This country is so majorly fucked up

[JackN415]

9. This country is still prosperous and resilient, although the quality of life is not...

as good as the 50-60's in relative term. But the golden age of America has passed and we live in a different world.

Nevertheless, I agree that the direction we are heading is really uncharted territory and don't know where we will end up.

Remember that once upon a time, America was also a plutocracy with unrestrained capitalism, ruled by those famous robber barons for whom the notion of conspicuous consumption was coined. The great depression and the subsequent Keynesian transformation changed all that.

After WWII, while the world was mired in destruction and laborious rebuilding, the US GDP was half of that of the entire world and the roaring engine of US economy created a true classless society, with a huge middle class that gives rise to the notion of the American Dream.

What happened to the society during 1980-2000 is probably still something that's best left to future historians with many years of hindsight. But we know that the wealth inequality has gone back to the days of robber barons and the American middle class isn't doing as well. There are many perspectives of the cause (technology, productivity, globalization, financial innovation, new capitalism trends...), but the bottom line is, we aren't doing as well as the golden age 45-70 episode, economically.

This leads to change in politics that are disturbing as we are now. This is the first $1B campaign. Why so much money??? No one invests so much money without expecting something in return. Super PAC money distorts and corrupts the election process. It competes with popular money, the contribution people like us make which is voting with our pocket book. This is the beginning of modern corruption of American democracy and that's why many of us are so disheartened.

To me, among the worst thing happened to US democracy is the politicized USSC. I no longer have respect for the Court, as they are now just another partisan political institution. Citizens United decision, to call it free speech is an example of ignoring empirical reality to justify something for political end. Sure, free will, so why can't I use drug? opium? Because we know human behavior is susceptible to such chemicals that can lead to massive social dysfunctional. If the USSC has any honest understanding how we humans are susceptible to massive information and disinformation bombardment (brainwash) that can also lead to dysfunctional society (and evidence are abound, such as the Third Reich, the Khmer rouge young kid killers), they can't make such a ruling on the ground of free speech.

Enough of rant. Let's hope for a better Court in the future, and we can never trust another appointee from a Republican administration.