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When did America go wrong? The reckoning is coming.

Where was the biggest turning point? Post ww2 please.

by Anonymousreply 390January 5, 2022 11:30 PM

Probably mid-70's, when TPTB, who used two believe that a rising tide raises all boats said "Fuck it! I'm taking all the boats I can and burning the rest."

by Anonymousreply 1October 13, 2021 10:13 AM

When Sandra O’Dildo picked Bush as President

by Anonymousreply 2October 13, 2021 10:13 AM

Meant to add a poll -

Entering the Vietnam War

JFK assassination by racists against Civil Rights

Pardon of Nixon

Reagans destruction of unions

Corporatization of DP by neoliberals

SC installation of George W

Failure to punish war crimes of W, Cheney and Rumsfeld

Bailout of banksters with taxpayer money

Failure to prevent Russia from installing Trump

Did I miss anything important?

by Anonymousreply 3October 13, 2021 10:15 AM

After Hillary said, "I take full responsibility" for Benghazi — then didn't. She robbed Bernie Sanders. And Clinton's selfish ego installed Trump.

by Anonymousreply 4October 13, 2021 10:17 AM

Don't be modest r4, you did your fair share to install Trump!

by Anonymousreply 5October 13, 2021 10:22 AM

I'll add the the Supreme Court allowing Citizens United. It's gives billionaires and corporations unlimitied money to buy and influence politicians. They're running the show now.

by Anonymousreply 6October 13, 2021 10:29 AM

When Lee Atwater entered politics

by Anonymousreply 7October 13, 2021 10:29 AM

Oh, poor lil' R5... Next time, save your exclamation points for sumpthin' significant.

by Anonymousreply 8October 13, 2021 10:29 AM

I will "Oh Dear!" myself at r1, "..... who used TO believe....."

by Anonymousreply 9October 13, 2021 10:33 AM

1980 - the American Taliban: Reagan, the Moral Majority & the Christian Coalition

by Anonymousreply 10October 13, 2021 10:38 AM

1492

by Anonymousreply 11October 13, 2021 10:44 AM

Baby Boomers. That's what happened.

by Anonymousreply 12October 13, 2021 3:39 PM

Clueless Joe and VP Giggles

by Anonymousreply 14October 13, 2021 3:46 PM

Wokeness

by Anonymousreply 15October 13, 2021 3:47 PM

R13 F&F

by Anonymousreply 16October 13, 2021 3:48 PM

Since we reinstated rights to Confederate traitors.

by Anonymousreply 17October 13, 2021 3:53 PM

It was always probably going to end this way. We overdosed on the things that made us successful in the first place. Endless Individualism ultimately leads to division. Free markets lead to monopolies. The pursuit of happiness above all, yet at the cost of trampling on others.

by Anonymousreply 18October 13, 2021 3:56 PM

R15 F&F

by Anonymousreply 19October 13, 2021 3:57 PM

Electing Reagan

by Anonymousreply 20October 13, 2021 3:57 PM

The consolidation of power in the Executive branch.

The pardon of Nixon.

Ending the fairness doctrine and the rise of 24 hour news channels with increasing bias.

All that said, it should still be noted that the US in the 21st century is the freest, most egalitarian nation in the history of the world, the #1 destination for oppressed people seeking freedom and opportunity. Hopefully, we can save that before it all goes to shit.

by Anonymousreply 21October 13, 2021 4:03 PM

When America started its imperialism all over Europe and the world dictating to peoples what to think/say/do, based on ITS culture and history without any respect for other country cultures. When America spreads its propaganda through Hollywood and its love and obsession for money above anything else as a value.

by Anonymousreply 22October 13, 2021 4:11 PM

Agreed R20.

Reagan the smary old creep with pomaded bottle black hair and a greasy smile to deflect truth, "the Teflon President," opened the way for substance to be abandoned; for truth to be sneered at; for people not to have to pretend to care about those in worse situations; and worse, to believe in trickle down economics. This delusion of far too many reshaped "American Exceptionalism" as a believe that those tiniest of crumbs that fell from the head banquet table would build a stairway by which they would soon sit with the upper crust, where they belonged.

by Anonymousreply 23October 13, 2021 4:12 PM

the Reagan era. He convinced the fed to pitch the idea that social security was insolvent, raising fica on the middle class - generating trillions of dollars which he used to plug holes in his trickle-down economics, fund his contra war, and other plans essentially stealing from his own people. no other president had as corrupt a cabinet as Reagan.

by Anonymousreply 24October 13, 2021 4:12 PM

*as a belief

by Anonymousreply 25October 13, 2021 4:15 PM

R10 and r20 nailed it. When evangelical “christian” fascists entered politics en masse (ironically as part of a movement to defeat Jimmy Carter, arguably one of the most Christian presidents we’ve ever had), that was the beginning of the end.

by Anonymousreply 26October 13, 2021 4:16 PM

People who think the US has only been on a downward spiral since Reagan are historically illiterate and probably watch Bill Maher.

by Anonymousreply 27October 13, 2021 4:20 PM

Reagan! Thread closed.

by Anonymousreply 28October 13, 2021 4:23 PM

Oh I forgot to say that now the growing rejection of America throughout the world is explained by the fact that the American obsession with race and gender is destroying many societies, especially in Europe. Again, American history is not the history of the rest of the world. The American social medias that spread their totalitarian Wokism without any shame destabilize the education of teenagers. Many countries are thinking of creating their own social medias without taking into account the threats of Zuckerberg or Jack Dorsey or Google who do not hesitate to influence policies within the European Union, for example. This way of thinking that only their platforms have the right to rule the world is the perfect example of American imperialism. Zuckerberg interfered in the elections, Dorsey too. This is not normal. They want to replace the presidents and governments of the world.

by Anonymousreply 29October 13, 2021 4:29 PM

[quote] Entering the Vietnam War

We entered the Vietnam War in like 1951 or 52. So you need to be more specific.

America has failed to understand moderation.

There will always be those who push us beyond where we are ready to go or where we even should go. We understood in the 60s and 70s that while you may want "revolutionaries" pushing boundaries and nudging us in different directions, you NEVER want those people in control. We knew that back then that these people were crazy and often dangerous. But we tolerated them because they were useful. They just needed to be recognized as the very flawed people they were and kept under control.

It's like the way the US takes certain aspects of socialism - free schools, social security, medicare/medicaid, libraries, etc - but god help us if we ever became a purely socialist country.

I am reminded of what my mom would say about fashion. Every year as a child my NYC born and bred mother (whose aunts were in the fashion industry) would eagerly await the September Vogue because it was huge and full of fabulous designs. As a military brat we often lived far away from NYC and often any decent shopping. As a child I told her I thought the outfits were too much and I mean who would wear those crazy things and where could they wear them. She would patiently explain that the designers didn't intend for you to wear the crazy runway outfits but rather see the new materials, designs, colors and, well the vibe of that year's fashion. It was supposed to be bigger than life and that the clothes they would sell to the public would be fashioned after these bolder and crazier templates. (not talking about normal couture runways).

Of course at some point people with more money than taste (celebs and attention hos) actually wanted to buy the crazy models and wear them. And that continues.

It truly is the chestnut: give them an inch and they'll take a mile.

You can apply this to so many other areas of life. We went wrong when we forgot to say Enough! No!

Unsure if our lives just became too busy to take the time to wrestle through such demands and it was easier to just let the kids wear their pajamas to the store rather than argue about it. But I think that's where we are. And now the kids in pajamas with no boundaries or limits are adults.

by Anonymousreply 30October 13, 2021 4:31 PM

[quote] American obsession with race and gender is destroying many societies, especially in Europe

Viktor Orbán, what are you doing in on DL?

by Anonymousreply 31October 13, 2021 4:32 PM

It was Reagan's administration. Any other answer makes no sense because every president we've had since Reagan has been a slight variation on his policy. I don't think it's historically inaccurate to say the 80s really was when American society seemed to become incredibly conservative as pushback for the previous two decades, and stagnated since.

by Anonymousreply 32October 13, 2021 4:32 PM

Ummm...colonialism and mass genocide of native people? Enslavement of Africans? America was never a perfect, amazing place. It has always gone wrong. Throughout history, the American government makes morally wrong decisions to buy more time, and those decisions tend to cause further problems down the line. for example, the CIA made a lot of choices in ways to fight Russia and Communism which ended up biting us back later in the form of terrorism, geopolitical instability, drug crisis, and refugee crisis.

by Anonymousreply 33October 13, 2021 4:35 PM

R31 In Orban's country, there was no slavery no colonialism. They don't have to be obsessed with the racial question. This is something that many of you on the DL have trouble understanding. Orban rejects LGBT propaganda in schools for children, he is not oppressing gays in his country. Hungary has HIS culture, HIS people, HIS point of view. It is not up to other countries to impose THEIR ideologies on them. This country fought communism for years, and before that they fought the Ottoman Empire. If you continue to look at other people through your prisms, it is obvious that you will only create hatred. Hungarians are big enough to decide what they want without interferences.

