Broken

I remember seeing Dennis Miller on his old HBO show saying, I'm paraphrasing here, that when he was young, he wanted to change the world, and now that he was older, he looked around and just didn't see HOW to go about that.

Maybe every generation says it, but man things aren't looking too good for our heroes lately.

I imagine my parents in 1969, with the world in turmoil, riots in the streets etc.

It must have seemed like it was all falling apart.

I think this time it just might.

I paid 3.20/gallon this morning for gas, the subprime mortgage fiasco is coming home to roost, the war in Iraq, the very possible war with Iran, and really no real way out of any of it.

The world is interconnected now in a way that it wasn't before. Things that happen overseas have ripples here, and vice/versa. How are ya gonna fix that?

Where I live we have one of the most corrupt and inept local governments in New York state. New York state is one of the most corrupt and inept state governments. The federal government is totally self-serving and now gridlocked with the partisan bullshit. And the waste?, un-freakin-real.

Where ya gonna start? Really, how do you begin fixing something this screwed up?

I vote, and I take it seriously. Been doing it for years. Even when I vote for someone who promises some kind of 'plan' for reform, as soon as they're in, they prove themselves to be exactly the same old shit. (read - Elliot Spitzer).

It's not just the politics that scare me. People seem to be getting ruder, more aggressive and on the whole, dumber. (bad combination that) The gulf between the rich and not so much is wider.

We've lost our sense of neighborhood, community and nation.

We're broken, and I suspect we've lost the ability, and certainly the willingness, to work our way to something better, because that kind of change will cost us.

So I guess that's the question. Have we lost the ability to improve our society, or just lost the balls to do the hard things.

m.