Amerika revisited

In 1987, ABC TV ran a mini-series called Amerika. It told a futuristic tale of a conquered United States under the control of the Soviet Union and United Nations. From what I recall, Amerika was greeted with reviews that called it long, tedious, and very far-fetched.

Someone's loaded Amerika on YouTube.com, and I've taken some time to sample the first couple hours. Some of the scenes of desolate towns look very much like some of today's U.S. main streets in what we're calling the great recession.

In the first episode, there's also a classroom scene where a teacher goes over the social studies indoctrination drilled into elementary students. The exchange goes something like this:

Student 1: ...and there was lots of bullies. And when Americans conquered the continent, they killed lots of indians who had been living on the land peacefully for thousands of years.
Teacher: Can anyone tell us what caused our ancestors to be this way?
Student 2: They believed in survival of the fittest.  Everything was run by big companies. And the people who came into the country were forced on building railroads or sweat shops or coal mines for almost nothing, while the companies and bosses and government were rich and lived in big houses and had servants.
Student 3: If you couldn't work, they didn't think you were good for anything. And old people had to die because they lived in slums or got hurt in factories. 

Does this not sound like some social justice curriculum now taught in many public schools? Or the rhetoric spouted on the street by Occupy Wall Street's wannabe revolutionaries? Even our president now stoops to using this kind of anti-capitalist class war rhetoric as he tries to score political points with today's dumbed-down electorate.

In the fictional Amerika, our reeducation came at the heavy hands of Communist conquerors. So what's the excuse for the prevalence of this kind of anti-American propaganda in today's American mainstream?

It appears things have changed a lot since 1987. What was considered absurd then has become the norm now. Maybe we didn't notice because change happened slowly, over time. I guess the big question is, do we let our self-inflicted slide to socialism to continue, or do we begin restoration of our country and its economy under more traditional American ideals?

Update: We'll likely expand on the Amerika theme on this week's Don and Doug. Join us Thursday, Nov 17,  at 1pm EST on TalkSouthRadio.com.