When Alexis de Tocqueville came to America in the first half of the 19th century (1835), the thing that impressed him most about America was it's public postal system. That fact that even during the Indian wars of that time, people on the frontier (Old West) were still informed about the world, could still correspond with their family, newspapers and mail were delivered.
Even in my lifetime, we so looked forward to what arrived in the mailbox, the delivery of the newspaper. In rural areas of eastern North Carolina, and, I believe, in most of America, as I have heard my mother say, there are few vehicles on country roads, but you could depend on the mailman and the school bus going down the road every weekday.
Today, most newspapers have gone out of business, the postal service has priced itself out of business, the school bus is just a vehicle for social engineering (attempt to mix races, ethnic groups, economic classes). Eventually, the liberal-socialist Democrats, the left-wing of American society will achieve the communist system of mixing all children at the nursery as they finally achieve the destruction of the family. Because of the unreliability of the media, as in Russia, China and all communist countries print material from the government will be disseminated publicly, they will be gathered together in large groups. Associated people, for one reason or another, will become more and more isolated. You can see that already, most people living together do not know who lives on either side of them.
In this technology/computer age, you can handle most of life's needs online...shopping, education courses, advice on everything from health/homeopathy to economics, hobbies, personal interests of any type, including pornography. Most young people who have worked for me in recent years have used the computer for online dating, finding someone to share interests and eventually to “shack up” with. Young people can learn all they'd want to know about one another through facebook and twitter, they do not need to endure the expense and disappointment of dating.
Today's world is a world of information fatigue. Right in your own house, information searched from from the 4 corners of the world on everything: ailments, treatments, every area of human endeavor, professional knowledge, disciplines, hobbies, every area of personal interest. Advanced graduate degrees are affordable and available on almost any discipline. The day of the encyclopedias and reference books are over. The talking heads on the television can no longer keep up with everything. Attempting to stay up with everything happening in the world, all the knowledge of the world, one does not have time to think about anything anymore.
Great discoveries were made by people just thinking, unraveling the lengths and depths of the research that many had done before them. The most important area in discovery is that of separation, separating the true from the false, the proven from the disproven. On last count, there are currently 600 uprisings in some part of the world, insurrections such as we are witnessing across North Africa and the Middle East, usually originate in the price of food. When people are hungry and are no longer able to buy the most basic necessities of life, uprisings and riots begin. Food costs usually rise because of the increased cost of gasoline for their delivery, increased costs of fertilizer for the growing. The basics of crude oil-energy production...as the cost of energy increases, so does the cost of food, and so does the cost of uprisings, often leading to actual war.
Increasingly, we are seeing two-tiered cultures throughout the world: the small number who ride in Mercedes, the huge number who are riding on donkeys, ox carts or camels. In the oil-rich Middle East, the disparity between peoples of the same nation has been evident from the beginning of history. Because technology has reached these places (television, computer, etc.) the lower classes, those who ride on donkeys and camels, are resenting those who ride in the Mercedes, who live behind walls and gates. In America, the secular press gives a hedge of protection to the limousine liberals, the private jet televangelists/politicians/rockstars. More and more, because of television and computer technology, the common man is aware of the decadence/hypocrisy...the ones who had their pockets picked in excessive taxation and submission to provide the splendor of high living.
In the world of 2012, the country pays for patriotism...there are more contractors on the battlefield than uniformed fighters. I am told that many of these contractors are paid $30,000 a month. Your government pays for research results, always guiding by a finger in the wind, likewise your government pays for polling results. One does not need a Nobel prize to inform you that human loyalties have been dispersed and often reversed.
In the cocoon of survival, the individual has decided that neither God nor government is available. In the survival instinct, the individual has retreated from large crowds. Sports stadiums and convention centers will eventually shut down, just as will the mega-church. Crowds are too attractive to a terrorist. Finding religious spontaneity/satisfaction in the living room from the very best, the church, the fraternal clubs, the civic clubs, now with a sprinkling of white hair, will become an occasion of the past.
In my lifetime, air travel was a thing of leisure and temptation, beautiful treatment, nice food, well-dressed, well-mannered travelers; on planes, like church, people dressed up instead of down. In my lifetime, train travel was a system of leisure and comfort, comfortable dining cars, superior service. All these things are history, the people who did ride the trailway bus are now in the plane, travel to “faraway places with strange-sounding names” will mostly take place in your living room. We will study and dream about the luxury liners with nice cabins and meals, steamer trunks, gala evening, all the semblances of a past of glamor and glory. Now, a cattle-boat treatment and fast-food, drive-thru status.
The country clubs, for the elitists, will survive for awhile, inner circles among the common man will be replaced by groupings, relegated by skin color, home-schooling interests, diehard sports enthusiasts. It was relatively safe on the golf course, but the day of the hunter is over, weapons are a no-no. Even the Queen of England is afraid that she is the last ruling monarch of the United Kingdom. The UK members such as Canada, Australia, etc. no longer have loyalties to Caesar, have had all they could stomach in nearby politicians and pickpocket bureaucrats. Even in America, governors, politicians, bankers are always immaculately dressed, often a carnation pinned to the lapel.
Queen Victoria, with her marriage to Prince Albert in 1840, set the standard for weddings around the world. As there are fewer and fewer weddings anywhere, economics dictate just shacking up...unmarried households, production of children at the convenience of the unwed mother. We have probably seen our last royal wedding, the royals, like everything else in fairy-tale land, are on its way out.
There is a famous Broadway play called I Remember Mama, God help those who do not have nice memories. A few of the living still have the wonderful memory of America, when she was great.
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