Look around you. While we still have a decent standard of living, for most Americans it is in a slow, steady decline. While we have the most powerful military in the world — in history! — we are less secure than ever, with anger being directed at us from all corners of the globe. While we are the most affluent country in the world, so much of the nation’s wealth is in the hands of so few, in many key areas the U.S. ranks far down the list against other developed countries.

After World War II, we experienced an unprecedented period of growth which lasted three decades.

Then things changed. The gradual downward spiral began. The American Dream bit by bit dispersed in the miasma of a corporate coup d’état in slow motion. A tiny minority of oligarchs who disdained the idea of government by the people and abhorred the notion that the nation’s wealth should benefit all, came up with a plan and marshaled their resources. The liberal class and the populace at large got lazy and careless, stopped paying attention, and a well-planned, methodical takeover of all of the important institutions of society — including the government itself — was put in motion.

This is the America we end up with in 2015:

• Americans work harder for less. Real wages have been flat since the 70s.
• We are embroiled in wars everywhere. The War On Terror has put us in a permanent state of military readiness and active conflict.
• The War On Terror is as destructive within our borders as without. We are constantly being watched. Our local police now look like Navy Seal teams.
• The media is a homogeneous monopoly.
• The wealth of the country has migrated upwards. Wealth inequality is at a historic high. The top .1% now own as much as the bottom 90% of the population.
• The banks are too-big-to-fail and the bankers too-big-to-jail.
• Our manufacturing base has been gutted.
• The middle class is being slowly decimated.
• Our public education is in shambles. A basic college education is becoming unaffordable.
• The number of people living in poverty has doubled since 1973.
• Our country is being sold to the highest bidder and now foreign ownership of U.S. assets is at a historic high.
• We have more people in our prisons than any other major industrialized country.
• Racial tensions are back. Bigotry is becoming overt and virulent.
• The police are out of control, abusing and killing innocent people, getting away with a slap on the wrist.
• There is no coherent, effective immigration policy.
• People have less and less faith in their government.
• Correspondingly, the government doesn’t trust the people. It spies on us, listens to our phone conversations, and reads our emails. Citizens are now often regarded as guilty until proven innocent.
• On the international stage, at one time we at least appeared willing to cooperate with other nations. Now we just bully and bomb.
• Once a beacon of hope and a source of inspiration, America is increasingly feared and reviled throughout the world.
• Our water, our air, our food, our health, our safety, our general well-being are all being compromised, taking a back-seat to the insatiable appetite for profits by corporations and the ultra-wealthy elite that own them.

This cannot continue. America is on a path of self-destruction.