The political tone feels similar to the preamble to Afghanistan because it's not even been 20 years, and most of the actors are still in comparable position. Time moves very slowly, and we're still watching the slow play-out of a "new cold war" primarily acted out through economic interference and proxies.

The current state has definitely gotten normalized. Think back to the responses vs. Rodney King. But then think back further to Kent State, and the fact that much of the nation thought the national guard was _justified_ to kill innocent students. There's some sort of a sine-wave there, and I think it has to do with personal exposure to Real Suffering and Loss, and the lack thereof in recent memory has innured public perception to the cost of our action, and as such we're willing to fight eternal wars, bluster about destroying our enemies, and engineer the economy past realistic growth.

At the end of the Vietnam war, not even 50 years ago, a communication was sent by the final CIA officials evacuating Saigon. "It has been a long fight and we have lost. . . . Those who fail to learn from history are forced to repeat it. Let us hope that we will not have another Vietnam experience and that we have learned our lesson. Saigon signing off."

Cutting through the noise: The world won't end, history shows we're quite good at brinksmanship, but this is not an optimistic statement. We have not learned our lesson. I doubt we ever will.