Older generation may be right: The world is going downhill

NOTHING IS WORKING the way it should - and inequities, which have always plagued us, grow worse.

Yes, I know, old people are always lamenting that the world is going downhill. But today's older generation may be the first that's right.

The extraordinary American system of government, which worked so well over the years, no longer does. Based on an ingenious, but delicate, balance of powers that functions through cooperation and compromise, it's bogged down in partisan bickering, extremist pressures and antiquated procedures. The built-in checks and balances no longer check or balance.

Wars continue everywhere, generated more by hate than by politics or economics. The world's economy has deteriorated. Products are no longer reliable, even if you can afford them.

Ecologically, we're fouling our nest, yet warnings of global warming, waste of limited resources and shooting ourselves in the foot are ignored or ridiculed. Scientists and others who try to understand the world around us are reviled and marginalized. Know-nothingism prevails - and proudly. Voices of reason are outshouted.

The lines have been hopelessly blurred between relevance and triviality, self-interest and selfishness, fantasy and reality.

Perhaps a history buff I know is right: that we're entering a new Dark Ages, if we're not already there.

Pessimistic? Maybe so, but pessimism is not so bad. Pessimists are never disappointed.

Waves of anger and resentment have been unleashed at the prevailing unfairness, and understandably so - but I can't work up any rage, because I expect no more or less.

We humans are a failed species. Whatever we touch usually turns bad. Sometimes, a flash of surprising brilliance elevates us (like the system our Founding Fathers created), but the best-laid plans may harbor, within themselves, their own deterioration.

They can fail? It may be that they must.

If your expectations are unrealistic, you are sure to be let down, which will make you furious. So, many of us lash out futilely, searching for someone to blame. Even if that someone is easy to locate, then what? Too often, it turns out to be a mirror image.

I am not suggesting we just give up. If this is inevitable historically, the down years may be briefer and not as "dark" as they used to be. What once may have taken centuries may now happen overnight. If these are indeed the Dark Ages, we may be able to help ease it or speed it up.

Ongoing protest movements, like Occupy, are a healthy thing. They give us hope.

Might today's human being evolve into one that isn't as weak, inept and bewildered? 'Tis a mutation devoutly to be wished. The way to make it so may be to join those who insist that things must get better - and act accordingly.

If you are tuned in to history, remember: The Dark Ages is always followed by a Renaissance.