America The Depressive

I can't say I quote conservative columnist Peggy Noonan (WSJ) much, but she drives so honestly and deeply into the nerve of what appears to be a deeply troubling national and cultural malais that I can't help but feel that she is trying desperately to articulate the nervousness we've all been experiencing, particularly as we watch this administration careen off the track.

Here's an excerpt from today's WSJ:

Our elites, our educated and successful professionals, are the ones who are supposed to dig us out and lead us. I refer specifically to the elites of journalism and politics, the elites of the Hill and at Foggy Bottom and the agencies, the elites of our state capitals, the rich and accomplished and successful of Washington, and elsewhere.

I have a nagging sense, and think I have accurately observed, that many of these people have made a separate peace. That they're living their lives and taking their pleasures and pursuing their agendas; that they're going forward each day with the knowledge, which they hold more securely and with greater reason than nonelites, that the wheels are off the trolley and the trolley's off the tracks, and with a conviction, a certainty, that there is nothing they can do about it.

Full column here.

Ahhh, Peggy hon, those Bushies promised you a rose garden, and you must have believed 'em. Try getting outta the house more. Or hell, just try a whole new world!