FROM ORWELL WELLS-HUXLEY IN NEW YORK

IS IT A DYSTOPIAN NIGHTMARE, OR A PROPHESY?

“Imagine cities emptying, buildings decaying, vacant block after vacant block as far as the horizon,” says A. Edgar Poe of the Centrist Think Tank Welcome To Detroit. “It’s all very possible. I bet the Maya thought their cities would last forever right before they were abandoned. Ever seen Ur of the Chaldees? No, you haven’t because this once great city is now a heap of ruins.”

According to his latest book, America: The Retreat from Happiness, Poe feels the American dream has gone into reverse. “It’s an old story. A great society reaches a pinnacle and then begins to decline. And once the decline happens, it’s almost impossible to stop. You can delay it, stall it even, occasionally reverse it slightly, but the general trend is always down.”

Poe says that once a society polarizes and neither pole can dislodge or overcome the other, the death spiral soon begins. Each side pursues their own interests. After time, they are like a couple leading separate lives. Eventually, the separation and divorce are inevitable. But before that, everything around them begins to decay. Bad homes have a smell about them, you know.”

Poe insists, however, that nothing is absolutely inevitable, but says the current omens are not good. “Eventually, the tax take will no longer be able to support expenditure; lack of expenditure will speed decline; decline will lead to less taxes, and so on. Soon enough, more people will be paying alimony than taxes. When that happens, it’s game over. Fingers cross it doesn’t.”