> So inadvertently, he clearly stated a preference for unreality and a
> dream of American invincibility over the messy details unfolding around
> us.
I've seen this pattern over and over again in this culture. It's especially pronounced in students -- a kind of mass-cultural mysticism, often wrongly characterized as religiosity, which is really just the distorted fetishization of the Empire's power and wealth. Typically, it's combined with a toxic micropolitics (patriarchy, Cold War consumerism, whiteness, etc.). The Leftwing jeremiads about the culture-industry tend to miss this point -- to paraphrase a favorite of the Clinton years, "it's the Empire, stupid."
There's a twisted measure of justice, though, in the thought that this place will get to choose its doom. After november 2, it will either be the night of the oil-orcs, or a slower and managed collapse. Either way, the show is over for this Empire. I guess our job is to minimize the violence of the transition, and save what can be saved from the wreckage.
-- DRR