The horrific attack in Boston has rounded up not the usual suspects but the usual prayers and platitudes.
After each devastating act of vicious murder and mayhem, we have commentators deploring the incident and then, instantly, expressing their faith in America, in our democracy, and in God.
"We are stronger. We are more just. We will triumph over evil."
Well so far, we haven't.
Our hubris has blinded us to the inconvenient truth: Our American way of life has taken us into a descending spiral of hate, fear and despair. Economic inequality and social injustice have eaten away at our democracy, imperceptibly but inexorably turning America into an unstable and unhappy nation.
Our bodies are filled with unhealthy food; our leisure is filled with violent entertainment; our minds are busy with electronic gadgets. And we are continuously pitched the message that this constitutes the good life.
Our children are growing up too fast, without the security of childhood, so they get caught in the violence or turn it upon themselves.
Our elders are aided by extreme medical means to live longer, and are then ignored.
And through this entire scenario of hypocrisy and superficiality, we continue to praise and defend our way of life!
It's a sobering lesson of history that all the great empires -- including the Roman, Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian, Soviet (and yes, even the British) did not fall apart from foreign invasion, but from their own over-expansion, hypocrisy and corruption. This, I fear, is the future of the American Empire.
It may be too late to change course. The more often disaster strikes, the more often we hear the pundits proclaiming our invincibility. They are deaf and blind. The fact is, Americans are at risk of losing it all: our strength, our freedom, our very lives. Trusting in God is not going to save us; nor is trusting in our government, which has become paranoid and aggressive overseas, unresponsive and ineffective at home.
It's time to wake up from the American Dream, and face reality. It will mean giving up our fantasies, our indulgences, and our toys. It will mean... no more denial.