Ask the mineshaft: what’s gone wrong with America? The decay spreads faster than I imagined possible.

Larry Kummer, Editor

14 years ago

Summary: We have reached the point in the “s” curve where the trend — the decay of our political regime — accelerates. When the decay spreads throughout the system. When the cancer metastasizes. The cure does not lie beyond our grasp. But first we must understand where we went off the path. Can you suggest an answer? {Aka ”ask the community”, from the German “Gemeinschaft”. See Wikpedia}

The mortgage settlement by State attorneys general marks a new low for America. A massive criminal conspiracy — the Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems (MERs, see Wikipedia), plus large-scale perjury (“robo-signing” foreclosure papers) and fraud before our courts. All settled with a slap on the wrist to the banks. It teaches large corporations thay they lie beyond the law, a large step beyond the traditional lax enforcement of laws against big businesses.

It’s another step in the decay of our political regime — the second Republic, founded on the Constitution — occurring at an ever-accelerating rate since 2000. The ammendments in the Bill of Rights crack and fall like the withered branches of an elderly oak tree. The election system becomes a farce. Endless warfare without plan or even pretence of benefiting the nation’s interest. You can continue the list in the comments; each citizen can describing the symptoms most obvious from his perspective.

This is like syphilis — a multitude of symptoms which must have a common cause. Continuing the medical analogy, successful treatment first requires accurate diagnosis. So what ails America? Until we have that flash of insight, our efforts at reform will lack coordination and the strength provided by a common vision of the problem.

Whatever the cause, the pursuit of political power has become the game of well-financed special interest groups — mostly serving various factions of our ruling elites. They finance think-tanks to advocate their policies. The news media consists largely of courtiers . Candidates for office represent different factions of our ruling elites, amongst which we get to choose.

Meanwhile the economic base of the middle class melts like last winters snow, a fading dream. Wealth and income concentrates in fewer hands, social mobility slows from its current low levels. These things make reform more difficult with each passing year.

I have written 271 posts about this problem, examining its many dimensions. My guess as to the problem with America: we have lost the will to govern ourselves. Loss of self-confidence? Complacency born of affluence and security? Perhaps we have more interest in money than liberty, so that we have little time for politics.

Unfortunately this diagnosis suggests no obvious cure. New ideas are welcomed! The comment section is open.

About the mortgage settlement deal

Follow the links provided in these articles by David Dayen at FireDogLake (one of the best sources covering this long-running op by the organized crime syndicates called “banks”):