Decline

The U.S. isn't doing very well on some recent "best of" lists. Best places in the world to live? Best we can do is Hawaii at 31st. Best airlines in the world? No American airline even made the list.

Of course, lists are just lists but it wasn't all that long ago, I think, when we'd have done much better on each of these. I think some of the anger in the country is about this kind of decline, the feeling that we've lost some of our past national and international grandeur. Whoever feels this may then look for a scapegoat to explain it.

But in a larger perspective, an historical perspective, all great societies decline and get replaced. This has always happened, and there's no reason to believe it won't happen, indeed has been happening, to us. The rise of China suggests that past glory can return, however, so maybe there's some long range hope there for those who need that sort of thing.

In my view, I think Nature may step in and make these rankings irrelevant. Nature wins. I don't believe in  much but I believe that.