We Lost A Long Time Ago

I am no longer sure who "we" are, either. Few seem to care about this country. As long as they have their smart phones and game boxes, as long as there is Twitter and other distractions, whatever happens to the country is unimportant.

I am reading a book; a novel in two parts by Stephen King called Under The Dome  and I am seeing any number of parallels between the story and the reality around me. There are many differences also. And do not think the TV series follows the book, it doesn't. Some of the differences are unimportant, some might be improvements over the novel, and a number are simply the result of the influence of television. The town of Chester's Mill is a microcosm of the country but you have to have a broader perspective, you have to ignore some things and maybe even see some things not as they are portrayed but maybe as something quite the opposite.

I think we lost the country around the 70's. Maybe around the time Nixon was in office. I can't be sure. Countries do not collapse overnight. There is a trite adage that goes "Rome wasn't built in a day." Well, it didn't fall in one either. It took many decades, centuries, to collapse into unimportance. This is the modern era, however, and things move a bit more rapidly.

We are moving inexorably toward the Decline and Fall of America. Fewer and fewer seem willing to stand up and be counted.

I am sad.