Mahatma Gandhi once made this prophetic statement:
"The things that will destroy us are: politics without principle; pleasure without conscience; wealth without work; knowledge without character; business without morality; science without humanity; and worship without sacrifice."

It seemed a fitting description of America's decline from greatness.
Politics, of course, had become the scourge of America, as the corrupt two-party system minimized voters' choices to the lesser of two evils. Congress had forgotten its role as public servant, and had established itself as some kind of arcane monarchy within the republic. Dealmaking, deception, and debauchery had reduced public confidence in Congress to all-time record low ratings.
Pleasure without conscience was practically a national past time. Ever since the "hippie" days of "free love", America had declined into a cistern of abandoned mores and even fewer manners. People slept with anyone they wanted, disregarding the vows or commitments they'd made to others. Use of alcohol and drugs ran rampant as an impotent, hypocritical government spent billions on a so-called 'war on drugs'. Self-gratification trumped self-respect, or - even more insultingly - respect for others, everytime.
Wealth without work was a way of life. CEOs of major corporations lived lavish lifestyles, paying themselves hundreds of times more than those whom they employed. While they rummaged through corporate resources like rats in a cheese factory, middle and lower-incomed workers lost their jobs, their pensions, their health benefits, and their self-esteem. "Cooking the books" was common place, and - even as government prosecuted many large corporations for such illegal and immoral behavior - it, too, practiced the same kinds of unethical accounting. The Bush administration had been especially vile as it deliberately tried to hide the enormous cost of an ill-planned 'war' in Iraq from American taxpayers.
Knowledge without character exemplified America's lais'sez faire attitude toward learning. School children could tell you all about the latest exploits of greed heads like Paris Hilton and Tom Cruise. "Sports fans" knew all the vital statistics about their favorite athlete or team. The most vile jokes could be repeated over and over again, and still find a receptive audience. Many Americans swore by the knowledge imparted in the entertainment rags and gossip magazines. 'Cosmopolitan' women would sleep with moneyed men and then write a 'tell-all' book to satisfy the putrid desires of consumers hungry for all the dirty details. But few Americans could name their Congressman. Even fewer could admit to reading any of the great classics in world literature. As Gore Vidal once said, "Today's public figures can no longer write their own speeches or books, and there is some evidence that they can't read them, either!"
Business without morality was a way of doing business. WalMart, of course, was the most prolific example of how money meant more than treating employees, vendors, and even customers with any kind of good-heartedness. Terms like "Business is business" and "winning at all costs" were popular mantras as America entered the 21st century. The more ruthless you were, the more money you stuffed into your bank accounts and investment portfolios. Giving customers a good value at a fair price wasn't as important as enhancing your profit margins by putting fewer corn chips in a bigger bag, deceiving many shoppers into believing they were really getting a good buy.
Science without humanity became more pronounced as research labs devoted more time to things that would generate profit instead of things that would generate proprieties for the public good or welfare. Billions were spent on developing the latest aphrodisiac, but precious little was budgeted for trying to save the environment.
Worship without sacrifice was evident as people had stopped going to church. Then, even those that went find it inconvenient to sacrifice their sleep on Sunday mornings, preferring instead to attend a brief Saturday night service. As churches witnessed declines in attendance at sunrise services, such eloquent events were scrapped. Sunrise tee-times were much more important to millions of slothful Americans. As a day of rest and reflection, Sunday had been forgotten; well-heeled Americans could shop 24 hours a day, seven days a week while lower-incomed Americans rang up their multiple credit card purchases at the check-out lanes.
Almost certainly, when archeologists would dig up long-buried McDonald's signs two thousand years from now, they would be convinced that the sub-humans of the 21st century worshipped the 'golden arches'. It made one wonder: had the crucifix actually been a religious symbol? Or might it have been the logo for a medieval fast-food chain that sold kosher knishes in the days of Christ? The "Big Knish" could have been the quick kitsch some enterprising entreprenuer pitched to the new Christians, a cheap and tawdry predecessor of the Big Mac, appealing to the taste buds of the undiscriminating masses. Judas Iscariot could have been the Ray Kroc of his day!
The O.U.T.R.A.G.E. 'Rebellion of '08' had effectively destroyed much of the things that Gandhi envisioned as destroying us all. It had been a violent massacre, a murderous revolution. But, as Joseph Stalin once said: "You cannot make a Revolution with silk gloves." While the 'revolution' had taken only a matter of minutes, the healing process of uniting Americans would take years - maybe even decades. That process would require silk gloves.