America....

[Arugula Latte]

12. The tragedy of the USA is that it could have been so great.

Instead, it squandered all its advantages, turning away from funding education, healthcare, science, infrastructure, public transportation and social programs in favor of the military, the military-industrial complex and the wealthiest of the wealthy. We've chosen to undertake worthless invasion wars that have slaughtered tens of thousands of innocents. Also, the gun nuts and the capital punishers and the pay-no-taxes idiots have further done it in. So, all the conditions that gave this country a shot at being the best in the world have been hamstrung and destroyed.

The result? Dropping life expectancies, high infant mortality, crumbling schools and poor student performances, widespread illiteracy, people dying from lack of healthcare, unbelievable obesity rates, biggest prison population on Earth, people unable to afford college or saddled with huge debt for life, massive loss of life by gunfire, bridges falling into rivers, libraries closing, a gap between rich and the (dying) middle class wider than the Grand Canyon, and on and on ...

We coulda been a contenda. We coulda been somebody instead of a failing, violent, sick country in decline.