General Discussion

This country has been through a lot--including a brutal civil war--and it has not been destroyed yet.

A lot of what is happening to us now is more human nature than evil genius. We can see the same use and abuse of natural divisions in society to amass wealth and power throughout human history.

In my opinion, if actual genius were at work we would be in a lot more trouble than we find ourselves today.

I would posit that we face uncoordinated factions with very different goals in mind. They all play a role in what we see happening today, but they often find themselves at odds with each other as they jockey for power and influence.

Today's political landscape is reminiscent of the European invasion of the New World:
Different factions all descended on the newly-discovered continent with different goals like the pursuit of gold, silver, new trade routes, and other valuable resources like sugar; spreading Christianity (Catholicism for Spain/France, Protestantism for England) and countering rival faiths; furthering the intense imperial rivalries between Spain, Portugal, England, and France for territory and dominance--and all of it was enabled by technological advances like improved ships, compasses, and navigation tools enabling long-distance ocean voyages.

To the native Americans it probably looked like a coordinated effort; it was anything but. Had they not largely died of diseases that the Europeans brought across the ocean with them they may have been able to use these divisions to their advantage--which is what we have to do now.

The story of our United States of America is one of leveraging the intense rivalry between Britain and France to gain our own independence.

We are not out of the battle yet....