Thoughtful post. And every generation has had it's doomsayers. Who were right. The way of life in the US has changed with every generation. The world my parents grew up in is no more. The world I grew up in is no more.

And, I think there are bigger challenges than mere leadership can handle. The American people aren't used to privation, sharing, doing without. The people alive today who don't live in ghettos believe they have the RIGHT to anything they can buy, for instance. Greed is built in to the fabric of our society, and there is no shame any more.

Sherman Adams was forced out of the job as Ike's Chief of Staff for accepting an expensive coat. Can you imagine that? In the Bush Administration, as well as the Reagan, anyone who didn't grab and run was considered a fool.

The challenges facing the US, for instance, are rather new. We've always been insulated by the oceans, and that's failing. Foreigners in effect control our economy, globalization respects corporations, not nations, and such things as oil and water are becoming extremely valuable.

"Diversity" doesn't work for long. The cases of civil war over diversity are numerous, including Iraq and Sri Lanka.

The US could be weaning itself from oil, and instead the politicians are afraid to confront the issue. Conservatives want to drain every last drop before lamenting that someone should have done something about it.

Viruses are getting more clever, bacteria too.

I truly believe, as have all the other doomsayers of their generations, that the world is approaching some drastic changes, faster than they can be absorbed. Japan might handle them, China maybe, the rest of the world could have serious issues.

It wouldn't take any single issue, but some disruptions from global warming, demand for oil exceeding the supply, a bird flu mutation, more virulent AIDS, a little of all of those, and it could change quite rapidly.

Would the US be able to bluff China if push came to shove? Of course not. They could kill 300 million Americans, we could kill 600 million Chinese, and the US would be barren while China would have 600 million people left.

So, I think there are changes a'comin'. And your post is correct in theory.

Arf