IS the Empire Over?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoxlzPGIPt4
From C-Span...
His presidential candidacy over, his re-election to Congress won, is he speaking the truth, about earmarks, the war, congress' expenditures, or the economy itself?

Yes I am worried about people who cannot see, will not see, about where things are heading. Not the bigwigs or the policy makers - but the little people, my friends, the people living paycheck to paycheck, counseled to save 20% of their earnings when their earnings won't even put food on the table for a whole week.

On other forums I'm on, some are calling for a revolution against high gas prices, against high food costs. There won't be one. If there was one, it would be quickly quashed, more virulent and violent than the fantasized-about Boston Tea Party, with matching vicious reprisals. And innocents would be hurt and killed, and those outside of the fray would still struggle to pay their bills.

But again, no worries there. Most people crave normalcy, status quo, a 9-to-5 job and all's-right-with-my-world regularity. So prices go up, and they grumble. Taxes go up and they lament. But they don't do anything. To do something would be to step outside their dependable world of day-in-day-out and to challenge or to fight or to do something that would tax them physically, emotionally, cost them financially. So everyone will just make little cuts here and there, and keep going, keep struggling along.

I used to be one of those people who believed that the changes everyone demanded were worth fighting for. I used to believe that the people who pleaded for help were worth fighting for, worth helping, worth protecting. I was wrong. They aren't. They will turn on you when they realize that you won't cut a special deal for THEM because of their religion, last name, color, or status in the community.

So if I seem a bit selfish, you're wrong. I'm 100% selfish now. I'm preparing things for me and my family, and I really don't give a damn about you and your family anymore. I watch the Chicken Littles running around looking for someone to save them, and I watch the platitude spouters lying to them and comforting them, and all I can think is - you get the government you deserve, the government you asked for - the government to provide you with every single thing you want - and then you get to pay the piper.

No one wants to hear the truth. No one wants to admit that what is best for all is to stop the handouts to the ones who whine the most. And no one anywhere wants to believe that they are not special, and that they don't deserve special treatment. Everyone wants to believe that someone else should pay for everything they want. And they can get that, for a while - sometimes years, sometimes even decades. But sooner or later they will face that they have to pay their bills... and they will not be able to. That goes for individuals, groups, yes, and countries, too.