Before this crap started, generally everyone agreed health care had to be reformed. Even a lot of conservatives were congratulating Michael Moore on his movie ‘Sicko’ two years ago to my utter shock. Now it’s riot city. It’s not that I’m disappointed the crazies outnumber the reform protestors; it’s that they seem to even outnumber the war protests. The Baby Boom generation has failed us. It’s like for a brief glimpse in the 60s, the vast majority of the country’s youth understood that we needed to stop feeding the war machine and ferment better racial and gender equality throughout the nation, but now they’ve all retreated to their suburbs, cradling their guns in fear of the African Anti-Christ and his army of Socialist Gun-stealers.

I heard lately that although our material wealth has increased three times over since the 50s, we have steadily become less happy every decade, despite the explosion in mood-altering and sexual enhancement pharmaceuticals. Yet people were happier in the 60s with nothing but ragweed. A large part of it is because people know only half as many friends as they did back then, but I guess a lot of it can be attributed to the American need to outdo your neighbors and buy a bigger house.

I also read a Gallup Poll from 10 years ago that said one in five Americans believe the sun revolves around the earth. I’m having a hard time believing it. I keep thinking that most of them must have misread it or that it was phrased in a way that made them think the question was from their own perspective. Can people really be that stupid? It’s becoming a very transcendental question to me.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/3742/new-poll-gauges-americans-general-knowledge-levels.aspx