The shit decade

The first decade of this century was awful for this country:

• It began with the 2000 presidential election's drawn out vote counting, recounting, and court resolution. This cut a blunt partisan divide and cast a shadow over the ultimate winner. The razor-thin margin revealed weaknesses in our election mechanics overlooked in normally more decisive election victories.
• Then the 9/11 terror attacks hit America hard and traumatized the country. But our response made it worse. The government now conducts more intensive surveillance on its people then I'd ever have thought possible. And...
• ...we got ourselves into a truly stupid war in Iraq that made the region more of a threat then when we started there; killed, wounded, and mentally damaged many soldiers; and cost a incredible amount of money.
• The financial crisis and the Great Recession sucked the wealth out of our communities, leaving millions of homeowners underwater and the highest unemployment in a generation.

The decade closed with some better events. We elected our first black president. The economy stabilized, thought we haven't returned to pre-recession prosperity. And then we saw Iraq descend into such chaos that we speculate that it isn't any better than it was under Saddam.

It was a shit decade, and we are still rolling around in some of that shit.