Btw, I am from Switzerland. Not everyone is Russian or Orban.

by Anonymousreply 34October 13, 2021 4:38 PM

Boomers ruined everything.

by Anonymousreply 35October 13, 2021 4:39 PM

[quote] for example, the CIA made a lot of choices in ways to fight Russia and Communism which ended up biting us back later in the form of terrorism, geopolitical instability, drug crisis, and refugee crisis.

Partly as a result of the fact that when we were in a position of power at the end of the war (WW2) we didn't say NO! to Russia's demands.

Do not dismiss the turmoil created by the USSR cynically using countries for their own power gains while doing very little to actually help those nations gain real independence rather than in name only.

by Anonymousreply 36October 13, 2021 4:41 PM

I used to marvel at the inconsistency/hypocrisy of Reagan's foreign policy. Russia was the Evil Empire, but "constructive engagement" (i.e., nothing) with South Africa was just fine and Bishop Tutu was a "phony."

by Anonymousreply 37October 13, 2021 4:47 PM

I'm 62. Reagan, as many have said, first came to my mind.

by Anonymousreply 38October 13, 2021 4:49 PM

Boomers elected Reagan. Trump is a Boomer. So yes, boomers did ruin America.

by Anonymousreply 39October 13, 2021 4:50 PM

Probably JFK Dallas '63 inaugurated the deep public doubt mistrust and cynicism about volatile factions within the US which can't be reconciled. RFK and MLK but five years later only tripled down on this gruesome sense of lawlessness.

I don't believe that LHO was the lone gunman, but I know plenty do. Even if he was, the brutal networks of power plays plausibly revealed by conspiracy researchers for decades hardly inspires confidence in the inner workings of a global superpower.

If America had any innocence left to lose, it lost it in Dallas in November '63.

by Anonymousreply 40October 13, 2021 4:52 PM

Dubya being handed the Presidency by the court was really the turning point.

Had the court ever before made such a vital ruling and said that it should never be cited as precedent i. Any future case? It was the moment when the Supreme Court became a partisan entity. And even more importantly, it was the moment when the Republicans decided that the only important issue was power, even if they obtained it by blatantly cheating.

by Anonymousreply 41October 13, 2021 4:52 PM

R34, if you sincerely believe that LGBT equality is an evil totalitarian “ideology,” why are you posting here? You do realize that this is a gay forum, right?

Also: the notion that Orbán isn’t persecuting Hungarian gays is a lie.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 42October 13, 2021 4:54 PM

[Quote] We entered the Vietnam War in like 1951 or 52. So you need to be more specific.

Why? R30 What difference does it make? Rest of your post was tldr coz you had me there.

by Anonymousreply 43October 13, 2021 4:54 PM

[quote] Btw, I am from Switzerland. Not everyone is Russian or Orban.

No wonder you sound like an insufferable asshole.

by Anonymousreply 44October 13, 2021 4:55 PM

Electing Reagan. Presidents became all about themselves after that.

Then Obama. He sided w the billionaires of America while sacrificing everyone else.

Trump just finished what the other two started.

by Anonymousreply 45October 13, 2021 4:55 PM

There's no need to be rude r44. Go start your own rude thread.

by Anonymousreply 46October 13, 2021 4:57 PM

R46, you must be new here, Miss Schoolmarm stating her boundaries.

by Anonymousreply 47October 13, 2021 4:58 PM

What’s especially rude is coming to a gay forum and defending anti-gay fascists like Viktor Orbán. You’re just a troll.

by Anonymousreply 48October 13, 2021 5:00 PM

No not new, a few years. Why don't you call out rudeness too r48?

by Anonymousreply 49October 13, 2021 5:02 PM

R42 You should know the definition of ideology and propaganda. Gay rights are a very important thing. It is very good that there are some. But this propaganda has no place in schools. Children should not be subjected to the ideologies of us, the adults. School is for learning to read, to count, to improve one's knowledge in order to have a good job as an adult. Elementary school is not the place for propaganda. Any kind of propaganda.

How can we impose on children the sexuality of adults when they are still growing up? This is Victor Orban's question. I'm gay, so your attempt to make me look like a homophobe won't work. Politico is 100% focused on the ideology of the European Union. I preferred to listen to Hungarians explaining exactly what is going on in their country and not to foreign or biased media.

by Anonymousreply 50October 13, 2021 5:04 PM

R42 lol @ not realizing that globohomo is a top-down movement being imposed by the global capitalist elites that you think you hate.

by Anonymousreply 51October 13, 2021 5:05 PM

And there’s the self-loathing gay fascist contingent heard from.

by Anonymousreply 52October 13, 2021 5:05 PM

Good to see that OP has no problem showing what an ignorant asshole he is. I hope he doesn't start crying next.

by Anonymousreply 53October 13, 2021 5:06 PM

R44 And you still don't understand what's wrong with America?Calling me an asshole because I'm from Switzerland is I guess not racist and perfectly normal according to Americans? LOL Every time I am amazed by the Americans hypocrisy on this site that claims to be left wing but where you can read such things. As soon as someone doesn't think like you all or tries to have an adult discussion, this kind of comment appears. What makes you different from Trump supporters when you make such comments? I don't see any difference between you.

by Anonymousreply 54October 13, 2021 5:08 PM

Query: Why hasn’t known troll (and proud of it) and asshole shitposter Defatturd, pathetically desperate for any form of attention, been banned yet?

America went wrong when it declared independence from the UK but did not apply that freedom and independence to the slaves as well. It resulted in the electoral college, it generated generations of racial dichotomy, it caused a horrific civil war, and it resulted in whites resorting to fascism and a buffoonish rightwing strongman rather than seeing their political dominance eroded.

by Anonymousreply 55October 13, 2021 5:09 PM

R48 I believe that children in elementary school are much too young and not yet developed to give them lessons on Trans for example. This is not about gay rights. It's about propaganda. Words have a meaning. I would like to point out that in most part of European countries sex education in schools does not start until you are 14 years old. Why would you want to introduce Trans ideology in elementary school?

by Anonymousreply 56October 13, 2021 5:13 PM

[quote] the American obsession with race and gender is destroying many societies, especially in Europe

How very rich coming from a country that helped aid the Nazis. It's nice to see the fascist streak is still strong over there!

by Anonymousreply 57October 13, 2021 5:15 PM

R57 Lol and it's a fat ass sitting on Lands that don't belong to him, whose natives were genocided, it's a fat ass who did slavery and segregation that lecturing me about Nazism. You are a clown.

by Anonymousreply 58October 13, 2021 5:19 PM

R58, how very hurtful coming from some smug Swiss cunt who probably hasn't bathed in a week and defends homophobes like Victor Orban and anti-gay policies.

by Anonymousreply 59October 13, 2021 5:26 PM

R56, the problem with America is conservative wingnuts who obsess over a group that makes up less than 1% of the population

by Anonymousreply 60October 13, 2021 5:27 PM

America (if you mean the USA, which is a different thing altogether) went wrong when it bent over for the Southern slave states' refusal to accept and ratify the Constitution (did the issue ever really come up much with the Articles of Confederation earlier).

Genocide of indigenous populations first, then African slavery, then empowering the corporate world (now the international military-corporate world).

This country has not truly developed two steps as a whole since the late 1950s. And race is at the core of it.

by Anonymousreply 61October 13, 2021 5:29 PM

R59 There are no anti-gay policies in Hungary. There is just the agenda of the European Union, which the Americans have infiltrated with the Woke ideology. It's hurtful? Lol your racist comments about the Swiss I guess are quite normal. You're dumb and the discussion with you ends here.

by Anonymousreply 62October 13, 2021 5:30 PM

r7, pretty much, if you had to make the devil into a man, it was him

by Anonymousreply 63October 13, 2021 5:36 PM

R55 I’ve been banned twice. I’m not a troll. I’m entitled to my opinion.

by Anonymousreply 64October 13, 2021 5:38 PM

This is a good article that outlines a lot of the ills we are facing right now and traces those ills back to innate, structural problems. The wildfires in California are a good allegory for the corruption of society.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 65October 13, 2021 5:55 PM

The Patriot Act

Bank Bailout of the Aughts (Emergency Stabilization Act of 2008)

Unfettered social media giants and the buying and selling of world government

by Anonymousreply 66October 13, 2021 5:59 PM

When the Plutocratic Powers That Be finally saw their relentless propaganda that demonized unions, the very things that assured a middle class lifestyle, pay-off with “Reagan Democrats” voting for that moron.

Reagan Democrats saw voting for Reagan as “aspirational” instead of seeing it for what it actually was- shiny, sugar-high, crumbs from the table.

