America is self-destructing -- a rant.

[Cyrano]

Arrogance and ignorance are a dangerous combination. Yet, far too many Americans are arrogant, ignorant and really believe that "Greatest Country in the World," "We're Number One," jingoistic crap.

We may well be within the midst of our own financial destruction. And once any country is ruined in such a way, the road back is long, hard, and sometimes impossible to navigate.

There are many millions of us who believe we don't "deserve" what a handful of lunatics are driving us toward. Yet, in many ways, we are to blame for not having stopped them long ago. And by long ago, I mean the day Ronald Reagan became president.

We accepted whatever he wanted to do. We knew he was an amiable imbecile, but we just went along with his mindless leadership. And from that point on, it was all downhill.

For eight long, miserable years, Bush/Cheney shredded our Constitution. Some got out in the streets and were ignored. Many more did nothing. And doing nothing only encouraged the crazies.

Now, the lunatics are dictating the terms of our existence, and those terms are about to push us into an abyss.

So how did we get here? Let's take a look in the mirror:

Let's all of us blame ourselves for every time we walked into some waiting room and didn't complain when we saw the TV was set to Fox "News."

Let's all of us blame ourselves for continuing to buy newspapers that were feeding us a daily ration of dog dung.

Let's all of us blame ourselves for keeping quiet while the bullies spit on us and our values.

Let's all blame ourselves for fighting with each other rather than with our common enemies.

Let's all blame ourselves for not learning how to get organized.

Let's all blame ourselves for thinking that this crap would just go away.

It's been said that "Life is something that happens while you're making other plans." Well, while the corporate tyrants, the Wall Street scum, and their lap dogs in congress were making their plans, we were living our lives and ignoring the big picture. We were outfoxed, outmaneuvered, and ultimately, fucked.

Of course there were many who saw this happening and have fought the good fight (the ACLU, PFAW, MOVE ON, The Nation Magazine, and so many others). But evidently, it just wasn't enough to make a difference.

I personally believe that, with the exception of our immense arsenal, we're through as a world leader. And I fear how that arsenal may be used as our influence in the world declines.

No matter how this debt limit thing turns out, it will just be a short time before the maniacs are once again at our throats, threatening us with everything there is to threaten us with.

So here are my questions. Is there anything we can do to restore some semblance of sanity to this country? Anything at all? Or will the bad guys win and do -- whatever it is they want to do?

[FirstLight]

1. sorry

...I am afraid the bad guys already won...

all we can do now is try to scrape out our own existence and pray TPTB will keep themselves distracted

i don;t think the road 'back" is possible...we will have to recreate something from the ground up

ut it looks pretty grim, i agree


and yes, we got so beaten down during the bush era, it was easy for this to happen

[Cyrano]

2. Kicked for the weekend DUers

[Odin2005]

3. KICK