"Americans no longer count on their news to be filtered and shaped by the Associated Press or the New York Times."

And yet despite the ready availability of reliable information from a plethora of authoritative sources the majority of the American voters still elected a self-confessed, flaming commie doofus to the presidency. The sad fact is that having information does not guarantee sensible behavior. The people heard but they did (and many still do not) listen.

"Only a few political dinosaurs are calling for more spending, more entitlements, and more taxes."

Yeah. They are called Democrats.

"James Cameron, Bill Gates, Sean Hannity, Tom Hanks, Steve Jobs, Rush Limbaugh, Tiger Woods, and Mark Zuckerberg have all made good livings without earning B.A.s."

And what do all these people have in common? They have intelligence. There is a world of difference between intelligence and education. Smart people will find a way to succeed irrespective of their education. Unintelligent people will will not be made successful by mere education. (Especially if their degrees are in some worthless hyphenated studies program.) About 1 in 4 people are college capable. The remainder of people need education and training to provide them useful skills but college is not the place obtain that. An increase in the number of people in college does change this. Currently %60 of people enter college but only %40 actually obtain a degree. The result is about %24 of the population obtain college degrees. Duh! This is the percentage we already knew. The dropouts simply have debt and no skills. That colleges continue this tragedy borders on the criminal.

BTW, this is the dirty little secret so brilliantly discussed by Herrnstein and Murray in their seminal work. As the old saying goes, "Facts are stubborn things."

Look at human history and behavior throughout the ages. The sad fact is that human nature, being what it is, those who have a vested interest in the current situation will not go quietly despite the obvious fact (which they know!) that the system is failing and how much worse a catastrophic failure will be rather than a soft transition to a more stable system. These people would rather ride this horse to death rather than get off and keep it alive. Our system will not reform it will collapse. Look at history and ask if it has ever been otherwise? Are we somehow immune to the frailties of being human?

Hunker down and pray for daylight; this is going to get ugly.

The new dark ages are upon us. Let us pray the new Renaissance does not take a thousand years to unfold.

Vic, buddy, I usually like your speculative drivel, but you've delved into the realm of dreamy blather, and not very circumspect, at that. You and Prager. Is it contagious?

While some of what you point out is true, the outcomes you suggest are not done deals. Much is yet to be determined. Much is yet to be seen.

I particularly winced at your "post-racial" nonsense. True, minorities don't need affirmative action to succeed. They never did. That was a crock of manure from the beginning. However, if anything, America is far more racially divided than ever. Obama and his fawning liberal crowd have seen to that.

Multiculturalism is still the mode and it won't lead to a "post-racial" America. "Melting Pot" would, however, but assimilation is a rather repressed concept. The left will continue to vigorously suppress it and trumpet multiculturalism. Despite your perspective of change in the media, they, yet, largely, control it, along with both public and higher education. They have a practically insurmountable edge in spreading their false and destructive doctrines.

Next time, spend a little more time constructing ideas with substance, rather than impromptu.

As a tenured professor, I heartily agree. "Higher education" has largely degenerated into a lowdown racket.

As usual, VDH nails it - several "old" political orders may be crumbling, and there are a few encouraging pieces to be seen. But they don't, as yet, go together to make a comforting picture.

Unfortunately, for now, those new or substantive pieces rising from the rubble are facing a bulldozer. I'll get to that later.

The "unifying of America" that BHO envisioned in his campaign was a duplicitous euphamism for the coalition of polarized factions wrought by his own divisiveness.

He played the race card repeatedly and cleverly - dividing "all minorities" into one class and "typical white people" into a smaller class. He divided a few "fat cat" "haves" into one class and everyone else, cast as resentful "have-nots" into another.

There are more self-perceived "have-nots" than "haves" - despite the fact that most of them work for a living and a good number of them may have picked up trade school or on-line diploma. Taxed beyond frustration, many of them have, as DeToqueville predicted they would, voted themselves largesse from the public treasury, perhaps to get something back that they feel was rightfully theirs - and may do so again, unless a viable alternative is clearly in sight.