As the saying goes “Trickle down economics is Trickle On economics”.

And I won’t let Clinton signing the NAFTA off the hook either.

There were plenty of union Dems who were against it because they feared it would decimate low-skilled high paying union manufacturing jobs that sustained the lower to middle class.

And of course, as we see, their fears became reality.

The USA is no different then any, say, Central or South American country where a very few own the wealth and the vast masses live paycheck to paycheck. In fact, it’s worse because those countries don’t bother with the pretense of societal ideals, but we love them. It’s just we don’t want to live by them.

Add in that we’re in the midst of the deconstruction of basic elections apparatuses and now turn the oven to OFF, America is done.

by Anonymousreply 67October 13, 2021 6:05 PM

I'm also over that turd Dejure, R55! He needs to be banned for life like that vile Anscher creature!

by Anonymousreply 68October 13, 2021 6:10 PM

As others have said,Reagan pretty much destroyed the country -- demolished the middle class, enfranchised the religious right, appointed rightwing judges, and much more.

by Anonymousreply 69October 13, 2021 6:15 PM

The Swiss Orbán-lover here is basically saying that acknowledging that gay people exist and have the same rights as heterosexuals is propaganda that should be banned by law from elementary schools, and anyone objecting to this is just "woke." I knew that Fidesz is basically the Tennessee Republicans of central Europe, but I didn't know that their reactionary homophobia flourished in Switzerland, too.

by Anonymousreply 70October 13, 2021 6:15 PM

[quote] This country has not truly developed two steps as a whole since the late 1950s. And race is at the core of it.

LOL! Okay, Rip van Winkle.

One of the problems with America is people like you who refuse to acknowledge the incredible progress we have made since then and still remained a healthy country.

You think because we haven't reached the final destination that we haven't left the station. Ridiculous.

by Anonymousreply 71October 13, 2021 10:15 PM

For me, it will always be Vietnam. MId- to late-sixties Vietnam. This colossal, hideous lie, that taught people never to trust their own government again. Then Watergate. Then....

by Anonymousreply 72October 13, 2021 10:42 PM

R64, you only post here in order to piss people off, which is the very definition of trolling.

by Anonymousreply 73October 13, 2021 11:12 PM

1619

by Anonymousreply 74October 13, 2021 11:31 PM

Passage of NAFTA.

by Anonymousreply 75October 13, 2021 11:35 PM

When the "Gong Show" premiered. It opened the pop-culture doors to President Carter and his family, Morton Downey and Jerry Springer and their progeny talkshow hosts and programs, Roseanne, reality TV, Emeril, "Married With Children," et al. OK, "Married" is my guilty pleasure in reruns on Logo on Saturday nights, I admit it. ;D

by Anonymousreply 76October 13, 2021 11:37 PM

June 14, 1954- When "under God" was added to the pledge of allegiance. Even though the non-religious or "nones" are up to 30 percent of the population, getting elected demands you believe in one of 3 specific fairy tales. Where1 is by far the best choice, 2 is problematic but somewhat accepted and, 3 is weird and scary but at least it's SOMETHING.

Offsite Link
by Anonymousreply 77October 13, 2021 11:56 PM

Reagan's win in the fall of 1980.

Birthplace of the idiot theocracy in America.

Ronnie was scared shitless to mention AIDS even when about a million Americans were infected.

His SG had to play smoke & mirrors with his AIDS mailing (to every US home) in order to get it out with correct info with the crazies distortions.

by Anonymousreply 78October 14, 2021 12:05 AM

[quote] ] I’ve been banned twice.

The very definition of someone who should be banned, DefatTurd.

[quote]I’m not a troll. I’m entitled to my opinion.

You’re a troll and they don’t *post* their opinions, they post for the purpose of bothering others.

by Anonymousreply 79October 14, 2021 12:46 AM

When they cancelled Romper Room?

by Anonymousreply 80October 14, 2021 2:16 AM

The Powell Memo

by Anonymousreply 81October 14, 2021 2:20 AM

[Quote] This country has not truly developed two steps as a whole since the late 1950s. And race is at the core of it.

I tend to agree.

[Quote] people like you who refuse to acknowledge the incredible progress

R71 I think the operative phrase in post is "as a whole". Its worth a think. Who has benefited from the progress made since the 1950s? Who has been left behind?

by Anonymousreply 82October 14, 2021 9:28 AM

1) Ending Reconstruction too soon. 2) Plessy vs. Ferguson 3) JFK assassination & cover up 4) SCOTUS installing W as POTUS 5) Citizens United 6) The Russians installing Trumputin 7) The nail in the coffin: Twitler’s cabal getting away with 1/6/21

by Anonymousreply 83October 14, 2021 10:07 AM

The utterly disastrous changes to our immigration laws in the 60s. We can never recover from importing hundreds of millions of the world's poor. Allowing welfare or benefits for new immigrants also makes you wonder why any country would take them. They are an incredible drain on this country and have turned our cities into dangerous shitholes.

by Anonymousreply 84October 14, 2021 10:11 AM

America has "gone wrong" many times, it's not a perfect country (though at least we didn't kill 6 million Jews, amirite Europe?). But I'd trace the source of our current malaise to the mid-70s aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate. People on both the right and left were completely cynical about government, and it opened the door for the Reagan "revolution" and the total replacement of the social contract with the values and dictates of the profit motive d/b/a the free market.

by Anonymousreply 85October 14, 2021 10:42 AM

Supreme Court judge.Antonin Scalia installed Dubya as President over Gore and was openly making decisions based on his Catholicism. Ever since his heart stopped pumping life into him in some deserted part of West Texas, the Pukes have been “woke”. This is when it became obvious that they needed to take over the SC and this became a conservative priority. DUMS were too slow to see this unfurl, if they even see it today.

The ironic twist of the knife is that Al Gore was all about fighting climate change. Imagine how different our present reality could be if someone could have stood up against that fat biased bastard

by Anonymousreply 86October 14, 2021 10:59 AM

R84, cite your source mother fucker. Seriously, back your shit up or GTFOH.

by Anonymousreply 87October 14, 2021 1:11 PM

Cutting taxes on the rich. They used part of the extra money to start endless culture wars and propaganda. Today hundreds of thousands of people are paid to spout right wing ideology nonstop. James Madison predicted this.

by Anonymousreply 88October 14, 2021 1:18 PM

AOC

by Anonymousreply 89October 14, 2021 1:28 PM

For those citing Reagan’s win as the fault of Boomers is ridiculous. Boomers voted for Carter and Anderson in 1980. Anderson was a longtime Republican who changed dramatically and ran on a platform of raising gas taxes and lowering Social Security taxes. Educated liberals and young (Boomer) voters were enamored with him.

Reagan was elected by that wonderful ‘Greatest Generation’ who voted for Reagan by extraordinarily large margins. And for another thread, the reality that the GG enacted and put into place much of what is attributed to Boomers would make for an interesting conversation.

My personal opinion of the downfall of the country was the CBS ‘Rural Purge’ of 1970. Mayberry R.F.D.? CANCELED! Gomer Pyle? CANCELED! Green Acres? CANCELED! The Beverly Hillbillies? CANCELED! I think that year might have been the birth of the modern age deplorable.

by Anonymousreply 90October 14, 2021 2:06 PM

October 7, 1996 – The beginning of LIES, HATE and DIVISION for profit from Fox “news”

by Anonymousreply 91October 14, 2021 2:22 PM

I couldn’t agree more r90. Did you know there’s a mail order catalog selling Mayberry R.F.D. memorabilia? Some tour company is actually selling tours of the original house in Mayberry that was featured in the Andy Griffith intro. These dumb fucks actually think he lived there with Aunt Bea and there’s no such thing as a soundstage. What a bunch of dumb fucks. May qualify as a COVID silver lining.

by Anonymousreply 92October 14, 2021 2:24 PM

R77 imagine not realizing that Social Justice has itself become the de facto religion for the so-called “nones.”

When men choose not to believe in God, they do not thereafter believe in nothing. They then become capable of believing in anything.

by Anonymousreply 93October 14, 2021 2:26 PM

When people decided that Facebook could have their all of these data and do what they want with it as long as they got to share pictures of the kiddies on vacation with grandma.

Little did they know that was the Trojan horse that would do us all in.

by Anonymousreply 94October 14, 2021 2:28 PM

[Quote] The utterly disastrous changes to our immigration laws in the 60s. We can never recover from importing hundreds of millions of the world's poor.

