Why do I weep for America II - the Dream Train

I weep for lost possibilities. I weep because I have seen the mighty train of the path of this Great American Dream overloaded, its' once-unstoppable firebox now caked with the soot & cinder of untamed consumption & greed & entitlement; its' boiler thinned & warped by the overheated fires of disregard for tomorrow's consequences; its' brakes ground past their purpose as no one will stop to say, "This is enough! This is not right! This must not continue!"

It's once-proud whistle is now a mournful wail; and the rails upon which it rolls are weakened, & crooked, & rusted with corruption & lack of care - too many switches, too many turns, too-few straight stretches of track. This Great American Dream Train once excelled at pulling all loads up the steepest grades of the needs of the world: "I Know we can, I KNOW we can, I KNOW WE CAN!" Now, we have crested the final hill of potentiality, & are hurtling down the mountain into the valleys of despair.

Hank Williams Sr. wrote a song for my StepDad, & it echoes in my ears: "The midnight train, is whinin' low: I'm so lonesome I could cry..."