THE 2004 STATE OF THE NATION REPORT

Normally the President of the United States goes before both houses of Congress and makes a State of the Union address that is supposed to give our government and our nation a report on the condition of our country.

Now, I'm not the President of the United States, nor do I expect my report on how I see the State of our Nation to be heard by members of our government. After all… why would our government feel any responsibility to hear from a citizen of this nation as to how we perceive the condition of our country? In this writing, I plan to give my opinions to you without regard to any party affiliation or loyalty to anyone, other than the people of this great land.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Nichols Note's subscribers, and distinguished readers that may be reading Nichols Notes for the first time, I come hear today to present to you a review of the situation our country finds itself in as of this day in history. It was but a few years ago when our nation was shocked by the realization and horrors of international terrorism being carried out against Americans from within the borders of our country.

Even though the events of September 11, 2001 have now faded into the category of recent history, they preside over our present day lives as though they happened only yesterday. We, as a people, changed that day and are still soulfully different from what we were on September 10, 2001.

Our Government and our society have worked to try and protect this country from having to live through such an event again. We have made changes, some for the better and some for the worse.

It seems that daily we are told that virtually everything that our government does or proposes has to do with some preventive standard or measure to keep terrorism from striking us again. We now have American soldiers in Afghanistan and in Iraq.

They are there ostensibly to stop terrorists from being able to train in mass and prepare attacks on our homeland.

In addition to having our forces and those of our coalition partners in these countries we are supposedly getting the side benefit of freeing people who have been forced to live under tyrannical and evil governments for years.

We supposedly have Al-Qaeda disrupted and on the run and we have Saddam Hussein and his evil regime ousted from power, never to threaten the people of Iraq or the world again.

It is with great pride that we witnessed our military show the world that indeed our soldiers are truly special and are the best trained and equipped forces in the history of the world.

We all watched with pride, even though our war machines and smart bombs were out performed by the brave men and women who risked their all to make us proud of them. Not only were they successful in making us proud of their sense of honor, duty and commitment, they made most of us proud of being Americans once again.

It was a great time in the history of our Nation to see so many hearts filled with the spirit of patriotism towards this great land. The outcome of the job done by our military was Victory over our enemies, executed with swiftness, and a sense of humanity and compassion, that truly shocked and awed the world. As the conflict in those countries changed from the military winning the war against the enemy to our government and our leaders waging a war for peace, stability and a democratization of that region, the mosaic of images now is clouded and doesn't seem to have the same clarity and depth of vision or certainty of purpose as was portrayed in the beginning.

Saddam Hussein's sons have long since died. Saddam Hussein himself, along with the majority of his regime are now in US custody, but as yet the death toll of our soldiers still grows each and every week equally with that of the Taliban. Ousted from control in Afghanistan, and with a new and Americanized provisional government in place, Al-Qaeda still seems to plan and carry out terrorist acts in that region and other parts of the world. The entire Middle Eastern region now appears suspect of our original intent.

Our aggressiveness in those countries and the region is seen not as a liberating force but as that of an occupational army.

As we strive to bring free and open elections to Iraq so that they can build a new government chosen by the people of that country we are suspended from the forgone delusion of success by a reality of historic rivalries. If elections were held today in Iraq it would boil down to the country being torn into three factions; the Kurds, the Sunni and the Shiite Moslem sects. With the same efficiency of modern day political polls in an American election, the outcome if an election were held today in Iraq would certainly wind up with the largest faction, the Shiite Moslems, winning. The problem this poses for the planners of the new government is that a Shiite victory would bring forth a Fundamentalist Islamic understructure closely akin to that of Iran, an outcome that this government can never allow to take place.

The resulting situation in Iraq makes our efforts to create some form of democracy seem ill conceived and provides for possibility of failure.

What a Shame! What a Tragedy! What a waste!

The overall condition of the Middle East, as of this day, I find to be unstable. The potential for a positive overall regional plan, I find to be uncertain. Here at home the rumors and positive spin of a rebound in our economy and an end to the recessionary period since 911 has given the stock market and the corporate world cause for a bright economic forecast for 2004.

An apparent rise in the profitability of our multi national corporate infrastructure truly substantiates such a prosperous forecast.

Unfortunately most of the profitability garnered by the multi national corporate community was accomplished by the reduction of labor costs. This savings in the cost of labor has for a great part been accomplished by transferring American jobs to other countries where the labor force works for a fraction of the pay required of the American worker.

While the economy for corporate society looks good the economy for the American worker doesn't match corporate prospects.

A recent announcement by President Bush proposes to allow illegal aliens already in the US to effectively be granted amnesty by simply reporting to the government that they are here illegally. They can then be granted a temporary work permit to stay in the US.

This adds insult to injury to an already bludgeoned American workforce.

Now, the American worker and by extension their families, not only fear the possibility of losing their job to workers in other countries, but with this amnesty, they must now fear the loss of their job to illegal aliens in this country.

Under these circumstances, I find the condition of our economy on the whole to be unjust and unfair. I find profitability at the corporate level, procured at the expense of the lives of the American worker and their families to be unconscionable.

On this day in our country, there is one other area that must be addressed.

2004 brings with it a national election season for the Presidency of these United States. This season will soon boil down to one party, the Republicans and their quest to retain power, matched against the other party, the Democrats and their lust for control.

A risk, making our nation vulnerable to an epidemic of misrepresentations, lies and distrust from the people towards the government and the leaders that are supposed to serve them. With the eventual pairing of a race between George Bush and Hillary Clinton, the sanctity of the institution we know to be our Constitution is certain to be threatened, if not destroyed.

I therefore challenge each and every American to hold this election and these candidates to a standard of ethics that will not show itself unless forced by all of us. Never before in the history of our land has so much been at stake with such a lowness of choices. So in 2004, if you claim to be an American of lineage to the forefathers of this land, then you must rise and stand for your country or your country will be forever concealed from We the People.

If not us then who… if not now, when?

See you next week… Larry Nichols

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