Challah

Yes. Even then, after trying to fix the problems of today, we're going to run into the problems of tomorrow. It's kind of been that way since, you know, forever.

I agree that the United States is not doing so well in some areas. Its recent military endeavours are questionable at best and if anyone honestly expects positive results from them, well, they'll be disappointed. The conflict in Iraq will never be "won" and I don't think it was ever meant to be.

Same goes for the War on Terror.

And the War on Drugs.

And so on.

Moving right along. Entertainment. Not to be a dick, but the whole John Lennon thing suggests that you might not be trying very hard to find new, exciting music. It's definitely out there. Finding new music is easier than its ever been, thanks to the internet. Myspace and Wikipedia surfing are very useful for this. Looking into local projects is also, of course, a good idea.

And really, what do you expect from TV? The fact that TV is shit should not be news to you. A lot of my friends say things similar to what you've said, then sit down and watch Reality Show X because "OMG IT'S BETTER THAN MOST OF THAT CRAP ON TV, ITS AN EXCEPTION TO THE RULE." No, it's not. If you have your own little "exception to the rule", maybe consider the possibility that you aren't as far removed from the consumer horde as you might like to think. We should call that "Lennon Syndrome."

Then the news. I wish we could take a hint from how they did it back in The Day. You know, that time when those in charge of distributing information didn't exploit their position of power. A time when facts were delivered to people and people made up their own minds. A time when simple people weren't distracted by sensational stories about meaningless non-issues. When was that, again?

I'd like to know if you have any specific ideas about how to improve things. Recognizing a problem is the first step to fixing it but I get the feeling that things won't get any better until they get a lot worse. Sadly, electing a Democrat to the White House probably won't do a hell of a lot of good. If anything, it might make things worse. But we won't get into that here.

Even if massive changes were put forward today, I'm not sure it would be enough. You're in a pretty deep hole and a lot of people seem content to keep digging. You've made it through a revolution, a civil war, two world wars, a crippling depression and more. So we'll see. My lifetime should be an interesting one.