Like the World War that we wanted to keep across the ocean the last Battle of Britain headed our way and Charles Lindbergh and the rest of America First could do little to keep their troubles away from our shores while a few people like Edward R Murrow broadcast the carnage to let Americans know that they could not hide from this horrific event and that unless we did something it would end up in our laps. FDR knew The Battle of Britain was our problem and he threw everything he could at them until the Japanese bailed him out with Pearl Harbor.
Such is the history lesson we now confront. Watch those rioters in London. Watch those fires burn and you see the beginning of something people do not want to think about. It is a breakdown of society. Think Arab Spring. Think the fall of the Soviet Union. Great nations do fall and it is usually because the will of the people was subverted by forces bent on looting and taking power for themselves at the plight of the many. We hold these truths to be self evident: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. So says our founding fathers but for our middle class these truths now ring hollow.
They certainly ring hollow for the great swath of people in Britain marginalized by an economy and austerity measures. If people have nothing to lose then they will riot and burn and pillage and steal and even murder. We have seen it before, but because of the strange duality of hard economic times coupled with governments going into austerity mode we now see gasoline thrown on an already burning fire. It is to our detriment that we are heading down austerity road with the Republicans and The Tea Party who believe pain is our only salvation. That pain is burning down buildings in London right now.
The middle class are not children and our leaders are not school masters. They were right there with us spending the money. But they have become the drunk who drinks all the booze and then tells everyone it's terrible how much they drink. The Battle of Britain is raging now. It is across the ocean and like the last World War it seems distant and not our affair. But we better wake up before another December 7th jolts us out of our complacency. Or those burning buildings will be our own.
Rocket Man is a hilarious, well written novel about one man's search for the New American Dream." - James Frey, author A Million Little Pieces and Bright Shiny Morning
