Hey Rube, James Kunstler Sounds Like Ayn Rand Here:

Maybe we should listen and think about how to make real change happen...

Here's Kunstler:

The failure at the political center is a conscious one of nerve and will, of elected officials in both major parties playing desperately for advantage in defiance of the truth -- this truth being that the USA went broke trying to swindle itself into prosperity. Add to this the failure of the law to go after the swindlers, which has undermined the fundamental belief in the rule of law that enabled this society to function as well as it did previously.

And here's Rand thru the voice of Francisco D'Anconia in "Atlas Shrugged:"

...when you see that men get richer by graft and by pull than by work, and your laws don't protect you against them, but protect them against you - when you see corruption being rewarded and honest becoming a self-sacrifice - you may know that your society is doomed.

I have to say, not just to stir up a rash of hostile comments and let some worlds collide on here, that I have to agree with Kunstler's characterization of Glenn Beck and his new female Igor, Sarah Palin.  And even better is his statement about Obama: 

Barack Obama personifies this failure these days, a politician proclaiming "change" who not only managed to change nothing, but promoted a continuation of the national self-swindling with legislation so dazzlingly prolix and complicated that no one can claim to have read either the Health Care Reform Act or the Financial Regulation bill, the two hallmarks of his tenure so far, neither of which will change anything about how we do these things.

However, not only will the healthcare abortion called "change" legislation and the financial crapola bill not only NOT change anything, but both of those disasterous pieces of legislation do nothing more than further ensconce the ability of the two respective industries, healthcare/insurance/Big Pharma and Wall Street to expand upon and extend the massive transfer of wealth that is occurring from the hoi polloi to the elitists who are in a position to make it happen.

Barack Obama has not only failed to enact any of the promises of "change" upon which he was elected, he has just failed period as a leader and President of this country.  In fact, he's been downright pathetic unless you're in a position to capitalize - legally and illegally - on his incompetence.

And I'll end this rant with the last paragraph in Kunstler's piece, because he states it succinctly and very accurately: 

The bigger mystery in all this -- if I may perhaps engage in some nostalgia of my own -- is: what happened to reasonable, rational, educated people of purpose in this country to drive them into such burrow of cowardice that they can't speak the truth, or act decisively, or even defend themselves against such a host of vicious morons in a time of troubles?

Here's the link to Kunstler's commentary:  Hey Rube.  I hate the blogger term "hat tip," which is customarily extended to one's source, but I give Jesse of Jesse's Cafe Americain and a friend and colleague of mine a courteous "hat tip" for sending me Kunstler's piece, as I rarely tune into what old Jim has to say...