Beautiful.It is 1974. Until he resigns in August, the American president is an out-of-control alcoholic and criminal whose Secretary of Defense has (illegally, I might add) directed that no use of nuclear weapons is to occur without his agreement, as he was afraid that a drunken and depressed Nixon would order them fired. The recently-elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom holds a tenuous grip on the job, with a hung parliament and a second election of the year looking likely. The German chancellor, scandal-ridden and drowning in booze, has just resigned in disgrace. The Greeks and Turks are on the verge of war after the coup and invasion of Cyprus. A bomb is detonated in Westminster Hall, and several large car bombs rip through Ireland as the Troubles reaches its zenith. Italian neo-fascists bomb a train, killing dozens; other terror attacks perpetrated by Japanese communists, Palestinian militants, Puerto Rican nationalists, soon follow. Inflation rages unchecked, as it has for several years, in part a ripple effect from the oil crisis that consumes the first few months of the year.
But this isn't western civilization in huge decline. No, that'll have to wait 50 years, for some dipshit to leave a gram of blow in the White House.
But stop re-writing the narrative with sensible thoughts!