I had this quote in  a thread in the team forum, but thought I'd post it here as well since it seems to apply to the current state of our nation.  It is from a guy who lived in the 1700s (a historian I believe).

"The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years.  These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacenecy to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from depedency back to bondage."

Mind you that this was written before the revolutionary war.

Our dependency on other nations for oil is rapidly becoming our bondage.  We have sold our soul in the name of consumerism, and now we are beginning to reap the consequences.  

I don't know whether to say we are on the apathy or dependency stage

Quoted: Our dependency on other nations for oil is rapidly becoming our bondage.  We have sold our soul in the name of consumerism, and now we are beginning to reap the consequences.

We don't need other countries' oil to fuel our industry or consumerism, we have chosen to do that ourselves.....and plenty of American businessmen and opportunists have made their fortune putting us precisely where we are.

Do you think we don't have the smarts to figure out independant energy and fuel?

We're wallowing in our own feces.

Quoted: I don't know whether to say we are on the apathy or dependency stage

Look at New Orleans.

Definately dependancy.

The Aztecs empire dominated central Mexico from the 1200s to 1521.  They probably would have continued to do so for quite awhile if it hadn't been for Cortes...

I wonder what the founding documents would say if they were written today.  Those guys would be very disapointed to see whgat we have made from the original recipe.

Quoted: Quoted: I wonder what the founding documents would say if they were written today.  Those guys would be very disapointed to see whgat we have made from the original recipe. they would, to a man, be absolutely shocked we lasted this long.

Uh, the government didn't last in it's original form from 1787 to present.  The second war of secession effectively ended the concept of Federalism that the constitution was predicated on.

Considering the trend of offshoring of key professional occupations, I'd say we're hastily on the way to becoming a dependant nation.  Kind of hard to be the "best" after you've sucked the life out of those professions which enable the nation to compete & maintain itself independantly.

IMO, this country is far too management-centric.  Not possible to "manage" products, ideas, & solutions into existence.  Someone's actually got to be able create, maintain, & fix things.  Management can't do it.