What could be more disturbing and disheartening than to watch our culture and our nation in decline? There is no doubt that we are in decline in so many areas and in so many ways.

We are in decline:

* Morally

* Spiritually

* In education

* In science

* Militarily

We have lost our bearings and fail to believe in ourselves anymore. When is the last time our leaders challenged us with a big dream or project? We simply provide more welfare to an increasingly dependent society. A couple generations ago people in need wanted to help themselves and were very reluctant to accept "relief." Now they reach with both hands for all they can get and demand more.

We are unable to fix the roads and bridges our fathers and grandfathers built for us. We have cut back our space program to the point that we must pay the Russians to take us to the space station. Our crime rate is deplorable and frightening. One symptom of the obvious moral decline in our society.

Our military is in decline, becoming weaker as we cut back funding and drastically reduce our forces. When I graduated from high school in 1960, our nation's total budget first reached $100 billion and more than 50 percent was defense. Today, our budget is about $4 trillion and defense is less than 15 percent - and defense spending is the problem? A bloated federal bureaucracy and our "entitlement" spending are the problems. Our government should be much smaller and much more responsive.

Our education system is failing our young people. We are far behind much of the world in achievement. This is new and cannot be allowed to stand.

What should we do?

* Get government out of the welfare business on all levels, including free school lunches, particularly breakfast and lunch to students when out of school. Churches and charities will fill the gap for the truly needy, others might need to go to work. Our government was never meant to be a provider. The school lunch thing might seem insensitive, but we are teaching young kids to be dependent - that there is a free lunch.

* Scrap Obamacare, as it is a big welfare program of premium subsides increasing the cost of health care, while driving up the federal deficit.

* Toughen up our education system and eliminate the "no fail" mentality. Have high expectations; include a heavy dose of civics lessons. Our democracy depends upon an educated electorate - we don't have one.

* Invest in infrastructure which has a payout, rather than the black hole of welfare.

* Inspire the people with some big challenges i.e. the space program, bullet trains, etc.

* Create a system of universal public service to create "citizens."

We are forgetting our greatness and heading for a much diminished future. It need not happen.

Dean Haagenson is a Hayden Lake resident.