosion in U.S. power
and prestige.
The year 1964 was also signifi–
(Continued on page 43)
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