How would you reorient the direction of America?

BradySama writes: "There are all kinds of stories being reported now-a-days about how very small numbers of Americans are happy with the direction the nation has been going in. The problem, though, is identifying the root causes behind the direction the United States has taken, and then figuring out what we should do about and and where we would want to head instead. In this article, Chalmers Johnson lays out one explanation and some possible courses of action. But I would pose to you, SlashDotters, this same question: what do you see as the fundamental root causes of what ails you today, and what do you think should be done to address and or correct those ailments? If we are the nerds, and we pay attention to the stuff that matters, I think we may come up with a really interesting discussion here. And please, feel free to expand the discussion beyond the United States to include all of our home countries and the world as a whole."