I think when historians seek to determine exactly why America failed they will have a really hard time understanding the psychology at work. After launching a w

I think when historians seek to determine exactly why America failed they will have a really hard time understanding the psychology at work. After launching a wholly illegal and unnecessary war abroad that slaughtered a million innocent people and only empowered its enemies at the cost of ~6 trillion dollars, the country turned inward, becoming ever more isolationist, paranoid, fearful. Rather than save its middle class or, heck, even, rebuild its crumbling infrastructure, the elites set about dismantling democratic norms and looting the republic through regulatory capture and grossly irresponsible tax cuts. But, and this is the key question, where were the people? Why didn't they act while their democracy was dismantled and the republic handed over to the wealthy? Historians will have to conclude that there was a marvelous delusion at work; a blind faith that the very billionaires who had engineered one catastrophe after another were actually going to swoop in and save them. The people were literally on Facebook, "liking" and sharing propaganda stories like this that celebrate the very enemies of their democracy. Having lost all faith in their own government and themselves, the people now worried that their billionaire ruling class was... too boring.