No one ever forgets stench. Whether it is a long-forgotten encounter with a ripe skunk, or a ripe egg, or a ripe decomposing body, once one of those odors has been brain-documented, then even the slightest tinge of such an aroma pops back up immediately, along with the circumstances under which it first offended the nostrils.

And, that's what's happening now. I smell the long-forgotten skunk, the long-forgotten rot of fascism. What is happening all around can no longer be denied. What I ran away from so desperately in 1938 is coming back full circle. Only the jack-boots have not yet arrived.

[...]

After all, the Patriot Act is modeled directly after Gestapo methods: Those 3:00 AM home intrusions – without warrant or reason for arrest – will get our undesirable "domestic terrorists" straight to the nearest version of Guantanamo with no need for trial. The USA is currently building thirty seven "detention centers" nationwide, and they’ll soon be filled with persons who protest too much, or are simply of the wrong nationality. After all, it worked very well in Germany, successfully eliminating Jews, Gypsies, and anyone willing to stand up, and refuse to "Hail Hitler."

Thirty seven detention centers? This is the first I've heard of it. I wish the article had cited a source for that, but even though it didn't, the overall pattern is still evident. America is in deep trouble, and most people in this country, with the exception of a few who have been paying attention, don't have a clue.

It's not just peak oil. If that were the only big thing, and we dealt with it honestly, it would not be an insurmountable obstacle. It's not just George Bush. This country has survived bad presidents in the past. The prevalence of the religious right? Again, by itself, not encouraging, but not devastating either. Torture of prisoners? Well, I suspect the CIA has been doing that in secret for decades, but people's indifference to the exposed abuses is even more troubling.

So here's the question: Given the culmination of all the factors, can America survive the next two decades as a complete entity? Should it survive, or would we all just be better off if the National-ID-mandating, torture-endorsing, corporate-crony-war-state crumbled as quickly as possible? In either case, how can we, as individuals and as a community, best deal with it?