Our food supply:
Bovine growth hormones, cigarettes, aspartame, high fructose corn syrup, terminator seed, trans fats, red and yellow dyes, chemical preservatives, stripped, refined, bleached and pressed...
Our education system:
Of 1,000 high school students in OK tested, 77% did not know who the first POTUS was. Of 40,000 college freshmen given a basic American history/economics exam, the average score was 54%. The same test given to college seniors resulted in an average score of 56%. In 1970, 1 out of 4 was academically gifted. In 2008, 1 out of 10 was academically gifted. Since 1970, the US has fallen from #1 in the world to #17, just above Mexico, in basic educational skills.
The examples are nearly infinite of the dumbing down of the general population.
War:
Korea, Bay of Pigs Cuba, VietNam, Cold War, Lebanon, Panama, Iraq vs Iran, Grenada, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Serbia, Somalia, El Salvador, Colombia, Iraq, Iraq II, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Liberia... all undeclared, all unconstitutional, all with an agenda other than national security.
Prisons:
The US has the largest prison population in the world. The numbers are racist as hell and the numbers of non-violent drug offenders are simply mind-numbing, considering (for one tiny example) that Afghanistan is said to supply 93% of the world's opium and the Taliban reduced that supply to nearly zero. Since the US invasion, opium supplies have increased 44 times.
Health:
1 out of 4 Americans will get cancer and only 15% will live past 5 years. One American every second will have a coronary event. In 2009, 785,000 Americans will have a coronary attack. Obesity, diabetes are epidemic. Chronic diseases account for 7 of the 10 leading causes of death in the US.
I could go on and one, but, IMHO, the bottom line is that anyone who thinks that big oil, big banks, big industry, big pharma and big military have the general population's well being at heart needs to be smacked in the head with a baseball bat.
Bosso