Analogy... {sigh}

I'm really not a fan of analogy, but F. Ryan's is appropriate, if nothing else.

Boiling the frog does seem to fit the description of the state of our nation.  Were we plunged into "hot" water (i.e. dropped into a political situation where communism ruled all aspects of our lives), we'd all no doubt "jump out" of the pot.  This isn't that sort of revolution, though... it is a slow, methodical shift in the national paradigm away from self-reliance and toward a complete dependency on the government.

Two points:

1)  Ryan really didn't answer my question.  I'm mainly concerned that the War on Terror is not only NOT being won, it is actually costing the US far more in damages over the long run than it is gaining us in short term safety.  There is an attrition factor here that isn't being taken into account, and I'm not talking about pure manpower numbers... I'm talking about the "numbness" that comes from a prolonged national effort.  We live the "normal life"... the modern "dolce vita" that is sapping our ability to adapt as a society in the face of change, hardship or disaster... while more and more of our individual rights, freedoms and liberties are removed to provide more dolce vita.  In the meanwhile, our efforts to "win" the War on Terror are actually contributing to its protraction... perhaps even giving our enemies exactly what they wanted in the first place: a divided America unable or unwilling to do what is necessary to win the effort long-term.

2)  I'm not as pessimistic as Ryan seems to be about the future options that America has in this regard.  Sure, things look grim now, and probably will get worse in the near future before they ever get better... but that, too, is normal.

I really do think that, unless some outside factor intervenes in the national scene (i.e. another massive terrorist attack as big or bigger than 9-11) the US (and by extension, the world) will see an socio-economic "reset" point.  Another great depression seems the most likely scenario.  So much wealth is tied to utterly insubstantial matters that it really won't take a huge leap of imagination to see another crash of the sort we saw in 1929.  Only the most basic and necessary of governmental services will be provided, and the average Joe on the street will simply have to learn to "make do" with what he has or can do himself.

I don't want this to happen, obviously.  I like living the dolce vita, myself.  I simply know to the bottom of my soul that it can't continue in an unsupportable environment.  Something must provide the means to live that life, and I fear we simply don't have those means anymore.