America attempted to Shock and Awe Iraq in 2003. But the doctrine was more deliberately and effectively applied to the United States on 9/11/2001. With a minuscule force size and war chest, America's attackers were able to deal a compounding psychological blow through a variety of tactics. As a result of that echoing shock and awe, the United States has not achieved the recovery that seems its birthright. Americans see events through a 9/11 prism. The psychological injury of the Boston Marathon bombings was magnified by that refracted perspective. The overhang from 9/11 continues to beget mistakes, prodding broad-based economic malaise, cultural devolution and policy transgressions, such as the NSA's Leviathan phone-snooping program. As a result, America has entered a very specific type of decline.