I predict that America will not last 100 years.
Any government which fails to protect the welfare of its elders (the senior citizens) who have made it great and denies benefits promised to its veterans for their sacrifices neither deserves to exist nor can be defended as it will soon lose the support of those who they rule.
If the present is an indication of the future, America is in serious serious trouble and may not be able to recover. Look around you and tell me what you see?
I see houses, which were once a man's castle, everywhere I look in disrepair or foreclosure. I see a broken middle class, who have given up as not only can they no longer get ahead - they are not even able to keep what they have worked their entire life for. All wiped out by the greed and hubberis of our leaders - if you wish to kindly call them that. It is far easier to repair the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy, than the carnage caused by Hurricane Man.
Look deeper and you will see the pain in the eyes of those who have had their life savings stolen as a result of our government changing rules for the benefit of the banks, big business and the stock market, for the benefit of those in power.
Look further and you will see entrepreneurs and small business targeted and taken down by out of control representatives from agencies and services of our government who not only abuse their trust and power - they take such great pleasure in doing it, that they want everyone to know about it !
What I fail to see, are meaningful incentive(s) or reason(s) to strive to get ahead! Sadly, pride has been replaced with apathy.
Like ancient Rome had its' coliseums we still have our football, basket ball, or whatever ball, and lots and lots of beer after. There are always the movies (hint - stay away from the midnight show) to escape from reality, or drugs to turn to when the pain gets to great. Until recent, We have been fortunate, that there has always been some one, some thing or some country to look down on - so that we can continue to feel superior and have nothing to worry about.
As Rome had its legions, we now live in a police state which does what it wants because it now can, including depriving us of inalienable rights: Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, which are common to all mankind.
Like Benedict Arnold, I soon will be a man without a country. Unlike him it is not I who has betrayed my country, but my country which has betrayed me.
Since evil prospers when good men do nothing, I am posting this as a warning of the danger currently facing our way of life. This is not rhetoric, it is a projection based on the irreparable damage that has been done to me and those who have depended upon me. Most of what I have worked my entire life for has been wrongly taken , my health destroyed, and my family deprived of their heritage as a result of broken promises, with holding of information, and deliberate misinformation, with the recent blatant and unresolved abuse of power being the break point. All of this pain and suffering is needless as it could of easily been avoided with a modicum of cooperation and the slightest bit of compassion.
The infamous words of Walt Kelly in his comic strip POGO (an amiable, humble, philosophical, personable, everyman opossum in an Okefenokee Swamp setting), a childhood favorite of mine, has come back to haunt: " WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY AND HE IS US".
I cannot stress strongly enough, that I am writing to inform you of these grave dangers as they will destroy our way of life if unchecked. . It is not written to incite, inflame, nor show any disrespect for the police men and women and civil servants who have dedicated their lives in our behalf - they share the same perils.
I urge you to read carefully, what I have written as theese are not the words of a radical, a loose cannon, or a nut job. Theese are the words of a patriot who has spent his entire life in service of country. I am a first generation American, third generation military who's parents left Europe to escape from political oppression and seek a better way of life.
Thanks to the sacrifices of our veterans and those of our allies the world, with the exception of the USA - which I have serious doubts about, for the most part is a better and safer place to be. It is a sad and a bitter irony, that our own citizens have not similarly benefited.
Hopefully, you can answer this question which continues to baffle me: I would like to know why a country with the natural resources of the US with its technical superiority and superb work ethics cannot economically keep up with a Nation whose most effective earth moving capability three or more decades ago was two pickle barrels balanced on a yoke across a worker's shoulders?
In return, you might ask what this has to do with metal detecting? This answer is easy "EVERY THING". It is far easier to restrict metal detecting since it not a right and can easily be denied.
I have taken up shallow water metal detecting to regain my health and to have something to look forward to. Health permitting, I will return to Europe, as there are more antiquities to find and the laws are fairer. I definitely prefer splitting 50 50 with the land owner and selling artifacts to the museum who will either buy them (at a lower price -if they have the funds) or release them to the finders for sale if they do not . Verses risk having have my findings seized, equipment confiscated, and thrown in jail in the Not So Good for metal detecting Old USA.
In the mean time, if you notice a tall oldster humming the tune "Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose" by Janice Joplin - you will know who I am. Oops! Almost forgot, I will be limping along using my long handled scoop as a staff, while metal detecting with my trusted Excalibur on a big long stick in search of the Holy Grail. If you look carefully you may see that I carry a Vibratech waterproof pin pointer and a bayonet slung across my chest for retrieving rings in crevices and to warn ( in a not so magical way) those who covet the little which I have left.
Hopefully my vision of the future is wrong, and that I am merely chemically unbalanced as I have prostate problems . I don't know as I cannot afford to go to the hospital, even though I have full medical insurance, as social security has taken away my Medicare benefits for failure to pay a bill which I have never received!