All Good Things...
Some day, this too shall end. But will it be next month, or next year, or...?
By TLS
Perhaps the United States time will soon be over.
The people of the United States have probably never been more divided throughout our history than today. Perhaps not even during the Civil War. The far Right, which now essentially means Trump and Trumpers, viewed collectively is a model of prejudiced, bigoted, racist, xenophobic, intolerant of any nonconformity to party-line, pretend to be Christian, whites-only group. Conversely the lunatic left is about as extreme as a socialist fringe can be, one that embraces virtually any and every excessively lavish movement or demographic it can find, even if self-destructing.
These two groups are almost certainly completely incompatible with each other anymore. To make matters worse, these two groups seem to be the ones driving the Republicans and the Democrats. There is little if any room left for discussion or inclusion of the moderate middle.
All good things must come to an end, so the saying goes. Movies and fiction literature set in the future very often allude to the decline (or collapse) of the United States. We may now be in those early days of the beginning of the end.
If so, will humanity and the world learn anything from the decline or collapse of the United States? If humanity lasts long enough perhaps historians may divine some wisdom from our fall. I very much doubt in the short term that many will learn much if anything useful, or acknowledge their participation in the decline.
I believe it will be a sad low point in the story of humanity when the United States is no longer here. The American Experiment provided a glorious glimpse to the world of what could be possible. Perhaps the future can do better. Unfortunately for us, extremism was allowed to take over and that will most likely, ultimately seal our fate as a footnote in history.
The American Experiment isn’t doomed by fate, it’s threatened by us. Extremism, intolerance, and apathy are choices. If you care about the future, don’t stay silent. Speak up, stay engaged, and defend the space in the middle before it disappears completely. The end isn’t inevitable. But it will be, if we let it.
