Osama bin Laden checked out. But not before inlficting trillions of paper cuts on his enemy. A wound that may not be lethal, though it could be, but at least will be inflicting pain for years to come... including from the manner in which we are treating the wound.
Trillions of american tax-payer dollars have "disappeared".
Much were paid for an illegal war started on false grounds.
The rest "disappeared" off of Wall St. thanks mostly to deregulation, but also an egregious failure to take them back even when the scams were discovered after they nearly wrecked the world economy.
I say "disappeared" but in fact most have only been transferred, from 401k's and from tax-payer influenced government coffers, into the coffers of Oil companies, military suppliers - including private armies, off-shore bank accounts of various multinational companies that evade any authority, and other sundrous friends of the likes of Dick Cheney & Co.
I've occasionally, actually rarely, heard someone asking how/why did this happen: "I can understand the republicans doing it, as they always do, but why did democrats participate in 'letting' it happen? And why do working class people vote republican?"
It would be too easy, though not wrong, to simply answer with a list: self-interest, apathy, ignorance...
But there is something more going on.
There is a movement among the wealthy/ruling class in america, even among some "liberals", to perpetrate or at least allow for the extraction of wealth from the working class, and from services for the poor, because they see more money in fewer hands as being more stable for their own and national interests as we go forward. Why/how can they see moving our nation backward a hundred years toward a more feudal society as more stable? Because they cannot see exactly where things are headed. They believe, in fact, in climate change, and the end of the petroleum age, but they do not feel confident in precisely how it will "work out" in the end for them, nor their friends.
As for the more truly "liberal"-minded of these wealthy schmucks, they excuse their failure to uphold faith in the working class by saying that if america was to fall too fast, too far out of its position as sole superpower, that it could represent a catastrophic destabilization of america. A destabilization that might not permit us to gracefully step downward slightly from such a position of uber-dominance, like the British Empire was able to do. "Liberals" who share in this mind-set see an america of the future that finally embraces the U.N., and takes our leadership role in it seriously. They want us to be as strong as possible when that occurs, and so they are going along to get along, sacrificing principle if/whenever necessary.
Of course, the "conservative" view is unilateralism or die. They believe that because america is so "exceptional", that we can achieve the impossible: maintaining our empire status indefinitely, even if it means a lower quality of life for 95% of americans temporarily, and 90% forever, if necessary. In all this, religion is but one instrument. Most of those leading this march toward feudalism do not actually believe in the mystical crap they use to get votes and power.
And the only thing stopping them, or rather slowing them down slightly, thus far, since 1968, have been a few other wealthy "liberals" whose wealth and power actually depends on working people and others who have aided in this "fight". They are the few who actually believe in giving back. Not through the scam of charity for a tax write-off, but through empowering people, improving living conditions, education, etc. And they are too few.
But, the "die is cast" so to speak. And americans will follow the path set for them, regardless of what that path is. Which, becomes quite a scary realization if the "conservative" view continues to write the script.
The only way to really meet this challenge, without losing much of the progress of the last 100 or so years, will be for people otherwise too distracted or apathetic to decide they better get more involved and proactive. These people need not be americans, but for americans' sake, they better be.
Osama bin Laden has checked out, indeed. But he left a hell of a wake up call, and a hefty check, still to be paid.