Sickening

Here's a fun AV experiment to try at home.
Get a nice clean digital version of the movie Contact.
Yeah, I know it's not a masterpiece of action/adventure but it's also not geared for people with a 3rd grade reading level (see Independence Day).
Watch up until the part where President Clinton comes on and starts to talk about the alien signal. If the sight of our last real president doesn't give you a sinking feeling in your stomach then there's something wrong with you. I am convinced in a purely visceral way that his departure from office represents the point at which the United States started dying for me. Strictly based on the sound of his voice I became sick to my stomach thinking abut what we've become and the path of mediocrity and failure we continue down. I had to stop watching the damn movie.
It's not just that we're at war for no reason and can't stop, it's that there is no hope that I can see for the future here. We have no great dreams, goals, or aspirations beyond maintaining what we have and cowering in fear even 6 years after a tiny group of insignificant zealot automatons attacked us. We haven't embraced peace, we haven't distanced ourselves from the middle-east and religious extremism. We haven't started any bold new programs to solve our basic human problems - overpopulation, ignorance, disease, superstition, poverty, not even energy. In fact, any national or worldwide goals worthy of attention are farther off the radar than ever. I can honestly say that 6 years on I feel much more sickened now than when I saw the disaster on television. The disasters that have followed - fear, myopia, aggression, stupidity are far more sickening than anything religious extremists could do.