The laws were intennded by JFK and Tip O'Neill to bring more Irish in to shore up their decreasing number of voters in Massachusetts.

by Anonymousreply 95October 14, 2021 2:43 PM

DeFecto, I could name any number of Christians who are also “SJWs”. Being religious and socially progressive are not mutually exclusive. But I wouldn’t expect an ultra-con troll to comprehend that.

by Anonymousreply 96October 14, 2021 3:15 PM

R94 is correct.

by Anonymousreply 97October 14, 2021 3:43 PM

[quote]For those citing Reagan’s win as the fault of Boomers is ridiculous. Boomers voted for Carter and Anderson in 1980. Anderson was a longtime Republican who changed dramatically and ran on a platform of raising gas taxes and lowering Social Security taxes. Educated liberals and young (Boomer) voters were enamored with him.

I remember John Anderson making a cameo appearance on SNL and chatting with The B-52's at the end of the episode.

by Anonymousreply 98October 14, 2021 4:00 PM

R96 progressive Christians who choose politics over doctrines are not true Christians (e.g. pro-abortion “Catholics.”)

by Anonymousreply 99October 14, 2021 4:09 PM

America was never innocent in anyway shape or form. Not with genocide of the natives and enslavement of Africans...now African Americans.

And JFK was apart of the problem. He was a wealthy white Irish man whose needs were more than met, thx to his crooked corrupt money grubbing father. I really hate that line in JFK's inaugural address when he says, "ask not what your country can do for you, but what can you do for your country."

That line was disgusting, coming from someone who was privileged beyond belief and had everything handed to him on a silver platter. In that position, it's very easy to say something like that. JFK also dragged his feet on voting rights and civil rights. It took LBJ getting in there to get that done.

So I hate it when people say America lost its innocents on November 23 1963. America never had any innocents to lose, because the country was never innocent in the first fucking place. This country was built on rotten behavior. The day Kennedy was assassinated, was just another day in America. It was routine and business as usual. It was America operating as it always had.

Also, Britain is a big part of why America is fucked up today. It brought slavery and its genocidal ways to the Americas, and once America became an independent nation. It adopted a lot of that British emperialism with it and did as it pleased.

It also gave America racism. I blame Britain for the mess America is today.

by Anonymousreply 100October 14, 2021 4:13 PM

Tell that to Pope Francis, r99. He is a “SJW” in most repects. So, for that matter, was Jesus.

by Anonymousreply 101October 14, 2021 4:50 PM

When we started being too busy entertaining ourselves with life's pleasures, luxuries and fulfilling our own needs to find time to take care of our basic responsibilities to others. Like taking the time and real effort to raise our children to be responsible and independent adults. And you don't have to be a parent to take part in that collective responsibility.

by Anonymousreply 102October 14, 2021 4:52 PM

R101 I’m not a papist so it really makes no difference to me either way what the Catholic Church does, I’m just telling you what I think.

by Anonymousreply 103October 14, 2021 5:13 PM

And I think that a “true Christian” should concern him- or herself much more with feeding the hungry and healing the sick and redressing historical injustices than with wedge issues like abortion and homosexuality. The way Jesus did.

by Anonymousreply 104October 14, 2021 5:39 PM

When its governments slobbered menacingly over British North America, and were victimized by the "Manifest Destiny" mind-virus

by Anonymousreply 105October 14, 2021 5:41 PM

When we let Rupert Murdoch into the country.

by Anonymousreply 106October 14, 2021 5:42 PM

[quote]once America became an independent nation. It adopted a lot of that British emperialism with it and did as it pleased.

Wasn't entirely independent then, was it. No need to adopt the bad practices from which supposedly liberated.

[quote]It also gave America racism. I blame Britain for the mess America is today.

Again, no need to accept such a gift from a bad donor. Even if so, plenty of time to make good such a bestowal. Blaming Britain now is like blaming your great-grandparents for a challenging life in the present. Profitless.

by Anonymousreply 107October 14, 2021 6:16 PM

[quote] When we let Rupert Murdoch into the country.

The Commonwealth Nations truly aren't sending their very best political minds, are they?

by Anonymousreply 108October 14, 2021 6:19 PM

The myth/opiate/delusion of American exceptionalism.

by Anonymousreply 109October 14, 2021 6:33 PM

^ Mixed with the myth/opiate/delusion of the American dream.

by Anonymousreply 110October 14, 2021 6:34 PM

Democracy requires buy-in from the people. Faith has been lost. All the high-flown, lofty language of our founding amounts to nothing in the face greed and corruption. And you can't expect self-knowledge from a people -- and thus clear-headed participation in its governance -- when they've been gaslighted for decades. The system is rigged for the powerful. We see it everywhere. Too much power is held by too few hands, and we either fix this problem for everyone or it goes to the streets.

by Anonymousreply 111October 14, 2021 6:34 PM

Everything comes down to culture, and on this point we are indeed exceptional. There isn't a noble idea that hasn't been sold to the gutter and made most un-wholesome.

by Anonymousreply 112October 14, 2021 6:39 PM

Facebook made us stop being nice to each other. Even if it our niceness was fake, it was necessary for society to function.

by Anonymousreply 113October 14, 2021 6:50 PM

The internets.

by Anonymousreply 114October 14, 2021 6:57 PM

The RAT LINE running in two directions: DC to Wall Street and Wall Street to DC.

by Anonymousreply 115October 14, 2021 6:59 PM

The economic globalization of China.

by Anonymousreply 116October 14, 2021 7:18 PM

R100, We should stop blaming our parents for our misfortunes in life by the time we reach 35 or 40 (at the latest) and we should top blaming Britain for our country's missteps by oh, I don't know, 100 years? And racism, we might as well blame Caesar except in his time it was known as tribalism. I'm afraid bias is here to stay regardless of the name we give it. What we need is a fresh way to talk about it. Honesty is a good starting point.

by Anonymousreply 117October 14, 2021 7:18 PM

R116 A house of cards on its way to collapse.

by Anonymousreply 118October 14, 2021 7:20 PM

R117 I'm 33 so I guess I have another 2 years than.

by Anonymousreply 119October 14, 2021 7:20 PM

The US Federal government invented Hollywood way back in the early 20th century to perpetuate American propaganda. Washington just didn't realize just how lucrative the entertainment industry would become.

Hollywood is actually named after an aid that worked for a US senator who had a hand in creating Hollywood. The aids name was literally Holly Wood. That's an obscure story most people don't know.

Hollywood is a prepetual experiment formed by the US Federal government.

by Anonymousreply 120October 14, 2021 7:25 PM

Oh I knew Holly Wood. Holly Wood was a friend of mine. Hollywood is no Holly Wood, R120.

by Anonymousreply 121October 14, 2021 7:27 PM

[quote] Hollywood is actually named after an aid that worked for a US senator who had a hand in creating Hollywood. The aids name was literally Holly Wood.

R120, did you know that if you look up the word “gullible” in the dictionary, there’s no entry for it?

by Anonymousreply 122October 14, 2021 7:30 PM

r81 Thank you for mentioning that. The memo and its ramifications are talked about at length(right in the first chapter) in Hedrick Smith's book "Who Stole The American Dream?" I would encourage everyone to read it, if your stomach is strong enough. It's frightening how insidious that memo was/is at starting the ball rolling for the downfall of the United States.

Surely there were people who were uncaring, devious, treacherous, amoral, manipulative, backstabbing and venal. It was not all just that, the electorate allowed the policies these charlatans and crooks put in place to take hold and strangle our democracy. How were we to blame? We neglected due diligence, and forgot to apply critical thinking to what was unfolding. The continual re-electing of the same snake oil salesmen can only be laid at our feet. Not many realized what was bearing down on us from the other end of the tunnel- many still do not.

Is it too late to "right our ship of state"? The pessimist in me says yes, but I also want to believe we can at least stem the tide, by doing our duty and not be lazy about voting. The Republicans have been on a stealth, and not-so-stealth, mission, for the past 40 years, and the Democrats are only now attempting to catch up. The present situation in our country cannot be remedied overnight unfortunately. What best to do? A clean sweep of the Congress all in one election cycle, because we don't have time to do things piecemeal. Radical? Yes. Will it happen? Like I said, I'm a pessimist.

by Anonymousreply 123October 14, 2021 7:34 PM

Technically, this thread ended at R10.

by Anonymousreply 124October 14, 2021 7:34 PM

For the simple minded, perhaps.

by Anonymousreply 125October 14, 2021 7:48 PM

Imagine living in a country where slavery, segregation, rampant abuse of power, wars, etc. have taken place and saying “wokeness” is our decline.

by Anonymousreply 126October 14, 2021 8:03 PM

R35 - “ Boomers ruined everything.”

So did your mother R35, when she had you. Fuck off, stop the blame game, and make something out of your bitter life.

by Anonymousreply 127October 14, 2021 9:26 PM

r120 - Sure, Jan.

