...while I go find a tree from which I can hang myself, since there's obviously no hope.

The United States has always been a conglomeration of different competing cultures and virtual countries.  We joke about California actually being two different states, except that it's not a joke.  Ethnic neighborhoods in New York and Chicago sometimes harbor long-standing animosities, and we still see a strong cultural and ideological division between the north and the south.

It is an evolutionary step in human culture that even these divisions are fracturing into smaller and smaller pieces.   But evolution sometimes takes wrong turns, and America may be on the path of one of those evolutionary dead ends.  As we lose what little cohesiveness we had as an American community, and as the corporations take more and more control over our lives, and as we wallow in our feelings of helplessness, other stronger cultures and societies will usurp our current economic and political power.  The strong will dominate the weak, and America will be transformed into something that bears little if any resemblance to what it was a mere thirty -- or even ten -- years ago.

In fact, there is no "America" anymore.  There are no American principles that unite us other than some nostalgia about the Declaration of Independence, the meaning of which has long been lost to political squabbling.  All that's left of America is a geographical market.  As we continue to squabble, we will continue surrender the power of our unity to the handful of the rich who actually do have the power to implement their will.

The reign of the CEOs has begun, and we are their pawns.  It will be interesting to see if Europe's apparent, if slowly growing, unity can boost them to superpower status before our demise leaves an open field for the Chinese.

by EveningStarNM on 02/10/2010 02:07:03 PM EST