America Crashing Down

The 2008 Presidential campaign is a perfect illustration of the societal decline we’re gunning down in our Hummer, foot to the floor, toward a thick redwood of national oblivion. Instead of focusing on the war, the deficit, education, healthcare and energy independence, both major parties are stuffing our ignorant faces with a fast-food orgy of bridges to nowhere, Muslim smears, lipstick on pigs on private jets on eBay, and the endless adventures of Reverend Wright. And a sad majority of voters are eating it up like stumbling, drunk teenagers on a midnight run to Taco Bell.

This election is going to be decided on “issues” suited for “Access Hollywood” and supermarket tabloids, not “Meet the Press” and “The New York Times.” I’m really concerned about the country my children and grandchildren are inheriting from their elders. I wonder how they’ll pay a national debt that’s nearly ten trillion dollars, and I worry about them paying for healthcare in a system spending billions marketing boners while driving margin by denying care.

We have been a “guns and butter” economy for a very long time. World War II got us out of the great depression by putting everyone who could work to work either dying or building weapons to perpetuate it. Since Ike’s warning about the perils of the “military-industrial” complex, it has grown into a near indestructible monster, protected by thousands of defense contractor lobbyists. Like any business, growth is key. Beginning seven years ago tomorrow, the neocon Bush administration scared the shit out of us and lied us into war. Should we expect world peace anytime soon? Not as long as profits depend on killing and countries are lined up to buy F-16’s and Patriot missile systems. As of ten seconds ago, the cost of the war in Iraq is $552,996,911,265 and most of it’s been borrowed from China, Russia and others. Some estimates calculate the tab will hit $1Trillion dollars before it’s over. Many American corporations are reaping huge profits on this death and destruction. I wonder how much they pay in taxes…

There are voices of reason like former candidate Ron Paul, but instead of reporting the sober reality he speaks, the mainstream media dismisses him as “eccentric” and instead satiates us with “Celebrity Fit Club” chased with a bag of Doritos and a 2-liter Mountain Dew. With more and more of our population uninterested in the civics of our republic, what is the incentive for change?

I’d like to be more optimistic, and echo the flowery lies of candidates telling us about how wonderful we, the American people are, but the reality is they ignore the real issues for salacious sensationalism and half truths and we lick it up along with the cheese from our Doritos. One of these days when we pull our collective heads out of the shiny packaging, we’ll see our country that was once great, is no more.