I was searching out fares to go to visit my father in hometownland of middle America with my husband. I thought Thanksgiving would be a neat time for my foreign born spouse, an Americana experience where he could see true family feuds instead of on TV.
I have discovered it would now cost more for the two of us to go there than my car is presently worth at bluebook value. Thanks to the wonderful oil industry and a hurricane, I am now less able than last year to do what I had planned initially, which was have us spend a holiday together before Dad gets senile (hope that never happens of course). I’ve saved more, but my savings are worth less. I can fly us to Tokyo more economically than I can send us to the Heartland. I can’t go, again, this year. When will I be able? should I try? or is the price of it too dear in the long run? Some people would say family is worth any price, but historically my own family has made it evidently clear to me that the rewards are not equivalent to my monetary efforts. I’m still paying on debts that should have been gone long ago.
I just have this chronic feeling of dangerous erosion regarding global life and particularly American life, in general, these days. I’m sure my parents had it previously, and my grandparents as well, I’m sure it’s not unique to my generation. They probably all have felt we were going to hell in a handbasket when women began to work and left kids at home, and customers began to pump their own gas. But after we grow away from our naiive youth, why DOES it always seem as if life’s quality just degrades??
I honestly think we are reverting to the times of the robber barons. Symptoms: They are talking about cutting a number of scarily necessary long-range benefits and labor unions are way out of favor these days. They specialize in beating the system’s checks and balances these days with iron-clad loopholes, and when the loopholes are discovered and bannished, they simply employ specialists to devise new, even more stealthy and conviluted ones, from the ranks of our best and brightest, who go right along with it. Enron was a cavallier tip of the iceberg.
It is almost impossible to be an ethical Abe Lincoln or even a progressive John F. Kennedy type these days (and I’m certainly not sure of his hands’ cleanliness). There is no one who seems to be able to infiltrate the upper ranks of wealth in this country who hold such political sway. Michael Moore makes speculations about it and everyone immediately attacks him for it, calling it “Gonzo journalism.” The man never CLAIMED to be a journalist of any kind. He’s made a MOVIE that SPECULATES and QUESTIONS. When did we decide that was a bad thing in a free country?
They even attacked Linda Ronstadt for calling Michael a “true patriot”. In a move that was chillingly reminiscent of something from the 1930s (whether it be incipient Nazi hatred or Bible-belt bigotry), the Vegas owners literally threw her out of her hotel room. For an act of free speech that had tainted what appears to be the sacred cow of our political dynasty.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, the biggest joke in political manipulation since Pat Paulsen, is actually erroding what little we had here in California as well. I suppose that California is seen as far too wealthy, democratic, unholy and irreverent for its own good. We’re just a bunch of loose cannons. They’ll just have to fix that, those Good Ole Boys.
That’s the homefront. Add to this the general atmosphere of hatred I am now feeling palpably from just about every country on the planet. Let’s review:
1) The entire Middle East seriously wants to kill us and thinks we are evil incarnate.
2) Even Israel is pissed that we made them give back Gaza.
3) Africa wants to extort as much as possible from us whether it’s internet scams or dearly needed supplies to live on.
4) France and Japan could care less what we say or request, they do what they please no matter what it does to the rest of the planet.
5) The rest of Europe thinks we’re a rude dangerous pain in the ass and they think Bush is a two-faced hick.
6) Even our staunch friend England published their disbelief at Bush’s election.
7) Switzerland disapproves. Quietly. 
Russia doesn’t care who they get into bed with as long as they bring in some money, and NOW.
9) China fully intends to do the same while their human rights policies go ignored and the textile deals go through.
10) North Korea is thumbing its nose at everyone on the planet, threatening us with nuclear doom while starving their people with old Stalinist methodry.
11) South America wants money money money, cut it down, we can’t afford to care.
12) The U.N. claims we’re usurping too much power and not adhering to the initial principals it was founded on, twisting them to suit our own ends.
