America - the White man’s America, the
stars-and-bars-in-the-garage America, the
citizens who kneel before Trump like he’s
Caesar at a NASCAR tailgate - you are lost. Lost in space, lost at sea, lost in the
country, lost in the mountains. America as a
whole is stumbling, but this segment in
particular - the flag-waving,
grievance-howling choir that still calls him
“President” - is lost in the most American way
imaginable: wandering a Walmart at 3 a.m.,
barefoot in pajama pants, clutching a
two-liter Mountain Dew, and asking Siri how to
spell “democracy.”
Miseducated and under-educated,
misled and happily led astray, arrogant in
their ignorance, drunk on ill-gotten and
undeserved power. Power inherited, power
stolen, power hoarded like off-brand Halloween
candy. Audacious, shameless, self-righteous
power - wielded with the confidence of a
C-student who cheated off the smart kid and
then called it destiny. Gee-flippin’ wiz,
folks, this is the America we’re dealing with.
Lost in TikTok scrolls and Fox News rants. Lost in church
pews preaching hate with a smile. Lost in
traffic jams under ‘Coexist’ bumper stickers
that coexist with middle fingers out the
window. Lost in debt, drowning in Amazon
boxes, and still insisting we’re the richest
nation on Earth. Lost in guns, God, and
gas-powered trucks that get three miles to the
gallon while Miami slides into the ocean like
a greased-up slip ’n slide.
Remember Klic-Klacks, Superballs,
Dragster banana-seat, sissy-pole dragsters
bikes with the 5 speed shifter and the
“emergency” Parking Brake?
Sorry, I got carried away.
Lost in nostalgia - yearning
for some 1950s sitcom fantasy that never
existed, where dad came home, took off his
suit coat and put on his sport coat, mom baked
pies, and nobody ever mentioned Emmett Till.
Lost in denial, pretending racism, climate
change, and fascism are just ‘alternative
opinions.’ Lost in culture wars where Dr.
Seuss and Mickey Mouse are more dangerous than
AR-15s.
Lost because we’ve mistaken
noise for truth, spectacle for leadership, and
grievance for gospel. Lost because we keep
chasing a mirage called ‘greatness’ when the
tank’s been on E for decades. Wall Street
exported the “breadwinner” gigs that funded
the American Dream in 1975. Today’s America is
lost in a carnival funhouse - every mirror
warped, every reflection distorted, every exit
sign leading back to the gift shop selling red
hats made in China.
And maybe, just maybe, America isn’t merely lost - it
doesn’t want to be found. Because being found means facing the
ugly map of who we really are. And Lord knows,
that’s scarier than being lost forever.
Lost in Space and Fantasy
We’re lost in Elon Musk’s space
race fever dream, as if planting a Tesla on
Mars will save us while we can’t even keep a
water pipe from bursting in Jackson,
Mississippi. We’re lost in Hollywood reboots
and sequels, because God forbid we create
anything new - nostalgia is easier than
responsibility.
We fantasize about “manifest
destiny 2.0”, colonizing Mars while ignoring
the potholes that can swallow a Prius in
downtown Detroit. We cheer for billionaires
blasting themselves into orbit for fun, then
snarl at food stamps like they’re what’s
bankrupting the nation.
MLK said, half a century ago, “Our
scientific power has outrun our spiritual
power. We have guided missiles and misguided
men”.
Lost at Sea…SOS
We’re drifting, rudderless,
like a cruise ship that forgot to hire a
captain, passengers singing karaoke on the
Lido deck while the hull quietly fills with
water. And the lifeboats? Already auctioned
off to the highest bidder.
Never forget that the designers
of the RMS Titanic removed lifeboats, and
replaced them with luxury suites. No, we
aren’t evolving and advancing, we’re going in
circles.
We’re a nation that treats the
oceans like a garbage disposal, then looks
shocked when hurricanes show up like repo men
demanding payment. We pretend climate change
is a hoax cooked up by hippies while
beachfront condos become Atlantis with granite
countertops.