A reactionary anti-BHO anti-big-government vote will not happen again in 2012. Those forces and their minions can only be extirpated by real performance from fresh leadership. For November 2012, that's a tall order on a short time frame.

As VDH points out, the social dynamics at play in our society have (and this is a good thing) blurred formerly clear-cut racial distinctions. Nonetheless, BHO relentlessly pursues minority-entitlement rhetoric to coalesce "all minorities," despite the fact that many "minority" individuals may get their news on-line or from talk radio rather than Katie Courec.

As to the bulldozer: For now, despite the 2010 hiccup, this politically typecast, media-drugged, polarization-driven voting bloc rules the day - and while their puppetmasters have certainly taken notice, they're not yet shaking in their boots. They are armed to the teeth, shrewd, and relentless. We'll see what happens between now and 2012.

Alternatives? A lumbering, bumbling, and decadent-until-proven-otherwise Republican Party? The entire political establishment is, for the most part, corrupt. A few non-establishment individuals may emerge who offer some hope, but they will not be marketed by a mass media that currently controls elections, and is in turn controlled by international monetary interests bent on securing their own ends. Media control = political and financial power - they know it, they have it and will use it to expand their own financial empires.

Sound far-fetched? Check out, for openers, the names on the governing boards of big international banking and big US media. Go from there to the ivy league, GM, GE (and recent presidential appointments), the names behind big political donations and to whom, etc. The same batch of names keeps cropping up too often in these and other places; the dots are already connected, the fix is virtually in. Check it out - do your own homework.

What is most disturbing in our new political scenario is the entrenched ability of big international monetary powers to vote themselves largesse from the US public treasury. This foreboding reality is something DeToqueville never anticipated.

The antidote? One part is in place, as VDH mentioned, albiet in a fledgling, yet robust and viable state: alternative media. The other, a majority shift to accountable and dynamic non-establishment fresh leadership will have to occur soon, if the culture we know as Western Civilization is to survive. Alternative media may be the linchpin that holds our union together.

Its a long shot, but there is hope. "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." We can start there.

We are the Roman Empire circa 250 AD.

I hope the new data on Social Security will build some steam for fundamental reform of our entitlement and pension finances.

A gov't that chronically over promises and under delivers lays a foundation for much larger and indidious problems.

We have two concurrent revolutions, don't we?

The salivating marxists are on the verge of a coup of the American nation, and they are close to pulling it off, thanks to buying off unions and minorities who have enthusiastically bought into the something for nothing marxist meme.

Concurrently, the country class is knocking down the pre-marxist ruling class as vdh itemizes above.

Has such a thing ever happened before? It truly is a clash of multiple cultures, right here in one country. The overwhelming majority of a population waging two concurrent political wars; the first against a corrupt and incompetant entrenched ruling order, and the second against a radically evil new order based on a completely discredited philosophy but which has somehow achieved a position inches away from delivering a death blow to both of its rivals.

Right on target. The generation that imagined itself romantically storming the barricades of power is realizing that the barricades are, indeed, being stormed - and the barricades are them. They don't like it.

So, just so I understand you, your response to inflated tuition and eroding standards, particular in the liberal arts, at America's colleges and universities is... for-profit online learning?

Aren't you the guy that supports the trivium? And even if you're just talking about technical education (a critically neglected part of higher ed.), are the predatory diploma mills like Kaplan really the best place to earn accreditation?

I agree completely. VDH's only omission was to mention the waning in American communities of various Christian "established orders" (which is NOT the same as saying Christianity is waning in the U.S.--I don't see that quite yet).

But these days incumbent preachers, priests, pastors, bishops and youth group leaders hold little influence, nor command any authoritoral respect outside their specific congregations.

A community's elders cracking whips to coerce its youth to marry and reproduce before living a quarter of a century on the good green earth is a social norm I will not miss.