SELFISH AND SCARED IN AMERICA

I keep trying to sort out why our fortunate and prosperous nation has begun running down a path of ugliness and stupidity. I think the current state of the union is a tapestry woven from both history and lack of foresight.

Elements:

• The inability of too many of us to overcome deeply innate or family taught feelings of dislike and distrust for those who are different from us. Ever since the Civil War this country has tried to convince its citizens to rise above these feelings, to behave as better human beings. Until recently. All out distrust and disdain is now becoming national policy.

• Teaching recent generations that they are very, very special individuals who are entitled to a big house, a new car, an interesting job, and lots and lots of toys. These consumerist generations seem baffled and resentful when their storybook possibilities fade with life's realities.
• Technology has burgeoned into our society simultaneously as a pacifier and as an eliminator. Nearly all people have access to every kind of knowledge, data, communication, and entertainment in the palms of their hands. Ominously, this same technology is steadily diminishing the need for skilled, thoughtful, and hardworking employees in businesses looking to achieve high productivity and financial targets. 

• The biggest goal of "think tanks" in our country needs to be to define new occupations that can be developed to sustain a middle class. The shrinking of the middle class is a national crisis which is making people scared and angry.
• America's education systems have not evolved. The frameworks and goals for primary and secondary education must be reworked for the twenty first century. Regional task forces need to study and redefine what the local young people need in order to succeed as adults in each region. This should be seen as a top priority infrastructure project.

So what do we currently have here? A scared, shrinking middle class, with a younger generation raised on false expectations. We have instant global media which may or may not be telling us the truth as it stirs up our emotions and desires.

Those bent on "deconstruction" and "freedom from government regulations" have recently gained the edge in the federal power structure. It appears that to them, freedom means being excused from any obligation to help and protect fellow citizens.

We need somehow as a nation to take a hard look in the mirror, and see that in our fear and self-absorption we've placed the keys to our fates into the hands of a very unpredictable driver and his unethical and unrepentant pals.

This current situation is stunning, and it's frightening to think of what it might take to bring us as a nation to our senses.