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And yes, I fully expect this to sound nonsensical and disjointed if not outright ridiculous to most of you. :)
America is the "last remaining superpower" and the nation certainly looks to be dead set on remaking the world in its own image - a corporate state under the false guise of a theocracy under the false guise of a republic under the false guise of a democracy.
The more I learn, the more I wonder... would what most of us consider the worst case scenario perhaps be our only salvation in the long run?
Consider the cold war and the arms race - the concept of MAD provided checks and balances that we now lack. We could sit and blow raspberries at each other, but the willingness of each nation to destroy itself rather than bend to another kept everyone home. Consider the Great Depression - a nightmarish time in history, but from that came ENORMOUS domestic and foreign policy reform. At no point in history did anyone ever really get along with anyone else, but the knowledge that it COULD (and did) happen here kept a modicum of civility or at least as close to civility as our species can get.
But now that balance is gone.
I'm sure this will probably turn up in Freeperland as proof-positive that I'm a terrorist sympathizer, anti-American, or whatever today's dismissive buzzword is. So here's the requisite disclaimer: I'm not saying any other nation is superior, the human animal is the human animal and if any other nation were in our position I'm sure exactly the same thing would be happening. ANY nation's status as the Last Remaining Superpower (tm) would remove the barriers that keep the human animal under control. Nations, tribes, or colonies without adequate opposition have always led to exactly the same thing and that is the direction we are traveling now at a breakneck pace.
I'm really starting to think that the best thing that could happen might be for the world nations to send us a Polaroid of every single REAL weapon of mass destruction pointed directly at our heads with a note that says "We need to talk". Maybe the dollar SHOULD vanish in comparison to the Euro - it would lead to a deadly nightmare for our populace, but removing the wealthy elite's illusion of power may be the route that history needs to take.
We'd love to have another option. We'd love to see control taken back from the power-mad, and have genuinely wise, good, and well-intentioned people direct this stupid and dying race of ours away from its greed and dreams of dominion. But the question is how many genuinely wise, good, and well-intentioned people even exist anymore? More, how many less will exist next year? And the year after that? Consider learning and contemplation, the concepts of love and tolerance, the notion of being at peace with yourself and others - these are crimes now. You can't be locked up for them yet, but these are vices to be purged and steps are constantly being taken to do exactly that. The wise, good, and well-intentioned person is being bred out in favor of blind faith, mindless devotion, hate, and apathy. Soon there will be none left who are in position to direct human events - garbage in, garbage out.
In short, if we are to have a prayer of evolving into something greater than we are - either on a societal or individual level - the external forces that keep our nastier instincts in check must be restored. As the New Roman Empire, this may indeed mean that we must fall in order to level the playing field once again.
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