America's Swan Song

Today was supposed to be the end of the world – the Rapture – as Christian minister Harold Camping predicted; and thousands of his followers, around the world, from Manila to New York took it to heart. Based on esoteric, inscrutable calculations from the Old Testament, the 6 PM moment of apocalypse has already passed in the Far East without incident. Whether or not this was done simply to promote Camping’s multi-million dollar non-profit ministry or was based on genuine sentiment is anybody’s guess. Nevertheless, the run-up to this non-event caused some to sell their possessions and others to lose sleep. Camping is said to have predicted the end of the word before (in the ‘90’s).

This puts me into an awkward position, having predicted the end of our political world somewhere within the timeframe between now and the 2012 election. There are those who would say it’s already happened with the election of Barack Hussein Obama; that everything that now follows is irreversible with more shoes yet to drop. I’m not yet quite so pessimistic. I still believe that we have time to halt our slide into total irrelevance and chaos, provided enough people wake up to the threat.

Nevertheless, it puts me in with the doomsday prophets who will be proven either wrong or right as November 2012 approaches.

I do not like to be in this position. It is not something I do for profit or undue attention. It simply reflects my view that there are now those who have managed to gain the upper hand in steering our nation toward a vision that is dangerous and destructive overall.

There’s certainly not much sign of it yet – not in my corner of the country, at any rate; where not too many houses are sporting ‘For Sale’ signs, nor are businesses shuttered; and price spikes at gas stations and in the grocery stores appear to have had a minimal effect on a population still relatively well-off. It is at the hardware store and in the barbershops that one begins to hear some grumblings; but our town’s high-end restaurants are still relatively well attended; especially now, with spring in full swing and tables having been set outside. On closer examination, however, one finds that many of the published prices on menus have been pasted over and changed in free-hand.

On TV too, the endless talk about the likes of Schwarzenegger and Strauss-Kahn goes on uninterrupted - next week somebody else will occupy the hot seat – as if no one had a concern in the world. Only politicos warn that if their candidate is not fully supported the world as we know it will shatter. It’s all dismissed as idle talk that some of the more eager armchair warriors among us are wont to engage in.

Yet, I cannot shake the feeling that something far more significant than mere appearance is at stake. In fact, things may be even worse than we are led to believe. My timetable ensues out of the election cycle which many have come to view as America’s salvation.

I see it somewhat differently. The election cycle is likely to speed things up even more. As I watch the so-called opposition trying to position itself in embarrassingly clumsy fits and starts, I take it as a sign that America is yet unaware of the dangers it faces. While said dangers have become obvious to me, I see no evidence of the urgency that would normally be evident in a nation under siege. In fact, I see us becoming quite comfortable with the possibility of Obama winning a second term. Neither do I see the opposition mounting a credible counter-attack.

My greatest fear is that the worst that could happen has already happened, and that the rest is merely a coda to America’s swan song.

http://pkoelliker.blogspot.com/