November 22, 1963. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated. Two days later his alleged assassin is gunned down on national television. The entire nation enters into a state of mourning that eventually succumbs to depression and paranoia. By 1968 the American military is deeply committed in Vietnam, a quagmire it is unable to escape until the mid-1970s. Not even a change of presidential administrations is able to resolve the war; Nixon in fact escalates military involvement when elected. Throughout these years American faith in government is weakened by revelations of various illegalities associated with the war, as well as the illegal actions of the Nixon administration. The costly war, along with over-dependence on foreign sources of oil, leads to economic collapse and recession by 1980.
September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center and Pentagon are attacked by alleged militant Islamic terrorists. Hours later the twin towers collapse on national television. The entire nation descends into a state of grief and mourning, followed quickly by rampant fear and paranoia as some unknown individual terrorizes the nation with anthrax-laced letters. Months later the American military invades Afghanistan and overthrows the Taliban; in 2003 the US military overthrows Saddam Hussein, long a burr under the American saddle. By 2008 the nation is deeply committed to two military occupations in two countries, stretching the military dangerously thin, increasing nationalist fervor, and revving up the fear and paranoia to Cold War levels. Not even a change of Presidential administrations is able to provide any hope of resolution, as Obama escalates involvement in both conflicts upon election. This period of time sees citizen faith in government almost devastated by incompetence and corruption at the highest offices of the Bush administration, and delivered a near killing blow by the broken promises and corruption of the Obama administration. Two costly wars, coupled with over-dependence on foreign debt, lead to economic collapse and recession by 2010.
Everything old is new again.