Thirty-three years ago, in his sci-fi novel Friday, Robert Heinlein predicted our current political situation. As Friday, an “engineered superbeing,” and her “Boss” prepare for the “coming Dark Age,” Boss asks Friday what the symptoms of a sick society are. She says, “Violence. Mugging. Sniping. Arson. Bombing. Terrorism of any sort. Riots, of course…conscription and slavery…arbitrary compulsion…imprisonment without bail…”

Boss tells Friday she’s missed “the most alarming symptom of all…Sick cultures show a complex of symptoms such as you have named…but a dying culture invariably exhibits personal rudeness. Bad manners, lack of consideration for others in minor matters. A loss of politeness, of gentle manners, is more significant than a riot…This symptom is especially serious in that an individual displaying it never thinks of it as a sign of ill health, but as proof of his or her strength.”

Remind you of anyone?