Humanity-warning: cyncism ahead

So, I was thinking about some news bits of late- most especially the stem cell legislation by our new president. I was disappointed in that, because they have already figured out how to get skin cells to act like stem cells, so they can get all they need and the necessity of destroying embryos should have been made moot- but for the sake of alacrity and convenience, they want to continue to use embryonic cells, because the process for 'changing' skin cells to stem cells is evidentially more complicated than I know.
And that sort of sums up the American way to me right now- why sacrifice or work harder if you don't have to? Get all the perks and bonuses you can, and why do things differently than we have done in the past 20 years? And, I think connected to that is the concept of immediate gratification and immediate disposal. Our entire ethos and identity can be summed up in the word "consume". Take whatever you can get, pleasure yourself or amass resources for later and continued pleasure, and when you finish with something- simply dispose of it.
As I quoted in my piece from Mr. Mullins, when we see human life as a means to an end, we take all value from it. It is something to be used, consumed, and thrown away when we are finished with it. I guess my cynicism on this has been fed by numerous stories of late- such as the mother who kept her child in a closet for 7 years (story here) or the Texas institute for mentally handicapped folks whose staff set them up in human cockfights (story here) or in the case of the Octo-mom, who needed to have kids to fulfill her own needs (Nadya Suleman was "fixated" on wanting a "huge family" because she wanted "more affection from [her] mother."She volunteered that much of her motivation was about "me projecting my own wants and wishes onto my children."). How about the Austrian father who imprisoned his daughter and repeatedly raped her for 20 plus years? The atrocities of Abu Graib prison in Iraq (and the stories which will come from Guantanamo). The innumerable children enslaved across the world(including the ones in the US sold for drugs) in the sex trade? I could go on and on and on.
I realize there are bright stories of human triumph and caring, of heroics and justice that can counter every headline grabbing negative piece I can come up with. I know that people aren't intrinsically evil, hopelessly selfish and beyond redemption. What my current disappointment rests most in is that I had hoped we would begin to hear from our leadership some appeals to our better angels. One of the most disappointing moments after 9/11 was George Bush telling us to go and shop or the terrorists win. Be a mindless consumer, buy things and live life as normal, or those who oppose us win. With a new administration, two wars and a tough economic time, I really was hoping to hear of some appeals to sacrifice- to give for the common good- some serious butt-kicking and name taking amongst the bloated corporate bonus culture (especially the record breaking profitable Oil industry). I have heard Obama's rhetoric, and it puzzles me why he will not step up on economic and energy issues and push a hard line for reform and sacrifice- giving substance to the claims that Americans are about more than maintaining a cushy, rich, over the top lifestyle. Instead he continues to hold a hard line on those issues which cheapen our value- which say we have as much arrogance as anyone on the planet- and we can decide when life begins, and what is worth keeping and what is not- and for the sake of expediency and simple definition of oneself as everything the past administration was not, will let the ends justify the means- and use federal money to pay for it. And on the money side of things- well, let's stimulate (a very sex-filled term) the economy with bajillions of dollars so things can just keep going as normal- we can keep on our path of selfish pleasure seeking fun. I just want one congressman or senator (or even the president) to say, "Here's half my salary- given the current state of things- I can do without." I mean, seriously, since Obama's meals, housing, transportation, security and all office supplies are paid for, don't you think he could symbolically take a pay cut? Maybe even 10%? But why bring that much change to Washington- wasn't it OK the way it was?