@pintohoo I am probably stating what you already know, but lets try; there are a lot of disaffected people in the U.S.A. Anyone who has only had a passing interest via some of the excellent reporting done by Louis Theroux and many others, or has a passing acquaintance via a brief visit to the U.S.A., has had glimpses of the huge dysfunction displayed by their police, their justice system (prisons overcrowded, filled with mostly black men) and has seen people sleeping rough. There is still a lot of racial inequality, injustice happening to the lower classes of people - and always on display is the enormous wealth of the super rich - the glamor and wealth of Hollywood - unobtainable to the many poor, who have access to that other world via their TV screens (as do we).
So here is a country of huge contrast, enormous wealth displayed by the powerful and glamorous and the not-so-hidden poverty and misery of many, totally unworthy of the country, which supposedly is the leader of the Western World. On top of that they all carry weapons - and many Americans belong to extreme religious sects, some of which believe in an end-of-world scenario to happen very soon. Recently I have made the acquaintance of an ex-American and also an Irishman, who - some years ago when visiting the U.S.A. had occasion to go looking for a drunken mate he had lost in New Orleans, which caused him to take a tour through the town's major prison; - most of the prisoners were black men and they were shouting and swearing at him - he kept strictly to the middle of a very wide central walkway. It turned out his friend had been 'rescued' by other compatriots who took him home - he was both shocked and frightened by the experience - and also by the many people sleeping rough. My American friend has similar tales, thanks his lucky stars he is now an Australian.
I recently read an interesting article by David Brooks, which I will publish here, separately - don't know if this aligns with copyright laws etc. - but I subscribed to the New Yorker just to get access to this article. I feel he's got it wrong too - the major crisis is the inequality between the huge riches of the super-wealthy and the abject poverty and hopelessness of so many U.S. citizens; that's why they fall for slogans. Comparison to the rise of one H. come to mind - he also preached into resentment and extreme poverty (no jobs and then no unemployment support) of the lower classes. I personally believe that religion will not rescue America, but a complete overhaul of their society, more money spent on the poor, greater taxes levied on the super-wealthy - yes, more social policies, but no price is too high for avoiding a civil war! Taurisk