*

Daeida Wilcox, who donated land to help in the development of Hollywood, learned of the name Hollywood from an acquaintance who owned an estate by that name in Illinois.Mrs. Wilcox is quoted as saying, "I chose the name Hollywood simply because it sounds nice and because I'm superstitious and holly brings good luck." She recommended the same name to her husband, Harvey H. Wilcox, who had purchased 120 acres on February 1, 1887. It wasn't until August 1887 Wilcox decided to use that name and filed with the Los Angeles County Recorder's office on a deed and parcel map of the property.

by Anonymousreply 128October 14, 2021 9:40 PM

The Republican party reaching out to fundy nutters. They used social issues to divide the country while in the background, they were pillaging the middle class for the benefit of big business. Culminating with the ultimate win of Citizen's United. If that isn't overturned, which can probably only be achieved by packing SCOTUS, something the Dems don't seem to have the balls for, things will only get worse from here. If you think after SCOTUS overturns RvW that gay marriage isn't next, you're not paying attention.

by Anonymousreply 129October 14, 2021 9:56 PM

Correct, r129.

There are two forces that are more toxic to democracy than any others: greed and religion. American politics are thoroughly contaminated by both.

by Anonymousreply 130October 14, 2021 10:03 PM

Where we are now is the culmination of 50+ years of effort. The civil rights movement tried to address long standing issues. But as those who mentioned the Powell memo above know, there have been efforts in the works to blunt reform or change since those years. You still have the business community reinforcing right wing politics and propaganda. Wisconsin was a squarely progressive state, but WMC (Wisconsin Manufacturing and Commerce) has worked for over 20 years and have a GOP loaded state house, the terms of Scott Walker, and a lot of paid judges to show for it.

The religious right made inroads into state and federal levels of government starting in the late 70s. They were seen as crackpots and freaks then but much of that long game view started to pay off with government seats and judicial seats in the 2000s. While the number of religious people in the country has dropped, the influence of evangelical Americans has soared, especially with the help of media and social media.

We made a terrible error by letting manufacturing die or leave the country, and by turning to corporations to be the cornerstones of our economy. Corporates merged and grew huge, and now have outsized power. We saw in the first year or so of the pandemic what not making things in your own country can do to availability, etc. Many countries have struggled in the wake of the collapse of industrial economies to make a transition to a less industrial one, but some have done better than others (Germany being one example). But we let a whole segment of the economy fail and did little to nothing to help those impacted. Some of the most fervent Trumpers have been out of work - or haven't had the steady, reliable job they had - since the 1980s, and they have no idea nor any realistic way how they could transition to a different job or "learn to code."

Suburbia was seen as a great thing in the 50s 60s and 70s, but we've paid the price for it since. We've paid higher taxes so that expensive roads can be maintained, roads that only exist because people decided to live an hour from where they work. We pay SO much for the entire infrastructure of the suburbs, and get so little in return other than ugly buildings and traffic. We spend all that money on things that are, when one compares it to so much of Europe, temporary buildings that seldom last past a 25th anniversary. And the suburban homes have become a way for us to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world, allowing us to turn a blind eye to everyone and everything, not thinking about our impact on other human beings, feeding the whole me me me, whatever I want vibe that feeds so many Americans.

The American Exceptionalism of first Reagan and then Bush II dovetails with this. We're just a dumb bully now, that thinks it also can do whatever we want. Much of our growth in the 50s and 60s, imperfect as it was, was due to the flood of people who came to the US after the war - we had people with great creativity and ideas who influenced science, art, business and more. (Including ugh, yes, some reformed Nazis.) But we welcomed those people, I think for the most part we feel now that we cannot learn anything new. Other countries are doing many many things so much better than us, but unlike before, we not only aren't shamelessly stealing their ideas, we're rejecting them.

I'd also say the politicization and destruction of our schools. This is another thing we can blame on the massive corporate influence. So much budget cutting in the 80s got rid of civics, the arts and other elements of a rounded education. Texas - fucking TEXAS - became the state that guides our entire national choices of textbooks.

The media/social media element is a complicated one to unpack and I don't think it's what's gone wrong, but there are times where the ease of the spread of misinformation makes it more of a liability.

by Anonymousreply 131October 14, 2021 10:11 PM

Spot on r23/r24. Reagan did so much damage. Even at the time, "trickle-down economics" was dismissed as horseshit by actual economists and everyone else who was intelligent and experienced in that realm.

by Anonymousreply 132October 14, 2021 10:27 PM

[quote]Partly as a result of the fact that when we were in a position of power at the end of the war (WW2) we didn't say NO! to Russia's demands.

We were so exhausted and depleted by WWII we just didn't have the fight left in us.

by Anonymousreply 133October 14, 2021 10:31 PM

[quote]America (if you mean the USA, which is a different thing altogether)

Oh not THIS tired shit again

by Anonymousreply 134October 14, 2021 10:38 PM

Well said, r131.

by Anonymousreply 135October 14, 2021 10:42 PM

[quote] Boomers voted for Carter and Anderson in 1980.

BULLSHIT. Millions of Boomers were in love with Reagan. He won by landslides both times.

by Anonymousreply 136October 14, 2021 11:02 PM
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by Anonymousreply 137October 14, 2021 11:10 PM

[quote]This country has not truly developed two steps as a whole since the late 1950s. And race is at the core of it.

This is such horseshit.

Does America have issues with race and reconciliation? Yes. But please name another Western country as diverse as this one that has handled these issues better?

by Anonymousreply 138October 14, 2021 11:11 PM

^ Are you kidding? Name another Western country that could mount a challenge to the lynching record.

Name another Western country with such an enviable record in segregation.

Fucking hell.

by Anonymousreply 139October 14, 2021 11:15 PM

Our next venture will restore American greatness.

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by Anonymousreply 140October 14, 2021 11:16 PM

Canada, Brazil, & the UK, R138. I am sure there are many more if I thought about it more than five minutes.

by Anonymousreply 141October 14, 2021 11:17 PM

[quote]Canada, Brazil, & the UK, [R138]. I am sure there are many more if I thought about it more than five minutes.

Yeah, Brazil is not better than the U.S. on race relations.

And neither Canada nor the U.K. are anywhere near as diverse as America.

by Anonymousreply 142October 14, 2021 11:20 PM

People who don't think there's racism in Latin American countries are very ignorant. White Latinos are the most racist people ever.

by Anonymousreply 143October 14, 2021 11:21 PM

32 years since Reagan was in office. Over 3 decades. For a country that reinvents itself every 4 - 8 years, a lot of us still like to blame this long-gone old man. I think it's a facile argument. Excuse making. It's like Republicans blaming FDR for the decline of America. There is something deeper, more insidious going on. We might blame the rise of the technocrats. Technology strictly speaking seems to be at odds with humanity. Sure we'll take the good but there's a lot of downside we haven't learned to manage.

by Anonymousreply 144October 14, 2021 11:25 PM

By 2031, 29% to 32% of Canada's population—between 11.4 and 14.4 million people—could belong to a visible minority group, which is nearly double the proportion (16%) and more than double the number (5.3 million) reported in 2006.

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by Anonymousreply 145October 14, 2021 11:28 PM

For the US: The new estimates indicate that, for the nation as a whole, Hispanic residents comprise 18.3% of the population. The shares for black and Asian residents are 12.5% and 5.9%, respectively.[1]

But don't let the facts get in the way, R142.

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by Anonymousreply 146October 14, 2021 11:28 PM

[quote] 32 years since Reagan was in office. Over 3 decades. For a country that reinvents itself every 4 - 8 years, a lot of us still like to blame this long-gone old man.

It's not just Reagan per se, but electing him broke a lot of old molds and norms and handed a lot of power back to the corporate/Chamber of Commerce types. Trump shattered many of the rest of the norms.

by Anonymousreply 147October 14, 2021 11:29 PM

Here ya go….

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by Anonymousreply 148October 14, 2021 11:30 PM

From the beginning. Writing the all men are created equal (except my slaves), doomed to fail.

by Anonymousreply 149October 14, 2021 11:31 PM

Are all men really created equal? Do we still believe this? Did we ever? All men equal before the law seemed a better idea, but that's collapsing, too.

by Anonymousreply 150October 14, 2021 11:35 PM

There was a lot of wishful thinking in our founding. I mean what exactly is the pursuit of happiness? Childishness, albeit a pleasant idea.

by Anonymousreply 151October 14, 2021 11:38 PM

Vietnam Election of Ronald Reagan

by Anonymousreply 152October 14, 2021 11:38 PM

^Vietnam

Election of Ronald Reagan

by Anonymousreply 153October 14, 2021 11:39 PM

--> Reagans destruction of unions

by Anonymousreply 154October 14, 2021 11:41 PM

R142? Anything?

by Anonymousreply 155October 14, 2021 11:44 PM

The Tea Party.

by Anonymousreply 156October 14, 2021 11:51 PM

All men are created equal is aspirational.

by Anonymousreply 157October 14, 2021 11:53 PM

R151, the phrase is borrowed from John Locke's Second Treatise of Government, but he used the phrase "life, liberty, and property."

