Americans are Out of Their Depth

There are many ways of thinking about the American Problem - but for me, this is the easiest way to think about it.

There is no sense asking Americans themselves, to solve their problem - because they do not know that it exists. The have a vague feeling that something is wrong - but they do not want to know what that is.

However, I should say I am referring to most Americans - there is a minority, that is fully aware of the Problem, and has plenty to say about it.

The roots of the Problem, go back to early in the 19th Century. when Industrialization changed America - for the better (it made it rich) and for the worse (it created huge inequalities). This resulted in a series of Industrial wars - the Civil War, WWI, the Depression, and WWII - where the destructiveness was unprecedented. But where the American economy, ended up bigger than ever. 

This is where I like to record what my hometown of Ft. Madison, Iowa was like in the Fifties. It was an Industrial boom town - with the Santa Fe Railroad on the West End of town, and the Sheaffer Pen Company on the East End. It had plenty of jobs. It is now part of the Rust Belt, and has no jobs.

Why was this? It was because America did not take care of itself, and its people. It was the richest, and most powerful nation in history - and it could have decided to stay that way.But it did not. 

What was going on in the minds of Americans? I was there, as a High School student, and I can remember, that we did not realize what was going on. We were enjoying the good times, and thought they would last forever. It did not enter our heads, that we should do something to keep them. The best thing we could do, we thought - was do nothing!

Americans did what many other people have done - when faced with a crisis that threatened their existence - they did nothing! Large groups of people acquire a mind of their own - that cannot cope with problems like this. And, as a result - they vanish!

Large parts of America have vanished - and the parts that remain are threatened.