As far as I can tell, this saying first gained popularity in the 1940’s, though variations of it were in use throughout American history, beginning as early as 1629. The phrase suggests lack of struggle or ease of use, in the sense that if you can carry something in a handbasket, as opposed to a wheelbarrow, then it’s light enough so as not to require too much effort.

In reviewing the last five or so years of current events, hell in a handbasket is an apt description of where this society is headed, but probably not for the reasons you think. Yes, it’s true we’ve ejected God from the class room and from our governmental institutions. Yes, we’ve abandoned the unborn to abortion on demand, and relegated our aging to family-free nursing homes and geriatric care facilities. And yes, we’ve undermined the foundation of sane morality by the cultural espousing of relativism, multi-culturalism, and the if it feels good do it mantra. But none of these is the true underlying root of the problem, though all have been contributing factors for more than a generation.

The real issue in the last half-decade, you see, is an increasing addiction to entertainment. Our societal complacency is only shaken when we’re hit in the couch cushions, so to speak. As long as whatever is going so obviously wrong is over there somewhere, and doesn’t threaten our plasma TV or restaurant time, well then, we here in the United States are pretty much OK with it.

There are exceptions, of course: our all-volunteer military; certain unpopular politicians and writers; and some clergy, just to name a few groups. But on the whole, unless gas goes up to some heretofore astronomical price, or we are victims of another massive homeland attack (for which some citizens will blame us, and excuse the guilty), we Americans are content to TiVo and iTunes and youTube ourselves into gradual oblivion.

The Middle East may be a cauldron of chaos, but football is still on, and the annual car show awaits, and little Johnny has a soccer game, and Kareena’s orthodontist appointment got rescheduled to Wednesday, and, well, life goes on. In fact, we are so embedded in our comfortable, entertainment-rich lifestyle that we are unwilling to look deeply at anything that might threaten us over the long term. It’s not that we don’t care, or are unintelligent. It’s that we have been so conditioned to the pace and relative ease and stimulus-level of our way of life that we are sitting ducks for patient, persistent people who want to do away with us.

The smartest thing the jihadists could do to defeat us, instead of constantly threatening us or scaring us with grainy videos of beheadings and stonings, or trying to infiltrate and forcibly transform our democracy into shari’a law, is to produce an addictive, racy cable TV program with just the right amount of sex and violence, or invent and market an overwhelmingly popular video game console. In so doing, they would enthrall most of our society, and while thus distracted, those who want our destruction could do us in with one or two well-placed attacks, destroying the power grid, and collapsing our entire economic base.

But they’d have to wait until just the right moment to strike; giving their insidious entertainment strategies sufficient time to irrevocably enslave us to what has become our greatest weakness: stimulus addiction. And they’d have to make sure the disruption was comprehensive, because if the enemy’s efficacy or timing was off even a little, I believe there would be real hell to pay. There is nothing like American vengeance when the lights go out in the middle of a big game.

Yep, without God, or sane morals, or an appreciation of what really sustains our largely comfortable, entertainment-centered American way of life, we are doomed – for sure headed for hell in a handbasket.