This is a sad time to be alive.

[goldengreek]

I was born in 1965, so I remember what this country was like before Jim Crow got unofficially/officially brought out of mothballs in the 2000 election.

We put a man on the moon in 1969 -- a year ahead of schedule. It's easier for us to put a man on Mars today than it was for us to pull that off then, but we were that amazing.

We built the interstate highway system.

We -- using generous portions of tax dollars and collective labor -- laid the foundation of the computer industry and the internet.

We were unleashed culturally and ethically. LBJ got run out on a rail because, despite his liberal domestic policy, he lied to the American people over Vietnam.

We were a colossal creditor nation.

In the 70's, we finally put the CIA and FBI on something resembling a leash after years of treason and subversion of our Constitution. It wasn't much of a response, but it was something.

The economy exploded. Our industrial infrastructure expanded dramatically. We were on our way to a real age of marvels.

Then the chickenshits took over, starting, not with Reagan, but Jimmy Carter and his deregulation of the airline industry. He made common cause with feudal warlords in Afghanistan. Yeah, his activity lured the Soviets into a bear trap just as he'd hoped, but it unleashed hell on earth.

Now I watch in horror as American "elites," like the Romans "elites" they emulate so well, decide that an economy based on debt peonage is the best one, and that a slow stangulation of our society is preferable to energetic democracy and the blessings that flow from such a society.

We lose a rickety old shuttle because we were too fucking cheap to give it a decent fuel tank.

(And we did know this was a serious problem long before we sent the Columbia up.)

We live and breath on debt, without which our economy would crater.

We build very little for ourselves anymore.

Republicans -- politicians and constituents alike -- look you in the eye and tell you bald-faced lies about Iraq, demonstrating a supreme lack of moral fiber. Even as I write this, in reaction to the fallout from the tsunami, they lie to themselves about the nature and even quantity of American foreign aid. Pathetic.

The fruits of these policies are the same for us as they were for the Romans. Notice that virtually all the scientists, philosophers, artists, and even Church Fathers and Doctors of the Church in the Roman Empire were Greek. Not a coincidence. The Romans just decided they had that je ne sais quois that let them rule better than anyone, and let the Greeks take care of the "little" stuff. By the time all was said and done Rome was sacked by the barbarians and the empire was ruled from Constantinople.

A Greek city.

So it is today. Europe builds the tallest bridge. Europe graduates more PhD.'s in science and engineering. Europe has the larger (by far) industrial sector. And it's also more advanced, as evidenced by the fact that seven EU countries have a larger worker productivity per hour than the United States. Europe builds the fusion reactor. Europe builds the biggest particle accelerator. Europe sends Boeing packing. European rockets launch the majority of private satellites.

(sigh.)

The one consolation I have is that history will keep moving forward -- we Americans will just be watching this from the sidelines. Oh well. It was our fault. The Chinese didn't knock us onto our backs and throw our legs up in the air. The Europeans didn't make us education-phobic. We did all that ourselves.

No wonder President Chirac laughs at us.

[theboss]

1. Wait a cotton-pickin' minute

"The economy exploded. Our industrial infrastructure expanded dramatically. We were on our way to a real age of marvels."

Are you talking about the 1970s? Because....what?

[salin]

2. I have often thought that we are living in a significant

point of history... one that in the future when "eras" (spanning decades) are termed, studied and reviewed - will be considered not too kindly. And when struckh with that thought a second one follows - how difficult it is to live something that you know is transitional and important but moves so very slowly... as we are living in but a minute of a longer spanning historical period and series of events.

And no, I don't think America nor Americans will be as vibrant and vital as it was when it entered the era.

[dogindia]

3. HUMMERS. Complex time in human development

Man wants safety and comfort. Fun, entertainment. And knowedge as well.

Problem is technology and consumerism has brought the social awareness out of touch with nature, ecology and food production.

No new model of balance has emerged.

Bush is symptom not a generator. The questions are large and difficult.