Supermarket Checkout

As I read the news of all that's happening within the U.S. these days, I worry about the future and wonder if there is any hope. Are we doomed to fall? Is the average American really as stupid as it seems like they are?

When I think it through, my most honest answer is yes-- on both accounts.

Yes, it is possible that the United States of America could fall, much like great civilizations of the past. I've always believed that the rise and fall of nations is a natural occurrence. America is still powerful, but let's face it; we're losing our grip. It's much like aging, we can't reverse the process completely but we can slow it down if we recognize that it's happening. (The same can be said for not only the state of our bodies and our respective nations, but for the planet itself.)

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LATE LAST WEEK~

Standing in the supermarket line, with coupons in hand, I hear two American women in their forties talking. They're flipping through a junk-foodesque, tabloid magazine. Though brief, what they have to say is frightening:

One woman says to the other, "So and so told me I should vote for McCain because he's a Democrat." Then, she hesitates..."No, not a Democrat, he's a...a...what's the other one? I forget."

The other woman (only half listening) shrugs, "Hmm...I don't know. I heard his 17-year-old daughter is pregnant!"

Every fiber in my being wants to shout to them: Republican. It's Republican, you nitwits!!!! Elizabeth Cady Stanton turns over in her grave as my thoughts carry on: "And it's Sarah Palin's daughter that's pregnant not McCain's! Do you know anything? Anything at all?

These are grown American woman with a right to vote in this country. The most dimwitted of the population are always the ones that reproduce the most so I know they're not the only ones: There many more dumb Americans out there and it's starting to feel like they outnumber the rest of us. It's because of people like this that many of us have a rather dim vision of the nation's immediate future.

Perhaps, it's time to fly the American flag at half-staff in mourning for itself.

Photo by BehindtheLenz/flickr
Copyright © 2008 KLiedle