Apparently, our founders didn't want anyone to think they had a right to property.

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by Anonymousreply 158October 15, 2021 12:56 AM

After JFK.

by Anonymousreply 159October 15, 2021 1:08 AM

Not aspirational. Cognitive dissonance? Lying? Hypocrisy? Doomed.

by Anonymousreply 160October 15, 2021 2:08 AM

The poster that said boomers didn't vote for Reagan is right. We did not vote for him in any meaningful numbers. I'm sure a few did but it was our parents from the WW2 generation. Reagan was part of that generation. We voted mainly for Carter. I remember hating Reagan and most of my generation hated him.

by Anonymousreply 161October 15, 2021 2:25 AM

The Swiss poster here can stick his fondue pot on his head, his cuckoo clock up his overrated chocolate-spurting asshole and his teeny weeny pasty little cock in a pile of laundered Nazi gold.

Yodel-lay-hee-hoo, you throbbing labial fold.

by Anonymousreply 162October 15, 2021 4:21 AM

Citizens United and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act.

by Anonymousreply 163October 15, 2021 4:33 AM

I'm a (late "Jones") Boomer and I voted for Anderson.

Just sayin'.

by Anonymousreply 164October 15, 2021 7:17 AM

A group of anti-Trump Republicans on Thursday will endorse a slate of Democratic lawmakers facing tough races in next year's midterm elections, in a bid to stop the Republican Party from retaking control of Congress.

The officials, dismayed that most elected Republicans now embrace former President Donald Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen, told Reuters they are also backing vulnerable Republicans, including Representative Liz Cheney, who have rejected Trump's voter fraud allegations.

The Renew America Movement (RAM), formed by centrist Republicans after a mob of Trump supporters stormed Congress on Jan. 6 to try to stop lawmakers from certifying Democratic President Joe Biden's election victory, concedes that Trump and his conspiracy theories now have an iron grip on the party.

by Anonymousreply 165October 15, 2021 12:22 PM

^ from Reuters ^

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by Anonymousreply 166October 15, 2021 12:25 PM

[quote]Does America have issues with race and reconciliation? Yes. But please name another Western country as diverse as this one that has handled these issues better.

This is the sort of thing said by an American who proudly points to his Irish, and Pennsylvania German, French, and Swiss ancestry. Oh, the Swiss, the smart of the discrimination they suffered in America still smarts centuries on, doesn't it.

Americans can't grudgingly acknowledge so much as a period of challenge without insisting that they handled it all so much better than any other country. Number One in everything.

by Anonymousreply 167October 15, 2021 12:52 PM

On the one hand, the U.S. has a uniquely horrible racial history (200 years of slavery followed by 100 years of quasi-slavery in the form of sharecropping, Jim Crow, and lynchings).

On the other hand, it’s impossible to imagine a black man being elected President of France or Prime Minister of the UK.

by Anonymousreply 168October 15, 2021 3:32 PM

In 1980, the only age group that Carter won (by a single point) were people under 21. However, by then most boomers were 20 to 35 years old. The whole eighties Wall Street “greed is good” crowd was comprised of boomers.

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by Anonymousreply 169October 15, 2021 3:41 PM

We have never been more financially unequal in our lifetimes. This is the new guilded age. See the rocket ships for proof. They are the new symbol of inequality.

Some people don’t even have a car or a house. And these guys have rocket ships.

by Anonymousreply 170October 15, 2021 3:46 PM

The tea party was a Trojan horse for Koch to get his private staff in the house of reps. And the senate and the Supreme Court and state houses. It worked like a charm.

by Anonymousreply 171October 15, 2021 4:31 PM

Social mobility is lower in the US than in most other advanced countries.

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by Anonymousreply 172October 15, 2021 4:36 PM

1619.

by Anonymousreply 173October 15, 2021 4:37 PM

Ask Sigmund Freud, OP.

by Anonymousreply 174October 15, 2021 4:46 PM

[quote] The whole eighties Wall Street “greed is good” crowd was comprised of boomers.

Excuse me but do you know how ridiculous that claim has always been. What exact percentage of the baby boomer population did this crowd comprise? Did that percentage even come close to those boomers who entered just the normal job market? Did it even come close to those boomers who entered public service and not for profit work? NO!

There have always been and will always be a Wall Street "crowd" and they comprise pretty much the same age group for each generation though as time went on that age group became younger as did the leaders in most job age groups.

The differences are in the era and the overall culture which became a culture of showing off & attention seeking which we can see in almost all of our culture no matter what job you were doing or what lifestyle you had. You think earlier "crowds" weren't wealthy and wily? They just had a sense of privacy and not shoving it in peoples' faces. Same with athletes - plenty of great athletes existed in the past but not as much preening. Same with the vagabond and hippie lifestyle - they just used to quietly be hobos hitching train rides. LOL!

Your analysis of the Wall Street crowd in the 80s is shallower than a toddler's backyard blow up pool.

by Anonymousreply 175October 15, 2021 5:30 PM

Before you get all huffy and righteous, R175, you might want to stop and learn the basics of English grammar. Trying to come off more intelligent than others doesn't work when you can't write well.

by Anonymousreply 176October 15, 2021 5:53 PM

R175, the “leaders” of most jobs have gotten progressively younger? Are you fucking insane?

by Anonymousreply 177October 15, 2021 6:02 PM

R172 that's very interesting. Thank you .

Obviously no one is looking at it in their eagerness to sound off, the US is ranked 27 in this chart. Better than Russia at 39. Yay.

by Anonymousreply 178October 15, 2021 6:13 PM

DOOM AN GLOOM! DOOM AND GLOOM!

by Anonymousreply 179October 15, 2021 6:13 PM

All the countries we mock the most have better social mobility than the U.S.

Well, we may not be the greatest nation on earth but we're loudest and most obnoxious!

by Anonymousreply 180October 15, 2021 6:14 PM

Trump was the nail in the coffin of the myth of the American Dream.

by Anonymousreply 181October 15, 2021 6:18 PM

Reminder: Donald Trump is a boomer.

by Anonymousreply 182October 15, 2021 6:48 PM

The Boomers were the nail in the coffin of the American Dream

by Anonymousreply 183October 15, 2021 7:00 PM

Everything's Fine! Nothing's Wrong! All I See is Sand!

by Anonymousreply 184October 15, 2021 7:08 PM

The 80s Wall Street assholes were definitely Boomers.

by Anonymousreply 185October 15, 2021 8:17 PM

Reagan:

Greed is good

Government is bad

by Anonymousreply 186October 16, 2021 4:41 AM

American went wrong way before Reagan et all. I was before we became America. We have this grandiose story that we wanted taxation with representation and split from the British monarchy. The real reason for the revolutionary war was the Crown had outlawed slavery for the empire and all of its colonies. We refused to give up our slaves. The fact the US is founded on the idea that we are entitled to own other people is the downfall. That fight went on for hundreds of years and still lives on today in the 13th amendment.

by Anonymousreply 187October 16, 2021 1:51 PM

When mental illness (trans) became accepted and not treated.

by Anonymousreply 188October 16, 2021 2:28 PM

Fundamentalist religion is our most harmful mental illness by far.

by Anonymousreply 189October 16, 2021 5:17 PM

It went wrong twice - whenever it was the fetish of the individual took root and whenever it was the country politically rejected the notion of what is wrongly called "socialism" - national health care, good education, etc.

by Anonymousreply 190October 16, 2021 5:19 PM

[quote]The real reason for the revolutionary war was the Crown had outlawed slavery for the empire and all of its colonies. We refused to give up our slaves.

What, R187??? The Slave Trade Act abolished the trade end of slavery in Britain in 1804. The first country to abolish slavery was Haiti, 1807. The Slave Trade Act in the U.S. barring the Trans-Atlantic shipping trade in slaves was 1794, so it's difficult to argue on a timeline that the U.S. was retardataire in clinging to laws that permitted slavery and slave trading and thus - the Revolutionary War.

Obviously regional differences of opinion about slavery came to a fore, but 60 years after your "truth."

The story of slavery needs no embroidery or exaggeration or be a staggering story of wrongs liked atop one another. You do no service to your point by playing loose with facts

by Anonymousreply 191October 16, 2021 9:28 PM

[quote]The real reason for the revolutionary war was the Crown had outlawed slavery for the empire and all of its colonies. We refused to give up our slaves.

