Americans In The Mirror

There is a simple explanation to the suddenly renewed love and devotion to the King Of Pop. The life and death of Michael Jackson parallels the life and slow, lethargic death of the United States.

We've gone through the looking glass. And as we weep at this pale fallen angel, we are actually looking at our fellow Americans in the mirror.

Forty plus years ago, MJ was the envy of musicians everywhere. He was young, talented, vibrant, full of energy and creativity. He was a beautiful young man. Everyone wanted to see him. They dwelled on his every lyric. Everyone loved him.

Forty plus years ago, the USA was the envy of the world. The newly minted Middle Class was young and full of talented workers with boundless productivity & creativity. It had masses of natural energy resources. It had beautiful country sides. Well tended farmlands and parks. It had an efficient mass transit system that was unmatched anywhere in the world. Every other nation sought to imitate the USA. Everyone wanted to be an American.

Somehow, slowly and gradually, MJ fell from grace. He hasn't made any notable contributions to the musical world in two decades. His appearance changed. His health deteriorated. He went into massive, un-ending, and inescapable debt. Neverland fell apart before our very eyes.

Slowly and gradually, the USA fell from grace. Our manufacturing base is gone. We outsource every function of society to the third world just to save a buck. Our mass transit system fell apart. Our natural energy reserves are gone. We've grown from a lean, hard working, society that could live off the land and produce the finest products in the world to an obese, oil-addicted, fast food nation that doesn't support its local farmers. And we've sold our health, wealth, and children's futures for a mountain of inescapable debt.

MJ couldn't sleep without his pills. MJ couldn't function without medications to obscure the pain. He was a social pariah.

The average citizen in the USA has four prescription drugs to help them through their day. Sleep aides, pain killers, little-blue ED tablets, and weight-loss pills are a multi-billion dollar industry where our Big Pharma companies spend more on advertising than they spend on R&D for cancer cures. And we've turned the USA into a global pariah whose sole purpose is to consume and rack up debt.

We watched MJ slowly implode just like we've sat by idly and watched the USA consume itself. Michael had nothing left. And neither do we. That's where the tears and the sobbing is coming from. We know the King Of Pops died for our sins. We watched his friends and family gather around that golden coffin and we remembered all the good things about him. We collectively voted to overlook and forget about his grotesque and incomprehensible transformation knowing we've followed him step-by-step, moon walk by moon walk, down the very same yellow brick road. And we cry because we all know this once-great nation of ours already has one foot in its own golden casket right next to him.