If the U.S. isn’t yet a third world nation, it’s not because we’re not trying. As if the Congressional Black Caucus isn’t bad enough, there is an even larger group calling itself the Congressional Progressive Caucus. It has even more members, including the entire Black Caucus. Its co-chairmen are Keith Ellison, who chose to be sworn into office with his hand on the Koran, and Raul Grijalva, whose resume includes having been a leader of both the racist Raza Unida Party and the Chicano Liberation Committee.

As if that’s not bad enough, the Vice-Chair is Sheila Jackson Lee, the Whip is Barbara Lee, and Bernie Sanders, the only left-winger honest enough to identify himself as a Socialist, is the lone Senate member. This group is so far to the Left, that even Henry Waxman, one of a minority of House Democrats who actually voted to continue funding ACORN even after those scandalous videos were made public by the late Andrew Breitbart, isn’t a member.

When Allen West announced there were over 80 members of Congress who were communists, he was pilloried. That is often the price for telling the truth in America.

When you see scores of these dimwits being elected to high office, you have reason to worry about this nation’s future. Although I don’t know exactly how they measure such things, the National Journal determined that the most liberal members of the Senate were Rich Blumenthal (Connecticut), Tom Udall (New Mexico), Dick Durbin (Illinois), Al Franken (Minnesota), Patty Murray (Washington) and Frank Lautenberg (New Jersey). Is it any wonder that the South is thriving?

Meanwhile, Detroit, which has been overseen by Democrats for decades, and has, as a result, become a mirror image of Bangladesh, has had Kevyn Orr appointed its new financial manager by Republican Governor Rick Snyder. It should come as no surprise that Mr. Orr has had tax liens on his million dollar home in Maryland since 2010, and that he claimed to know nothing about it until he recently read about it in the newspaper.

What’s more, the embarrassing information apparently didn’t show up in the vetting by Governor Snyder. Inasmuch as part of Orr’s job will be to improve Detroit’s tax-collecting operations, perhaps Snyder was guided by the principle of it takes a thief, just as Barack Obama was when he appointed tax-delinquent Tim Geithner to be his Secretary of the Treasury.

Recently, I heard about a six month study of disability claims. It was simultaneously fascinating and unnerving to learn that there are 14 million Americans collecting federal disability checks, averaging $1,000-a-month. In addition, they receive free health care. What’s more, their numbers aren’t included when we hear about those unemployment rates. When you add 14 million to the millions who are working part-time jobs or have simply decided to stop seeking employment, you can see how quickly 7.7% can rise to 15 or 16%, and how happy Obama must be that none of these people ever seem to appear on the same list.

At the same time that the administration boasts of 150,000 new jobs every month, there are 250,000 new people being added to the disability rolls during that period.

One odd fact that the study turned up is that the numbers have soared in the time since it became illegal for employers to discriminate against handicapped workers. How is that possible? Well, it seems that you only need two things in order to collect. The first is an accommodating doctor who will claim you can’t hold down a job. And, as we all know, judging by how many doctors provided young men disinclined to serve in Vietnam with medical excuses, and how many doctors are willing to sign phony prescriptions for medical marijuana, that’s hardly a Herculean task.

The second thing you need, or may need if your application is turned down by the feds, is a lawyer who will file an appeal for you. You don’t even have to pay him. He collects his cut once he wins the appeal, and that happens more frequently than not. It almost seems as if the system is set up to benefit the lawyers, but, then, what isn’t?

All things considered, it’s not so surprising in this society with 47 million people accepting food stamps that 14 million are collecting disability checks. In fact, I’m rather surprised the number isn’t higher. But fear not. At the rate we’re going, the number will hit 20 million by the summer of 2015.

Finally, the Florida Board of Education passed a race-based program that calls for certain goals to be reached by 2018. Under the plan, 90% of Asian students, 88% of white students, 81% of Hispanics and 74% of blacks, are expected to read at or above the reading grade levels in future tests.

According to a Florida Department of Education spokeswoman, “Of course we want every student to be successful, but we have to take into account their starting point.”

Which raises the question: What starting point? These kids all start out in kindergarten. The black children actually start out in something called Operation Head Start, where they apparently are taught to chant “Mmm mmm mmm, Barack Obama,” but not much else.

So here we are, half a century after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, and we continue to expect the minimum of black kids. But still their parents continue to vote for Democrats. I guess the plantation isn’t as bad as they’ve made it out to be.

The chains the slave traders put on these people’s ancestors were vile. The chains they insist on placing on themselves and their kids are far worse.

Author’s Note: Although I’m still seeking sponsors, my online radio show is on the air, every Wednesday, at 1 p.m. That’s L.A. time. Access www.latalkradio.com, channel 1, and click on Listen Live. You can also download to your iPhone or Android apps. The call-in number is (323)203-0815. I’d like to hear your questions and comments, pro or con. Especially pro.