Lost in the Country and the
Mountains
Out in the country, we’re lost
in cornfields of conspiracy, chasing UFOs,
Hunter Biden’s laptop, and whatever new
bedtime story Tucker Carlson is whispering
into the void. We’ve got militias training in
the woods like it’s Boy Scouts for adults who
never earned a badge but sure love a rifle.
In the mountains, we’re lost in
frontier cosplay - men in camo trucks
pretending they’re Daniel Boone, except Boone
never had an AR-15, a Costco membership, and a
Wi-Fi router spewing QAnon memes.
Lost in Denial
We’re lost in the denial of
history itself - pretending slavery was just
“involuntary relocation,” pretending Jim Crow
was a minor inconvenience like a DMV line,
pretending George Floyd somehow killed himself
with a knee on his neck.
Our textbooks are being
rewritten faster than a Marvel franchise
script, all to protect fragile feelings.
Because apparently, the truth is “too woke.”
America doesn’t want honesty; it wants a
bedtime story with a happy ending and no bad
guys.
Lost in Culture Wars
We’re lost in fights over
Muppets, bathrooms, and Disney movies, because
that’s easier than asking why insulin costs
more than rent. Lost in screaming about drag
queens while the Supreme Court quietly drafts
a love letter to the Confederacy.
We treat every book as a
potential Molotov cocktail, but assault rifles
as patriotic accessories. We’ll ban Toni
Morrison, but let kids play Call of Duty until
their thumbs cramp. And the irony? No one sees
it. Or worse - no one cares.
Lost in Ourselves
We are a people who believe
freedom means “my way or highway.” Masks?
Tyranny. Seatbelts? Optional. Vaccines?
Satan’s plot. But God forbid Starbucks spells
your name wrong - then it’s time for
revolution.
We’re lost because America’s
soul has become a clearance rack, everything
negotiable, nothing sacred, and everyone
walking out with a knockoff version of
liberty.
The Final Twist of the Knife
And maybe that’s the kicker - America isn’t just lost,
it’s perfectly comfortable being lost. Because to be found would mean staring
into the mirror and admitting we are not
exceptional, we are not united, we are not
“one nation under God.” We’re a collection of
fractured tribes yelling at each other across
Wi-Fi signals, numbing ourselves with Netflix,
and waiting for the next delivery from Amazon
Prime to fill the hole where meaning used to
be. Might we be pawns in a cutthroat
capitalist board game, labor and consumers,
both inherently expendable to the
quasi-aristocrats and the soulless Investor
class.
So yes, America is lost. Not in
the noble sense of explorers charting new
lands, but in the tragicomic way of a drunk
stumbling out of the bar, swearing he knows a
shortcut, and waking up in a ditch clutching a
MAGA hat and a bag of Cheetos.
And if you listen closely, you
can almost hear the GPS voice of history
saying:
“Recalculating.
Recalculating. Recalculating…”
Why Can’t We Live together?
Because here’s the truth: America isn’t on the verge of
being found - it’s on the verge of being forsaken. By its own hypocrisy, by its own arrogance, by its own
refusal to admit that greatness isn’t a
birthright but a practice. We are a nation
that has been mistaking being lost for being
free, mistaking wandering for destiny,
mistaking denial for hope.
And when the world finally stops indulging our delusions,
when the storm surges rise higher than the
lies, when the mirror no longer bends the
funhouse reflection but shows us exactly “who,”
and “what” we are - there won’t be a rescue party. There won’t be a
cavalry. There won’t be a second chance.
The cruelest twist? The enemy
that conquered America didn’t storm the
beaches, didn’t drop bombs, didn’t come from
across an ocean. It was us. It was always us
.We can’t live together in peace and harmony;
it’s asking way, way too much of a
semi-civilized species at this point in time.
Apparently uh?
And that is how a nation stays lost forever. Damn, Paradise Lost, ah, the possibilities,
what America could have been if not for White Male Supremacy, Right? Why can’t we live
together?!