(We retort that Kofi Annan’s son has been buying big luxury automobiles with money meant for U.N. spending. Nyaaaah!!!!)
In short, my country, which was once a fresh faced rocking-out pre-teenager of youthful zeal and reform, has become a dangerous nihilistic narcissistic spoiled brat. I’m really sick of its behaviour and I’m damn worried that it will rise up and get me killed through its heinous disregard for the rest of the lives on this planet.
What kind of reform school do you send whole countries to? Military school? ehhh no.
Is this just a stage? Maybe.
For this we have to look at history again. All the great countries have gone through their high-horse periods, and all of them were brought down a peg by something. Or many pegs.
Our proposed futures based on historic frameworks:
1) Ancient Greece, a very sad story we can only hope does not recur. In today’s military arena, not as likely.
2) Ancient Rome, well maybe this IS us. Makes me nervous to think about that. Demise by self-contamination and overexpansion.
3) Ancient China, it’s possible. Just stop growing, stay out here doing whatever we please, making our own stuff, putting up better walls. We could do that. But I think we like our cars (oil again) and communications too much to end up that way. We also like our fame too much.
4) Spain, 1400s. They just spent themselves silly out of money and ships by going to faraway new places, and then England polished off their Armada. Quite possible.
5) England, 1900s. They ended up being supplanted by larger others, like us, after a prolonged and depleting double-war period. And they pissed off their colonies. (China’s damn big, innit?, hmm) (Do you think Hawaii could secede? How about “Kalifornia”, Mr. Terminator?)
6) Russia, 1900. Political overthrow and dynastic wipe-out. Interesting, but it will take a long while before our people are starving so badly that they’ll revolt. The 1960s hippies just couldn’t do revolution right, they were all too high.
7) Japan 1940s, a humiliatingly fitting end to unchecked macho dominance. We might well deserve the same. Can you imagine us forbidden to have an army, all citizens without firearms, and all our national police carrying just nightsticks? I kind of like that idea. But our social structure just doesn’t know the meaning of the word humble. We’d die first. Nor would the planet be any better off with a decimated New York or D.C. Germany, 1940s. Demise by ignorance and lessez-faire of citizens toward a single-minded and deadly regime. A lot like Rome in terms of results.
9) France, 1700s, see Russia, 1900.
10) Norse Vikings, 1400s. Here’s an interesting one: No one is quite certain, but they suspect it is probably MORE THAN ONE of the following factors (and multiple is the key) :
a) Insurgency by neighboring cultures (I doubt Mexico or Canada is much of threat, but the world is smaller now by far and vulnerabilities are in bank accounts, chemical or medical warfare, any number of other breaches in security besides the obvious and uncreative suicide-bomb choice)
b) Self-imposed environmental degradation (preferring to raise cattle or tear up forest woods or deplete water supplies, etc.)
c) Social stubborness ( preferring to maintain diets that are no longer feasible or appropriate for health). We could be maintaining sustainable crops for all, but we like what we like. Add in death by tobacco or obesity or carcinogenic chemical production.
d) Loss of trade with neighbors — Oil embargos anyone? They’re buying fruit from CHINA?
e) Climatic change (acute or chronic) — Such as hurricanes, tsunamis, global warming.
So take your pick of futures…. I suspect we most resemble the Vikings in Greenland, with a multithreat situation.
Unless we can get this kid of a country to clean its room, metaphorically. Suggestions from Nanny 911 welcome.
And if the age shifts and things get a lot colder, I guess we’ll just have to worry what’s in our wallet. I’m already there.
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Honestly I thought we were more the U.S. of the Wizard Of Id, but I can’t resist the Viking multi-frontal demise either.
Me, I see this: Three more years to try to make that Armageddon happen so that book can be literally true. If you are offered the KoolAid, wait to see what happens when others drink it.
After that, we would have to see what happens.
My nanny advice, and this is serious: We need to kill the TV entirely. This works on the giant child as well as the regular sized package.