Audaces Fortuna iuvat.

Bush is a symptom, not the disease.

moi aussi

and I thought I was the official house pessimist.

The difference between theory and practise in practise ...

I remember a time -- only a few years ago -- when believing in the forthcoming collapse of the present US of A made me look like a kook with extreme views, even on lefty forums, eh Jerome? Now my views are mainstreaming.

In the past I've used Isaac Asimov's FOUNDATION as an analogy. I don't think we can stop the collapse of the American Empire, it's already built-in; and frankly I don't think we should.

But we all can acieve a lot in determining what the post-Empire future will be like.

That's why I've lost interest in Kos' goals to rig the present system, which IMHO is doomed anyway.

The leaders of tomorrow are not Hillary, Obama, etc. These are the Andropovs or at best the Gorbachevs of America.  

The code for the future is being written today, and past the next decade, say, I'm actually quite optimistic.