So much comes through various sources on my computer that I don’t even try to keep their origins straight. This morning I saw a post from some organization that has come up with a list of the twenty most livable cities in the world. All were in western Europe, Canada and Australia. None were in the United States.

A few days ago, I saw another post, this one written by an American who had moved to Europe (I think Germany) as a young adult. It was a fascinating post (most things like this are not). He described his childhood in America, where he had learned that he lived in, by far, the best country in the world, and that there was nothing that remotely was as exceptional as American exceptionalism. He then described some of the differences living in Germany: free health care, free education, safety on the streets at night, no fear of everyone carrying guns, better public infrastructure, reliable public transportation, life seeming more affordable even when you had less money, and on and on. I think there were twenty things in all – something like that – where he concluded that life in Europe was better, but that hardly any Americans realized that.

And finally, just this morning, there was a fascinating segment on Morning Joe on MSNBC with Scott Galloway, whom I know as an intelligent podcaster, but who also teaches at NYU, and has been successful as a E-marketer. He has a new book coming out tomorrow, Notes on Being a Man, about the plight of young men today in America, and basically how they are being shaped through isolation and on-line algorithms, and losing their most important roles, to be protectors of their families and of others who are vulnerable, and to view themselves as members of an interconnected society. I know Galloway is talking about America – whether he would reach the same conclusions regarding young men in other countries is unclear to me. But one thing he said was interesting: he said that, with all of their dangers and problems, the country whose young men are the strongest and most resilient today is Israel, where everyone has to join the military or otherwise participate in the common defense (he did not mention that Haredi Jews who avoid this service for now). Galloway is a strong supporter of mandatory National Service, among other things, and an even stronger critic of internet technocrats.

It is clear that, in many respects, America has lost its way. Galloway terms it starkly: he says that we have become very intelligent and capable, and are using that intelligence and capacity to make our species extinct.

I turned off the program after this segment, but saw that the next segment was going to be with Tim Barnacle (veteran journalist Mike Barnacle’s son), who has apparently written a book on Newt Gingrich, and how Gingrich still influences America. I don’t know what Barnacle’s book says, but I agree that Gingrich and his invention of the Tea Party (did he invent it?) did and still does play a big role in our long downward slide. I find this true on at least two levels. First, that we are still living with the concept of trickle down economics, the idea that if you make the rich richer, they will somehow use their wealth to shore up those with fewer resources. Hasn’t worked yet; ain’t gonna work in the future. Second, that there can be bottoms up political organizing that can somehow convince the masses that they are organizing for their own benefit, when in fact, they are organizing for the benefit of the wealthy classes. Of course, these two things are connected. Members of Tea Party-type movements (and that includes MAGA) are convinced, evidence to the contrary be damned, that their movements will result in their lives being improved through (although they wouldn’t put it this way) trickle down economics.

It seems apparent to everyone who can shake themselves from these cult-like movements that we are in a downward spiral, and that nothing that our current president will do, or even wants to do, will reverse course. But it is also fascinating that those who oppose our current president are no more popular than he is. Maybe even less popular. We have a number of elections coming up tomorrow – in particular in Virginia and New Jersey and New York City. It will be interesting to see what happens. I would expect the Democrats to do well, the question only being how well. But, I also thought that the Commanders would have a winning season, and the only question would be how many victories they would achieve.

One last thing: the concept of American Exceptionalism was always nonsense to me, and a way of hiding our deficits. Now that our deficits are out in the open, I would hope we can, as a country, stop hiding behind our exaggerated opinions of ourselves, and look to all of those other countries around the world, in Europe and in Asia as well, to develop a sense of international best practices, and to convince the majority of Americans that best practices are in fact best.