[Tobra]

It is just that the idiots are the ones that scream the loudest, so you notice them more. A quote that always brings a tear to my eye. It is a young boy asking his grandfather if he were a hero in WW II. The grandfather replies, "No, but I served in the company of heroes." When times are tough, people step up, happened 60 years ago and still happens. There are just lot more people used to having things given to them.

It is still the land of the free and the home of the brave. Just wait for something bad to happen, fire, flood, kid get hit by a car or fall down a. well. Some will flee, or fail to respond well, but some, and probably more than you would expect, will step up, heroicly save someones life, and leave before you even find out their name.

I have been in a few natural disasters, floods, earthquakes, and can tell you, there will be looters, or gawkers standing safely away from the action, but America is still populated by great individuals. You sort of miss them in the crowd sometimes, but they are still there.

The Founding Fathers just assumed the best and the brightest would step forward and lead, it does not seem to have worked out that way much for the last 20 or 30 years though.

Oh, BTW, people that are doing okay with a good quality of life have more time to think about their lot in life. If you are scrambling to survive, you have less time to contemplate the meaning of life. Well educated people are more likely to sit around talking about it IMHO, just look at this thread.