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I agree with Mr. Stein. America is less in danger from outside "security threats" than from drowning in a syrup of trivialities of its own making. It's all circuses, no bread these days. I grew up during the Vietnam years, when it was inescapably obvious that America was involved in a war (irrespective of the validity of the casus belli). Now, it's Item Five after the blather about celebrities, sports figures and diet tips on what is laughingly referred to as "the news".
The resemblances to end-stage Rome are remarkable, really. What few seem to acknowledge in the rush to bash America and its drunken-sailor approach to foreign policy is that the only thing worse than an interventionist U.S.A. is one that retreats behind the laager of its own fears and obsessions. Roosevelt knew this, of course.
I see no one in the current U.S. leadership or contending leadership able to rise above the corrupt and money-lubricated political system to actually steer the country away from self-immolation.
Be aware that I consider most Americans' use of the terms "liberal" and "conservative" to be parochial in the extreme. The last liberal I liked was Edmund Burke, and the last American conservatives I can recall who merited the name were Eisenhower and Goldwater. Everyone else just loots the public purse bleating a different tune and leaving differently worded apologies.
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