... We're the optimist who jumped off a building, and every floor down, yelled, "So far, so good!" Things just keep getting worse, and we just keep acting like we're lucky to have the scraps we've got. When did we all get so helpless? ...
Have you noticed this in other industries? I have. Every day in my business, I watch Ford and General Motors zip by my window. We see it in government too, as we watch the debacle in Iraq go from bad to worse, as we watched them drop the ball in New Orleans. Know what? The people of Ancient Greece saw the same things. So did the people of Ancient Rome, of the Ottoman Empire, of the Supreme Soviet. They would recognize present day America immediately as an empire in decline.
Empires have the curious affliction of being succeptible to stagnation. It's because Empire is an endgame. Once Empire is achieved, the impetus to innovate and explore is gone. It's evident in our infrastructure, in our political discourse, and in our lives.
Look at our infrastructure, our bridges, roads, and services. How many of you have said, 'they can't run a railroad like they used to' or something to that effect? How many have said, 'they don't make things like they used to'? These aren't just things people bitch about. They are indicators of an empire reaching its zenith and is now on the path to decline.
I remember growing up in the 60s. My parents spoke with optimism about the future, a time when the 'American Dream' could still be achieved. They were successful and assumed I would do even better. I have been successful, but that optimism for the future is gone.
Our manufacturing jobs have gone away, to people who's 'imperial star' is rising. The Indians, the Chinese, they are two of the societies who will surpass us in the next 20 - 50 years because they are on the other side. They aren't comfortable and still see the brass ring ahead instead of behind.
I remember how proud I was of my dad when he won the contract from Grumman to do testing on the Lunar Module parts before it was assembled. When Neil Armstrong took his first step onto the Moon, a part of our family went with him and the sky was the limit. It was the era of the "by the year 2000".
Remember when everybody would say 'by the year 2000' we'd have a man on Mars? Or 'by the year 2000' we will have cured cancer, or we'd fly around in our personal aircraft, or we would end pollution? The sky was the limit in 1969 and almost 40 years later, we haven't moved much farther forward.
Ironically, the 'year 2000' will be a marker as the beginning of the end of the American Empire. We have lost our abilty to remain an Empire. We are in hock up to our eyeballs, stuck in a quagmire of an imperial war for resources, and have no reason to look to the future in a hopeful manner. This nation is ruled by a handful of oligarchs who just want to grab their share before they expire or this whole thing crumbles around them.
The long-term future is not a concern anymore. The future is only as far out as the next quarterly report. Ask any CEO if he has a plan for his corporation 50 years out. He'll look at you with a blank stare. Ask him if he has any responsibility to anyone or anything except the shareholders and he'll laugh at you. And our political leaders are of the same mind. We're running the Iraq occupation with a six-month future, praying our feeble attempts will make a difference in six months. No one looks farther ahead because there's no point. The bottom could fall out by then.
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