This was a motivating factor for some, but far from the whole story: your "we" doesn't cover all of "us." Plenty of Americans (especially in northern states) were ready to abolish slavery, and states did so, starting with PA during the Revolution itself (1780), then MA, NH, RI, and CT also in the early 1780s. Cf. R191.

by Anonymousreply 192October 16, 2021 9:43 PM

Ranch dressing and watermelon twizzlers.

by Anonymousreply 193October 16, 2021 9:55 PM

Uhrm…to many diehard Confederates in the South (COUGH!) the Civil War never really ended….it is ongoing! Let these Union faggots think they have “won” the war. I say they have NOT! Fucking Commie, fudge-packing bastards!

by Anonymousreply 194October 18, 2021 12:08 PM

^ When I come back it'll be no more "Mr. Nice Guy".

Your ob't s'vt,

by Anonymousreply 195October 18, 2021 5:31 PM

White American entitlement. Feeling as though one has the right to lord over other human beings and ignoring anyone who isn't white humanity.

That still presisits today within white America. And they believe nothing is their fault. They created the state of America, along with all of its problems that presisits & currently exists.

He who controls the system, creates the problems & the solutions. White Americans have created the problems (white elites & working class whites) but they refuse to put forward a viable solution to this country's problems.

And they don't intend to either!

by Anonymousreply 196October 18, 2021 5:34 PM

Chickens always come home to roost. America went wrong when it didn't illegalize slavery in 1787. And that's not just the about the damage it did to generations of blacks in the country. It is all about the damage done to entire generations of human beings living in a society that allowed the enslavement of other human beings, black white or otherwise - it's lasting affects, inisdious and America will never recover. It's impossible to deal with the truth of something so dark that is in the very fiber of the founding of this country. The aftershocks of which will ultimately be its undoing - watch.

by Anonymousreply 197October 18, 2021 6:40 PM

guilt turned into fear, repression and self loathing always eats away at anything that has pretensions of greatness.

by Anonymousreply 198October 18, 2021 6:42 PM

[quote]White American entitlement. Feeling as though one has the right to lord over other human beings and ignoring anyone who isn't white humanity.

Then why have Asians and Indians excelled in America? Indians are the most successful American ethnic group.

by Anonymousreply 199October 18, 2021 7:53 PM

Dirty Little Secret.

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by Anonymousreply 200October 18, 2021 11:43 PM

Slavery was the malignancy that metastasize into racism which will kill America.

by Anonymousreply 201October 19, 2021 12:31 AM

r201 exactly it lives today in the 13 amendment. We just changed how we enforce slavery. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

We didn't abolish slavery we just changed how we get our slaves.

by Anonymousreply 202October 19, 2021 2:32 AM

Ordinary White slave-owning descendant:

You see? Them Niggras were never meant to be on their own. They had it better under us as slaves. We fed them. We gave them shelter. We looked after their childrens (even if we couldn’t resist free niggra pussy!). We Whites have always taken care of our slaves. Now, without us, robbed as we are by fuckin’ Libs, they’re dyin’ like flies. Without us Whites, them poor people can’t help themselves! Don’t these Yankee Libs see this!?

by Anonymousreply 203October 19, 2021 12:29 PM

What about all the other countries that had slavery?

by Anonymousreply 204October 19, 2021 4:31 PM

R199 That was a stupid comment. Indians and Asians are not apart of the genocidal/slave history of America.

African Americans and Native Americans have a direct bloodline history to America's atrocities committed against the two groups named.

Even Asians and Indians said its not fair to compare African Americans to the experience of Asians and Indians. Two completely different histories in America.

Stupid stupid comment.

by Anonymousreply 205October 20, 2021 2:50 AM

But r205 the comment was that white people lord over non-whites and subjugate them. The success of Asians and Indians negates that ignorant statement.

by Anonymousreply 206October 20, 2021 2:59 AM

EXACTLY r206.

by Anonymousreply 207October 20, 2021 3:02 AM

Interesting comments. But I'm surprised, given the crossroads the country is at today, Nixon's pardon (on my list at r3) did not get more attention.

by Anonymousreply 208October 20, 2021 3:03 AM

R206 you still don't get it. Those two groups are not apart of Americas original sin.

So therefore, they aren't emotionally attached to Americas past the way Native Americans and African Americans are dummie.

by Anonymousreply 209October 20, 2021 3:07 AM

r209 read the original comment. The poster said whites subjugate all non-whites, which is untrue. Indians and Asians are proof of that. Learn some reading comprehension, bubbie.

by Anonymousreply 210October 20, 2021 3:10 AM

The Republican party courting the inbred Jesus freaks.

by Anonymousreply 211October 20, 2021 3:13 AM

That was a big part of it r211.

by Anonymousreply 212October 20, 2021 3:21 AM

White men!

by Anonymousreply 213October 20, 2021 6:12 AM

[quote]Boomers elected Reagan. Trump is a Boomer. So yes, boomers did ruin America.

And they still are, because the vast majority of power in this country from politicians to CEOs are Boomers. It will be interesting when they finally die off and Gen-X is in control. They loath Boomers, but then they also loath Millennials since most are Boomer spawn. Gen-X and Gen-Y might end up as strange bedfellows.

by Anonymousreply 214October 20, 2021 6:54 AM

Many Gen Xers are Boomer spawn as well, esp. those of us born in the later 70s.

by Anonymousreply 215October 20, 2021 7:00 AM

The Kennedy assassinations and LBJ.

by Anonymousreply 216October 20, 2021 7:00 AM

America was never an innocent country.

by Anonymousreply 217October 20, 2021 7:02 AM

You are more Gen Y r215

by Anonymousreply 218October 20, 2021 7:04 AM

People born in the later 70s are Gen X. Millennials started in '81. I was born in '76 and am much more Gen X than Millennial.

by Anonymousreply 219October 20, 2021 7:23 AM

Not originally they aren't r219, but you would have just squeaked in. 1977-1992 used to be Gen Y. Now they fudged all the dates and lumped people together who really were generationally separate.

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by Anonymousreply 220October 20, 2021 7:37 AM

America is built on rich old white people clinging to power. Someone explain to me how a 86 year old white person can even relate to my best interests. The problem is the younger generation who get into politics are bat shit fucking crazy - for the most part. I mean the most fucking sensable person ever to run is Mayor Pete and he is ridiculed at every turn.

by Anonymousreply 221October 20, 2021 5:14 PM

When Republican renegades like Newt Gingrich and others began to aggressively push (and enforce) British Parliamentary-style Party Discipline in Congress, and bills were explicitly negotiated to win with single-vote majorities.

In the 1980s, Congress was far from "bipartisan", but it wasn't SO hyper-partisan that the party in power did everything it could to completely shut out not only the opposition party, but aggressively push for passage of the most extreme and radical legislation it could get away with and still win by a single vote.

Prior to Gingrich & Company, if the majority party passed a bill in the House by only a single vote, it was considered 'shameful', and a sign of either desperation or weakness.

In the Senate, it was just taken for granted that your loyalty was to your state first, and Party second. A Republican and a Democrat from the same state were automatically ASSUMED to be "partners" who'd give each other's views at least as much weight as their own Party's. You caucused with your Party to decide who got to be the majority and minority leader, but when it came down to a vote, the other Senator from your state (regardless of Party) was more of a partner than your Party was.

During this era, most Americans, Democrats included, tended to sigh with RELIEF when the House and Presidency were held by one party, and the Senate by the other, because everyone knew it was the best way to keep both parties from going off the deep end. Hyper-partisanship, pushed the hardest by Republicans like Gingrich, blew that informal safeguard out of the water, and made it so "divided" government NOW means "utterly and completely PARALYZED" government.

We've gone from having a federal government that wobbles around a fuzzy center path, to one that's like a getaway car driven by mobsters in a Hollywood movie... veering left and right, running over everything in its path, and statistically spending 1/3 to 1/2 its time with the driver and passenger too busy attacking each other to actually hold the steering wheel and DRIVE.

by Anonymousreply 222October 20, 2021 6:10 PM

[quote]I mean the most fucking sensable person ever to run is Mayor Pete and he is ridiculed at every turn.

Yes, that's the word we've passed down.

by Anonymousreply 223October 20, 2021 6:27 PM

This is the last hurrah for The Greatest Generation. And, you know what? I respect that! Power will soon transfer to the Lost Generation, Gen “X,” then “Y” then “Z”. That’s simply the nature of things…but remember one thing: There will always be someone at the top of the Totem pole. Be warned. And be careful who replaces the proverbial “white man”. I’m not even white, but I’d sure as hell be tentative to give power to some other race/sex.

by Anonymousreply 224October 24, 2021 12:16 PM

I'll add the internet and social media to spread the lunacy, hate and lies...and division easily.

by Anonymousreply 225October 24, 2021 8:28 PM

America must move away from religion.

by Anonymousreply 226October 24, 2021 9:24 PM

We need to knock the white male race down to below 1%. And make them a tiny minority and see how they like the treatment they've been handing out the last several centuries to every other group.

That'll be really fun!

