Yo!
I don't know where to begin replying to that lengthy reply, other than to say thank you for your time and thoughtfulness.

Yes, you're correct, the American empire is crumbling. When I say I'm a 'patriot' I should have been a bit more precise... I'm not a flag-waving love-it-or-leave-it type (but you know that already).
What I do love about the US of A is difficult to define, hard to defend sometimes, and ultimately hinged on the simple fact that it's where I was born and have spent all but six years of my life... I'm not one to run off to France or something like a Johnny Depp or even a Robert Crumb, as it's not my home (and would they really want a semi-employable middle aged yankee anyway? I'm not going to foist myself on anyone's turf but mine own).

I just about get apoplectic thinking about how much has gone wrong (and how much has always BEEN wrong from day one) about America, and yet I'm not 'anti American' as the yabbos would insist... There really are very few innocents in this world... a lot of criticism arriving from nations that a very short time ago were rolling tanks into other people's capitals, for example, in self-serving bids for cruel domination.

America is, as we speak, finding itself eating the crow pie of it's own hubris. Half of this country is appalled at the other half (going both ways). Things are not well, tho many are smugly bubbled in their little worlds of wealth and dare to assume that yes, there is a class that rightfully do die to defend their privileged existence. They don't see the train wreck that is coming, the wreck that most of us are in right now. I'm sad to say that when the caboose finally smacks these people in the ass, it's going to be very ugly indeed for everyone.

I could go on, but it's depressing me at the moment.

Anyhow, cheers to us who aren't fooled by the merchants of death, the micromoralizers, the hucksters, and the con men.

Transatlantic vibes, man- keep up the good fight.