Famous dates in American history:

1. The Murray v. Curlett lawsuit, which led to a landmark Supreme Court ruling ending official Bible-reading in American public schools in 1963. This came just one year after the Supreme Court prohibited officially sponsored prayer in schools in Engel v. Vitale.

2. Coup d'etat of Nov 22, 1963 removing a man of democratic ideals and peace, and replacing him with a man, and a system basing our economy on the military industrial complex. We have never looked back.

3. San Franciso, June 26, 2002— A federal appeals court here declared today that the Pledge of Allegiance is unconstitutional because the phrase ''one nation under God'' violates the separation of church and state.

4. Feb-Apr 1979: After the Shah of Iran's admittance to America for medical treatment for terminal cancer, the Ayatolla Khomeini returns from 14 years' exile to Iran, and begins the foment of Islamic Fundamentalist revolt now stirring and affecting the entire world.

5. And whatever the hell date that Politically Correct robotic thinking became the norm. I remember in the mid-70s in the Air Force, being told I had to re-name items, such as manhole to street hole cover, and all the rest.

We have traveled a dangerous downhill road from a time when we looked at each other, smiled, waved, held doors, were polite drivers, and voted and took care of our neighbors, to a society in which waving consists of just one finger, absolutely no driver shall be allowed to cut in front of us, children and pets are left in hot cars routinely, guns are everywhere, arguments are settled with guns before the argument even gets started, our school system has fractured wide open where everyone has the answer although no one knows the questions, teacher's opinions carry zero weight, and we continue as a nation to interfere in the internal affairs of other nations, wholly neglecting our own infrastructure, veterans, mentally ill, elderly, poor, and homeless.

How in the hell did we let this all happen? How do we fix it? Because half the nation's population is made up of older patriots. The other half is made up of Millennials who will follow whatever is trending, and thinks that govt freebies are good. 

Damn.