Past the tipping point

"Past the point of no return
the final threshold,
the bridge is crossed, so stand and watch it burn . . ."
--Phantom of the Opera

It's increasingly clear we're on the downhill run as a nation. Socially, we're losing cohesiveness, as a historic flood of immigration overwhelms any opportunity to assimilate newcomers into the fabric that made us what we were. Economically our banking and investment structures, abused both by the unscrupulous and the naive, are failing and falling under the sway of others. Politically, there appears to be no going back to the idea of a limited, non-interventionist government. We wage aggressive war abroad, refuse to secure our borders, then demand citizens give up every shred of privacy in the name of security. We have a government that is convenient rather than transparent, and a citizenry more concerned with J Lo than John Locke.

Those who've served the conservative role--"standing astride history, yelling 'stop!'"--have done what they could. But when few will listen, it serves no purpose simply to yell louder. Those who refuse to learn from history by study will learn from it by experience. If the social contract is broken, it's imperative the wise look to the preservation of their own house.