We are the ones we've been waiting for.

Generally speaking, the narratives we play out in our minds, play out in our lives. In my own life this seems to be both a physical and a metaphysical truth. It is not magical thinking nor is it a secret.

The grotesque aspects of the post war self-help movement stem from its repudiation of the all important character trait of humility. Short circuiting a vigorous, reality based, personal inventory with a glib demand to simply "change your thoughts" is both lazy and cruel. Telling a junkie to "just say no" to the next fix is asinine. As is telling a pauper they can be wealthy by merely thinking really hard about getting rich. Reality must come first. The proper sequence is Be, Do, Have. Be exactly where you are, do what is needed to move forward, have the results of your shift. Our perversion of late is believing Have, Do, Be, is the way to success and/or happiness. I'll be happy when I get the new house, mate, TV, Sizzler salad bar on special...It's not only shoddy thinking, it's lazy and entitled.

The "Yes I can, if I just think I can" culture is the opposite of reality. It's the culture of Las Vegas expanded to include everything from money to romance and back again. The odds of success are the same however. One in a million do hit the jackpot. The other 999,999 must adjust their lives to grow wealth, invite romance, or achieve any other goal. In other words, they must act as if reality matters. Our dime store mystics and Wall Street brats are of the same zeitgeist: Something for nothing.

Jackpot thinking cannot exist without its opposite: the gaming of the system to ensure that even those who "play by the rules" cannot succeed. If integrity makes a come back - the gaming of the system will die a natural death.

The same general rules apply to entire countries. This country has a narrative. Into this narrative stream, each of us throws our two bits. The collective narrative plays out. The collective unconscious becomes the working model for our conscious lives.

Obama is an expression of a narrative of entitlement that stems from the 1980s at least, and got its sea legs in the 90s. In 2008 "change" became synonymous with "pain free". Mr. Obama personifies the desire to trump reality. To go directly from triage to complete recovery, skipping the annoying and taxing steps in between. For all the blather about Hillary's entitlement- Obama's campaign was a case study in how to manipulate a country into handing one man something for nothing. Sadly, it was entitlement's apogee. The moment it was farthest from reality. Entitlement won a battle, but reality, as always, will win the war.

We, as a nation, can - and, in fact, are - directing our future. How conscious we are in this endeavor is what matters. Few moments in our history have demanded as much awareness as the current one. Limping along until the next saving grace does not appear to be an option. Yet, in this moment, distraction has been elevated to a God given right. This cannot last. So it won't.

Currently, the gulf between Wall Street and Main Street is boldly inviting a catastrophe. The plot points of chaos are being written: off the charts gun sales, seething anger, overt duplicity from our leadership, a deeply indebted nation throwing bad money after bad money, elites making a killing while unemployment spikes, and, on all levels, an intractable desire to ignore our basic structural problems.

Even our doom narratives are an entertainment. 2012 has become short hand for our collective death wish. The grip of this particular unconscious narrative is fierce and therefore profitable. Still, bourgeois interpretations of Mayan or Hopi or John of Patmos prophesy are relevant only to the degree that they mesh with a growing sense of disparity and pessimism. If the chaos is exclusively contextualized by the History Channel and end times doomers then it will become our reality.

The first place to be is in the knowledge that the something for nothing era has ended. You won't hear that from our leadership. They can't or have no interest in owning this fact. Individually and collectively we must adjust to this new American reality. If the fog of seething resentment is cleared, what needs to be done will become apparent. It always does. Putting an end to the printing of money to salve Wall Street's self inflicted wounds is a good place to start. And we can't have a legitimate conversation about the role of our government until our government is wrenched from the hands of Wall Street.

What I know with near certainty is that the current President will not be leading the way. It's pointless to expect him to any longer. Frankly, he hasn't the stomach for it.

To borrow a phrase: We are the ones we've been waiting for.