Callum Makkai

The jet zoomed past the shiny skyscrapers and over the Delaware River, revealing an awesome panorama. As the plane touched down on the tarmac, a palpable sense of elation overtook my weary soul. It was a relief to have the long journey from Beijing behind me.

One hundred years ago, America fell in love with a machine. The big crush began with Henry Ford's Model T, and for generations it seemed our four-wheeled friends could do no wrong. Though cars sometimes repaid our love with a deathly crush of their own, as when they veered off the road or slammed into an oncoming vehicle, we learned to forgive these transgressions.

I never thought I'd see the day when a top Republican publicly decried "greed and corruption" on Wall Street. In last week's debate, Sarah Palin let loose a stream of words you'd normally associate with the left: "Never will we be exploited and taken advantage of again by those who are managing our money.

'In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs," wrote George Orwell in the opening scene of his classic novel, 1984. "It was the police patrol, snooping into people's windows." So begins Orwell's terrifying vision of a future in which the state watches each and every citizen, keeping track of their habits, even dictating thoughts.

The doctor looked at me apologetically. "I'm sorry," he said. No, it wasn't a bad prognosis. I wasn't about to die. The doctor was apologizing for the inadequacy of the medical system in America generally and at Penn specifically. "It's just not a good system," he added.