Many traditional conservatives, libertarians, and progressives who are no longer mesmerized by the Obama persona are beginning to realize that the 2012 elections might be the last chance to right the ship of state. Either we Americans can continue down a fear-driven path that will lead to our transformation into a police state with a declining economy, retaining only the trappings of a constitutional republic, or we can admit that the legacy of the past 10 years has been like a metastasizing cancer, something that should be surgically removed and discarded.

Fantasy? Well, maybe. But who would have thought during the summer of 2001 that the United States would declare war on the entire world and become embroiled in a number of unwinnable conflicts in Asia, that it would willingly bankrupt itself to do so, that Americans would accept the wholesale dismemberment of the Bill of Rights, and that electoral and political corruption would reach unprecedented levels. Osama bin Laden, the man blamed for the terrorist attacks in September of that year, openly boasted of his plans to bankrupt the United States by getting it to overreact to presumed threats. Did he ever get that right, with Bush and Obama acting predictably and cluelessly. Unless someone in Washington is smart enough to turn around the playbook, America will continue to slide into despair and disillusionment, and the answer will always be the same: more repression, more blame directed at outside forces, more lashing out like a wounded giant. Do nothing and 2016 could easily mark the death of the United States of America.