I weep for the future. Well, not really.

America is doomed. We're fucked. It's been sliding downhill for a time now, but I think we're gonna hit "game over" in the next decade or so.
The main problem is that we are so focused on crap. A probe was shot off to Pluto today. Fifty years ago, that would have gotten a lot of attention and captivated the general public. Today, nothing. Instead, the big issues I see online are either the new Bin Laden single (understandable, but it doesn't really have a beat you can dance to) and that Reese Witherspoon wore the same dress as Kirsten Dunst did a few years ago. So? I mean, really, so? No, that's actually all I can say, so? Why's it matter?
We're so focused on the everyday adventures of Brad and Angelina (I can't bring myself to use the popular conflation [or portmanteau, depending on how French you want to be. By the way, portmanteau is not an oddity to Blogger's spellcheck, but fucked is.]) that we neglect focusing on important issues. Escapism has become the focus of our culture. I'll admit, I know a lot about movies, tv, and music. I also like to stay current on events in the world, politics, medicine, etc. About the only thing I don't give a damn about is sports, the world's most ancient form of escapism. However, a majority of people like to focus on their little corner and nothing else. In their spare time, they seek escape. Most people don't give a damn about terrorists as long as they don't attack their little corner. Really, I don't remember any public outcry over the London bombings last July, or over the Spanish train incident in 2004, or the constant violence in the Middle East other than, "Can it happen here?" Nothing along the lines of "How dare they," or "How can we help." No, just our little corner. Sometimes Americans forget that the British, French, Spanish, Palestinians, Ugandans, Chinese, Russians, and Saudi Arabians are people, too. They feel pain, worry about their own safety, have hopes, dreams, motives, and the like. If we prick them, they do bleed. Instead, we're so focused on ourselves that we miss that. That's going to end up costing us.
New Year's Eve, I ended up having a discussion with my father about the Roman Republic/Empire. It's a facet of history I've been fascinated with for a time now. The discussion was more of a lecture, me giving my dad long diatribes about Julius Caesar, the Republic-to-Empire debate, and the endgame. There came a point near the end where the Empire was too big, impossible to properly govern because there were too many issues for one central government to try and manage, and the borders were weak. There came a point where the Empire began buying off some of the barbarian tribes to protect the borders for them from worse hordes (such a nice word, hordes. No evil connotations there, huh?). Eventually, it all broke down, with the hordes who were in charge of those outer regions setting up shop in the areas where the Empire had asked them to protect. The Empire created its own replacement.
Anyway, it was that night that it really clicked for me that America is the new Roman Empire. We've a government that has no real focus other than snipping at the "other side" (if I prick a conservative, will he or she bleed less than a liberal?). We're trying to run the world to protect our interests. Honestly, isn't "freedom" a euphemism for "the way America does things?" We're spreading ourselves thin. Finally, we've been buying off the world for over fifty years now, trying first to keep nations from falling to communism, then just to keep us on their good or neutral side. Looking at this chart from a US report on its foreign aid spending, it's fascinating to see not only how well we've bought off the world, but how it's changed over the years. We've started putting a little more into China, which makes since. We're starting to buy off our replacement, which we kind of helped create, anyway.
See, if people were more interested in the world around them and what happened to get us here, they might notice. So many people are afraid of the US losing its superiority, of what might happen if we lose our dominance in the world. It's happening right now. Day by day, the old US is going downhill. Welcome to the bad days, the all-or-nothing days. There's no choice left. America needs to reinvent itself, find something that we can focus on that will unite the nation, get rid of partisan bickering, create jobs, etc. We need either a real war or a new Moon. The war would have to be against a real army not some puny-ass war against an army who can't hold a candle to us but can kick the snot out of us in some insurgency. [cough]Iraq[cough]. By the way, it's important for people to remember that this country was founded using the exact same tactics the Iraqis are using. Now, look, I don't really want to be in an all-out war. I'm just saying it's one of the few options that are on the plate. War's nasty, brutal, and takes more lives than what it's really worth. As for a new Moon to shoot for, there's Mars. It would take a total revamp of everything to get there, but it might be worth it. We'd have to do it by ourselves, no international effort.
Otherwise, unless there's some massive devastation that ruins China's economy, or we find out that Alaska actually has the largest oil reservoir on the planet, we're screwed. God, don't the future just seem grand?