Americans are primarily consumers

This is a very discouraging observation. But I fear it is true:

First of all you have to note, from the public side, that very few Americans actually function as citizens anymore. What I mean by that are people who invest themselves in this country, people who care, who give a damn. Americans are primarily consumers today, and so long as they continue to wrap themselves in the cocoon of comfort, and the system keeps them walking down a road to the perceived path of prosperity, they don't want to rock the boat. If it doesn't have a direct impact on their day-to-day existence, they simply don't care.

-- Scott Ritter

You will remember that Mr. Ritter was a chief United Nations weapons inspector in Iraq from 1991 to 1998. He's the one who said that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction.