Simulacrum Truth

I have come to think that one of the main causes
of trouble in the world is dogmatic and fanatical belief
in some doctrine for which there is no adequate evidence.
Nationalism, Fascism,Communism, and now anti-Communism
have all produced their crop of bigoted zealots ready to work
untold horror in the interest of some narrow creed
--Bertrand Russell

Do not look where you fell,
but where you slipped
--African proverb

Don't piss down my back
and tell me it's raining.
--The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
______________

Where we slipped was several years ago. The U.S. is fast becoming superannuated on the world stage; in fact, it may no longer be a determinative player. Thomas Friedman asked in a recent column about any of the presidential candidates, "Who Will Tell the People?" --

"Who will tell the people? We are not who we think we are. We are living on borrowed time and borrowed dimes."

We are consumed by partisan politics, which hides reality behind pretty or petty lies and half-truths. This bi-partisan propaganda has co-opted truth, presenting the pretense of truth.

Following are some reasons for the farewell to hegemony, qua Ranger:

• The U.S. military illegally invades tin shitpot countries and overthrows their regimes, but can't consolidate the situation favorably. A military that can't function properly as school crossing guards isn't much of a deterrent to Communist China.

• The U.S. cannot even broker a micro deal between Israel and Hamas. How can we hope to enforce democracy and stability to the larger Middle East?

• The EU, OPEC, China, Russia, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea and NATO would all do very nicely thanks if the U.S. disappeared from the face of the earth. The world no longer desires nor accepts U.S. leadership.

• The product of America is fear and a perpetual Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) deemed a "long war." Meanwhile, the rest of the world is focused on growth, while the centerpiece of our national life is the self-destructive endeavor of a free-floating war.

• U.S policy is focused on terrorism, while the nation's infrastucture and economy is going to hell in a handbasket. We focus on a presidential election with three irrelevant contenders, as though there is magic in the air. Regardless of the outcome, the key issues to our national prosperity and existence go unaddressed, an ominous sign.

• Americans have no idea what we are as a people or a nation. We have lost our lodestar, and neither GPS nor OnStar will alleviate our aimlessness, brought on by lies and exacerbated by apathy and malaise. The words of our leaders and the laws of Congress are confused, misleading and unrealistic.

• We have subverted and commingled Christianity and democracy to the point that neither are recognizable. Congress is like the leadership of a megachurch following the big bucks. Thank you, George Bush.

• The education system is in shambles, and lots of children are being left behind. But they are the ones who don't matter, of course.
  

• Our morality is no longer sacrosanct. The U.S. possesses 65,000 nuclear warheads, yet we are willing to go to war to prevent Iran from having any nukes at all? Perhaps the U.S. should just give them one, thereby fulfilling our greatest fear, and then bomb them. That would be a slam dunk.

• The U.S. economy is presently controlled by external events that are beyond the manipulation of President Bush and Congress.

Nation-building begins at home.