It's been an uneventful week on the national scene, so I'm pulling out my crystal ball to see if we can make some predictions about the future of the two parties' presidential campaigns.

   It's been said that "talk is cheap", but President Obama's simple statement regarding his endorsement of same sex marriage netted him over a million dollars in the 90 minutes that followed it, and probably an additional five million at the George Clooney fundraiser a day later.  That's a pretty hefty payoff for simply stating a position which despite stating the opposite in the last election, supporters and opponents all but assumed he held anyway.

    Most futuristic science fiction tales predict a dismal and apocalyptic future that comes in two basic flavors.  Either we can look toward a doomsday where corporate greed and/or military insanity has destroyed the environment and created a system of anarchy among the few survivors (think Mad Max, Terminator, The Book of Eli...); or on the other hand there are the dystopian visions of ultimate governmental intrusion and control (think 1984, Star Wars, Hunger Games...).

    In the precursor to this entry the concept of American exceptionalism was questioned.  Some would say that it was never a valid belief to begin with, and others would hold that if our culture was ever exceptional in the world, it is no longer the case.  Few would argue that the image of America as that "shining city on a hill" has lost some of its luster.  Greatness is predicated on Goodness, and evaluating our culture by the Seven Deadly Sins might throw some light on why the Greatness of America seems imperiled.

   A Pew research poll taken back in November revealed that when Americans were asked if they agreed with the statement "Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others", only 49 percent agreed.  In 2002 60 percent agreed with the same statement, and the decline seems most pronounced among young people age 18 to 29, who have no memory of better times.

   Thanks to Hilary Rosen we have discovered that this "War on Women" is even worse than we had first supposed.  Her swipe at stay at home mom Ann Romney as 'never actually having worked a day in her life', has revealed that this "war" is apparently being waged from all parts of the political spectrum!  

    Many years ago, in the days before Michael Moore had completely sold his soul to socialist propaganda and mashed potatoes, he produced what was actually an entertaining little film entitled "Canadian Bacon".  The story takes place in the aftermath of the Cold War.  An unpopular president, played by Alan Alda, faces a difficult reelection campaign mired in a bad economy and the lack of any central issues that his administration could take credit for.  His "ends justify the means" advisors come up with the harebrained scheme to invent a bogus war threat with, of all people, the Canadians.

    A little more than a year ago President Obama used the venue of his State of the Union address to publicly criticize the recent Supreme Court decision in the Citizens United case, regarding the restriction of political expenditures by corporations and unions.  As his supporters rose in standing ovation all around the stoic Justices, Obama's public criticism became public humiliation.  The Justices, bound by a decorum the President chose to ignore, remained generally unresponsive during the spectacle; though Justice Alito did mouth the words "Not true", a charge the NY Times determined to indeed be accurate.  The President may have been wise to have considered the oft repeated Marine Corps quote:  "Is this the hill you want to die on?"

    The lesson every aggressor army learns is that it is infinitely easier to invade than to occupy.  Yet in every war America has fought since World War II we have insisted on the same model of occupation; resulting in death, defeat and embarrassment.

    This is the conclusion of the discussion I began in last week's blog.  It is suggested you read that entry first if you haven't already, including the comment from a reader.  Interestingly, the comment reflected much of the outline for this week's conclusion.