V-8s, surf guitar, street racing. What happened?

I am doing my part to preserve what was once America by driving a V-8. To your larger question: We are not as cohesive a group anymore. We're not Americans as much now as we're THIS KIND of Americans or THAT KIND of Americans, each owed more of course from the common coffers than the rest of the hoi poloi. We're a body in decomposition, not unlike the Roman Empire - fat, dumb and happy - except we have scalpels in our drunken hands - technology. It is now possible to feel fully engaged socially without any interpersonal contact at all. And we make heroin illegal because people might hurt themselves with it.