Country Going Bad

The NYTimes today had this lead on a story about the national mood:
"Americans are more dissatisfied with the country’s direction than at any time since the New York Times/CBS News poll began asking about the subject in the early 1990s, according to the latest poll.
In the poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed that “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2003.
Although the public mood has been darkening since the early days of the war in Iraq, it has taken a new turn for the worse in the last few months, as the economy has seemed to slip into recession. There is now nearly a national consensus that the country faces significant problems.
A majority of nearly every demographic and political group — Democrats and Republicans, men and women, residents of cities and rural areas, college graduates and those who finished only high school — say that the United States is headed in the wrong direction. Seventy-eight percent of respondents said the country was worse off than five years ago; just 4 percent said it was better off.
The dissatisfaction is especially striking because public opinion usually hits its low point only in the months and years after an economic downturn, not at the beginning of one. Today, however, Americans report being deeply worried about the country even though many say their own personal finances are still in fairly good shape."

Well, yes...and no.
Of course, part of the problem here is that the dangum pollsters only list a number of possible responses, all dictated by the media, and "the economy" is on top and "spiritual awareness" is nowhere on the list.
I've been thinking for some time that the USA is on the wrong track, but my thought is not based on economics. It's on spirit. If you ask me what track America should be on, I reply: "There should be more spiritual awareness. I'm not talking about hunting for ghosts, I mean of each person's spiritual identity and goals, which have nothing to do with economics."
So that people know that God doesn't send guilt and punishment, or economic misfortune, but that NOT respecting God causes those things and worse. With true spiritual awareness of the true source of all good, we will be fearless, contented, and, despite the Rolling Stones song, satisfied.