A few years before she died, I asked my mother if it was simply a rite of passage that most elderly Americans conclude that our country is going to hell. I always hear that from the older demographic- I think because the younger demographic has no hist orical point of reference. You can only know how bad America has gotten by knowing what a great country this once was. There is no other way. We did not become great because of governance or socialistic practice or legal precedent- we were great once because anyone who worked hard and used common sense could find the American dream and the rule of law protected them. Today the rule of law protects the aristocracy and the corporate oligarchy via the Supreme Court. All nine of those Harvard grads exist solely to protect the haves from the have nots. One day there will be another revolution and a bunch of those necks are gonna get stretched. That's history and that's how it always ends-the cynical side of me desperately wants to be ...