The Decline of America

It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that our country, the USA, is in a decline that will be major. I also suspect that this is beginning to enter the awareness of more and more Americans. Our war against Iraq goes on and on, with no end in sight. Home prices decline, and many home owners are facing foreclosure. Despite the reported growth of our economy, as measured by economists, middle class incomes are stagnant, and the poor increase. Millions lack health care, our schools lag many other industrial nations, we fail to take a leadership position on global warming and environmental protection.

Many politicians, especially Republicans, will treat this as a temporary situation, that can be reversed with some relatively minor adjustments on our part. Obama may be criticized for saying that persons are "bitter", but at least he has focused on the truth. Jobs in many areas and industries are gone, and the hope of their return is just that..only a hope, a dream. But our political system and political class are conservative to a large degree, and real change is hard to come by.

The truth of this decline will be a bitter pill for most of us to swallow. At first, most of those who suffer the least, those at the top, will be most in denial, unwilling to sacrifice their material styles of living, as they do not share the suffering of those below. Most of the pain for a while will be felt in the middle and at the bottom, just as the pain of the war is felt by only a small portion of Americans. But as the decline continues, the awareness will spread, from the bottom up. Sounds like the basis for a revolution.