-- where any change at all that looks like it might simulate real change starts to look really good.

It's not a bold statement to say America is in decline, or that most Americans live in denial.
But it took reading this article for me to gain proper perspective.

"Every civilization carries the seeds of its own destruction, and the same cycle shows in them all. The Republic is born, flourishes, decays into plutocracy, and is captured by the shoemaker whom the mercenaries and millionaires make into a king. The people invent their oppressors, and the oppressors serve the function for which they are invented." -Mark Twain

America, great calamity of the world.

One definition of a politician is someone who sees which way the wind is blowing and goes in that direction. OTOH, it is possible to sail against the wind. Methods for doing this are called tacking or beating. However, even these methods one cannot sail directly into the wind. (BTW, the whole essay is one big nautical analogy. You have been warned.)