Wyoming cattleman J. Randall “Randy” Stevenson, a vocal advocate of American agriculture and American enterprise, warns that this nation is “Increasingly outsourcing its sovereignty while importing its dependency.” In these few words, he encapsulates the real challenges facing America, which ultimately eclipse any threat from abroad, whether that of militant Islam or the Chinese efforts to establish hegemony over the world economy.

 

Stevenson has amassed plenty of knowledge on the subject, having witnessed first hand the orchestrated efforts of multinational beef packagers and distributors to manipulate and restructure the market in their own favor, often with the collaboration of sympathizers at the highest levels of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

 

Invariably, it is the American cattle growers, who once proudly shouldered the burden of feeding America, that are being systematically shut out of the system, to the ultimate benefit of the multinational corporations that hold no interest in, or loyalty to America and its agricultural strength. In a manner entirely reflective of the rest of the corporate world, foreign competitors worm their way into a segment of the market, often enjoying special treatment that, were it rendered upon American businesses, would be classified as outrageously “protectionist.”

 

But as with the proverbial frog in the gradually warming pot of water, no single event appears calamitous enough by itself to cause sufficient alarm and the resulting demands for a fix. Yet over time, the American people are beginning to rouse from their slumbers and recognize that during the past few decades, something in their nation’s system of commerce has gone terribly awry.

 

Large scale marketing campaigns increasingly promote the concept of a non-American culture to replace the traditional core of our fading country. Though not nearly so blatant as the inflammatory recent Absolut Vodka ad which touts a “reconquista” of the American Southwest, they are nonetheless intended to erode and eventually eradicate the concept of national allegiance on any level.

 

The possibility is remote that the might and majesty of America will unravel in a single D-Day type confrontation with a superior foreign enemy. Instead, it is occurring as the result of the relentless deterioration of everything cultural and social that made the nation great. And if the nation’s culture crumbles, its economic prowess will not long endure.

 

Americans are becoming aware of looming calamity on several fronts, but few seem ready or willing to connect the dots and recognize the bigger picture. Content to remain mired in partisan battles between two increasingly indistinguishable political parties, they rally to one camp or another while remaining willfully ignorant of the fundamental problems that must be addressed if America is to be resuscitated from its current condition. Yet the potential for grave misfortune remains, and only increases with time.

 

As a microcosm of the pattern observed by Randy Stevenson, recent events in his own state exemplify the obstacles that must be overcome if America is ever to be unfettered from a political system that views its citizens merely as an expendable resource to be exploited for the profit of “the system.”

 

Dave Freudenthal, the current Democrat Governor of Wyoming, inadvertently but inarguably made this point last week with his empty and insipid endorsement of presidential candidate Barack Obama. Freudenthal’s reasons for conferring the endorsement were ostensibly that Obama is able to gather enthusiastic crowds and that he agrees to keeping the Wyoming Range off limits to oil exploration and drilling.

 

Such transparent political posturing is entirely typical for Freudenthal. It was the late Republican Senator Craig Thomas who originally sought to protect the pristine wilderness of the Wyoming Range. Republican Senator John Barrasso, who was appointed to replace Thomas, introduced the bill to officially designate the area as off limits. So, in Freudenthal’s world, the focus on this issue provides a means of appealing to both parties, one on the  basis of its Party member in the Senate, and the other as a sop to the environmental lobby.

 

But while this measure is indeed a worthwhile cause for a Senator, it hardly constitutes a platform on which to base support for a potential leader of the free world. Severe problems still face America, including the escalating dangers and financial burdens of America’s dependence on foreign oil. Yet Obama’s response to the crisis, at least as Freudenthal qualifies the situation, is merely to explain what he intends not to do to address it.

 

Meanwhile, the people of America are being squeezed by ever higher gasoline and fuel oil prices, which threaten to not only put a crunch on their former lifestyles (an unspoken goal of the environmental extremists), but will put the brakes on the rest of the American engine as well, which ultimately affects not only its economic viability and future, but also its security.

 

As the Governor of an energy-rich state, Dave Freudenthal finds himself in a position to promote the concept of America building and expanding the responsible usage of its resources for its own best interests. Instead he chooses to posture and pander, with complete indifference to the increasing hardships facing every American who feels the crunch of rising energy costs.

 

Few who live in Wyoming would ever want to see the Cowboy State sullied with the garish excesses that now characterize the oil-rich nations of the Middle East. Nevertheless, Wyoming and America would still be better served if the wealth could remain within domestic coffers. Perhaps then it might be used more wisely, including possibly to offset the cost of some of Dave Freudenthal’s profligate social agenda.

 

The nation’s problems cannot realistically be expected to miraculously dissipate on their own. If not resolutely dealt with, they will continue to burgeon and grow.

 

Real leadership and vision are critical to addressing the current situation on its many fronts. But in the face of such difficulties, which require mature and reasoned assessments if any solution is to be achieved, America is instead getting a massive dose of the empty rhetoric from Obama and his minions.