In an alternate universe, Ronald Regan (that's his last name spelling in the alt. universe) slipped and fell 3 months before the election sustaining serious brain injury, and George H.W. Bush became the republican nominee and president. Alt. George Bush while a conservative, would not go on to back the kind of tax cuts for the rich that our Reagan did, because he did not believe in "voodoo economics," but even so, was not considered likeable by either moderates or useful enough to corporatists. Accordingly, the republicans were in disarray during 1984 and John Glenn would go on to win both the 1984 Democratic nomination and later the presidency. Glenn, having a visionary streak - probably because he was a former astronaut - and you know, science - saw the early promise of alternative energy and pushed for large investments in the solar and wind markets, thereby establishing the US as the world manufacturing and IP leader in alternative energy technologies. I have an alternate me living in that universe and the last thing he said to me at my high school graduation in 1981 was "Sorry, it sucks to be you - but I've gotta go."

A big step toward US decline.

But stupidity is relative and I've since forgiven myself. Even then, I did sense (metaphorically) that we as a country had come to a crossroads and made a deal with a demon.

I thought bush 2 was awful but the orange piggy turd is horrendous and is destroying our reputation and environment to enrich his donors and himself.

But if we do things the right way this time around, the country could come back stronger. Note that "if" and "right" do a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence. We fucked up reconstruction and we've been paying mortgage on that fuckup for 150 years. Among many other fuckups committed over the course of 2.5 centuries. Now everything about America is shitty and broken-down. We need to go through a rebuilding process, but first we need to clear the ledger to avoid a resurgence of white "Christian" nationalism. The world can't tolerate us this way.

and I saw tremendous improvements during Biden, Obama, and Clinton.

He played up his “aw shucks” schtick (“he’s SOOOOOO charming and funny and he sure does know what to do when the cameras are rolling! Let’s vote for HIM!”) to the hilt.

I’m proud to say I was never taken in by that schtick, but I’m guessing it was because I was on the air at the time and saw and heard a LOT of schtick. I knew Reagan was trouble but I never dreamed he would leave a mark this big.

We are in a death spiral.

It would have been a good idea to invest in this Country instead of bombing things in other countries