Including gay white men.

by Anonymousreply 227October 24, 2021 9:33 PM

America did not have the problems it now has when it was a biracial nation. “Diversity” has been an unmitigated disaster.

by Anonymousreply 228October 24, 2021 9:35 PM

R228 ?????? What??????

by Anonymousreply 229October 24, 2021 9:38 PM

Absolutely r228.

by Anonymousreply 230October 25, 2021 3:33 AM

It all went wrong when the police did not open fire on January 6.

by Anonymousreply 231October 25, 2021 6:55 PM

It all went wrong when the police did not open fire on January 6.

by Anonymousreply 232October 25, 2021 6:56 PM

R228 is insane but partly right. My grandmother got a much better education about who she was and her history as a black woman going to all black segrated schools than black kids bussed into white schools just to make them more diverse. Those kids are mostly ignored, and their history never taught, or the two days they do teach it in February, it's by jackasses who have no idea what they are talking about.

I always shake my head when I think about how much different this country would be if Americans, as part of their history, were taught that it was a black woman's brain that was largely responsible for putting the country into space. I was never taught that growing up. Yes it's important for little black children to learn of their history. But it's JUST as important for all kids to realize the real history of all great Americans and their contribution to this country. And that is just one of many many examples.

Instead I was sitting in history class where blacks were only talked about during slavery and the civil rights movement discussions in February. I actually had a teacher insist slaves weren't beaten. That it was a big exaggeration. She said they were very expensive, so it would be like beating your Mercedes Benz. I had to sit there and smile through that atrocity. Does anyone know there were more black Congressman and Senators and Representatives right after slavery than anytime since?

Anyway, it seems all the good that black people have done is erased from history and replaced with negative images and all the bad that white people have done is mostly swept under the rug and they become the sole creating, driving force behind the formation of this country, with a few nuggets of diversity thrown in here and there.

by Anonymousreply 233October 25, 2021 7:01 PM

R233 And that's the way some white people want it, unfortunately.

Like I've said before, America is pretty much unsalvagable at this point. Republicans know the country is changing in ways they don't like. And rather than embrace an inclusive America. They'd rather destroy it then come into the 21st century, so America can own the 21st century just as it did in the 20th century.

If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed our selves.

- Abe Lincoln

by Anonymousreply 234October 25, 2021 7:41 PM

Corporations given the same rights as humans. Dark money paying politicians to do their bidding. PACs. Profit over people.

by Anonymousreply 235October 25, 2021 7:47 PM

America not correcting itself after the Civil War. The federal government should have really asserted it self to force the states to do the right thing.

by Anonymousreply 236October 25, 2021 8:00 PM

11/22/63.

by Anonymousreply 237October 26, 2021 2:24 AM

[quote]We need to knock the white male race down to below 1%.

Did you grow up in a barn? It's call China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Africa, Saudi Arabia.... You sound as dumb as a box of rocks.

by Anonymousreply 238October 26, 2021 2:40 AM

Your lack of control of the apostrophe will be your undoing, R197. I won’t even touch “illegalize.”

by Anonymousreply 239October 26, 2021 8:10 AM

[quote]It all went wrong when the police did not open fire on January 6.

They preferred to open barriers.

by Anonymousreply 240October 26, 2021 12:38 PM

It went wrong with slavery, though only half the country knew it.

It passed the point of no return with the internet. That enabled all you see today.

There is no doubt in my mind the country is completely past the point of no return now. We'll see what comes of it but it won't be good. The only question is does it happen slowly or quickly. 2024 will decide that.

by Anonymousreply 241October 26, 2021 4:44 PM

Biden has us on the feast track to ruin as we speak.

by Anonymousreply 242October 27, 2021 4:04 AM

Marisa Tomei/Oscar

by Anonymousreply 243October 27, 2021 11:44 AM

R241 I think you are right. The country feels like it is collapsing. Most of the civilization worldwide will collapse in the next few decades.

by Anonymousreply 244October 27, 2021 11:11 PM

1. The assassination of JFK

2. The election of Nixon

3. The election of Reagan

4. The selection of Bush/Cheney

5. The election of Trump

Also: union busting, tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy, dismantling of government services, repeal of the fairness doctrine, trade deals which promote offshoring, outsourcing and globalization, the Citizens United decision, USA Patriot Act, deregulation of everything, massive spending on unnecessary wars, and on and on and on.

It's been a systematic dismantling of America brick by brick for about 60 years now.

by Anonymousreply 245October 27, 2021 11:20 PM

^ all true. It happened with the Democrats in charge or in opposition. Which is why the Democratic Party as we've known it, and as it exists today for the most part, cannot hold back the dismantling of the country.

by Anonymousreply 246October 28, 2021 1:23 AM

R245. Thank you! Thank you for distilling all the shit we Americans have been slogging ourselves through for the past 50-odd years.

However, I would not put all the blame on the internet and social media. Like a mirror, they truly reflect who we really are, it/they DID NOT itself create our true being(s), it simply let us reveal who and what we really are. And that can only be regarded as a good thing. In my mind, at least.

by Anonymousreply 247October 28, 2021 12:15 PM

I also think American Exceptionalism and individualism are real problems. You see two manifestations here on this site that you see in degrees everywhere.

First, the minute somebody says something critical the invocations start: we lead the world, we're the world's policemen, our culture dominates the world, we saved the world wars (ignoring the late arrival), we this, we that. There is no generosity of spirit, just entitlement. Normal western nations don't feel the need to brag like we do. Yes, there's French superiority, as an example, but nothing on the scale of an American demanding the respect it feels it deserves on the terms it dictates.

Second, the need to put down other countries. You see it here all the time, particularly directed at the British and the Canadians, but the Australians and Europe get a lot too. If it's serious, that reinforces point one and suggests a difficulty in international relations - which may have manifested in who wanted to join in a couple recent wars. If it's just in jest, you have to ask yourself why. Why does this nation, with so many accomplishments, breed in its people a need to put other nations down?

That's where the individualism comes in. It's a fetish now. The aversion to the collective is immense, wrapped up in a bunch of soothing delusions about freedom and liberty. Really, is Switzerland or Denmark any less free than the U.S. and they don't carry on with the nationalistic noisiness of us, hands on hearts and USA! USA! USA! Look at the inability to get Biden's bills done and the immense number of good, practical, society-wide benefits that have been thrown overboard and they're still not done. Margaret Thatcher is one of the most hated characters on this board yet Thatcher was very American in her idolisation and prioritisation of the individual as she smashed the workings of the state. I always remember from back during the first round of Obamacare debates, how somebody posted that at the root of the aversion was racism, because too many white people didn't want black people to have free things. It struck me as more true than not. So perhaps racism is in part sustained by the individualism fetish.

Maybe America went wrong right from the beginning because of the vision formed in rebellion for good reasons. Culturally the strong mythology, internationally mostly isolationist, economically one of the great empires at a time in history when the resulting strength was greater than for any other empire at any other time. The country always had everything going for it, but an Achilles' heel of a rebel who never moved on from the emotions that turned objection into actual rebellion.

by Anonymousreply 248October 28, 2021 12:57 PM

Maybe around the time Eisenhower warned for the burgeoning Military Industrial Complex.

by Anonymousreply 249October 28, 2021 1:28 PM

I believe you are referring to strictly Western (European) civilizations. That’s okay,. Most of Western culture has never physically clashed with an Eastern civilization (as in a real war - Japan doesn’t count now). Generally, this relationship has been symbiotic and with God’s help it will remain that way.

by Anonymousreply 250October 28, 2021 1:45 PM

America…free? We are the LEAST FREE of all nations. There is too much that is “controlled” these days that the average person gets fucked over every time. Just today I decided to go to the ER for a simple, non-life threatening refill. But, it was FREE! My nearby so-called “urgent care” clinic decided to close every Wednesday. [Thank goodness that I moved away from Los Angeles….as I’d leave some fucking nasty post-it notes on that fucking door!]

But, I digress…so I went a few blocks down the street to an ER to get my non-life threatening refill. FUCK IT! Then I went to a supermarket where the customer in front of me bought pounds of raw oysters and 15 bags of Cheetos. Took forever to ring up. Then, this customer paid $200+ and used an EBT card to oay for it all. I’m guessing she was stocking up for a Halloween party or something. But, shit…I could not afford such excess myself! And fuck! I had to wait a long ass time for the cashier to ring up all that free shit this woman bought!

There's got to be something wrong with all this….I just don’t know anymore.

by Anonymousreply 251October 28, 2021 2:18 PM

R226 Modern political ideologies are the new religion. Buckle up.

by Anonymousreply 252October 28, 2021 2:25 PM

Nixon started the culture wars. Who worked within the Nixon administration? Roger Ailes. Fox News thrives on culture wars. Who created fox News? Roger Ailes. Donald Trump's entire political movement has been on culture wars. Who played a role in getting Trump elected? Roger Ailes.

It started with Nixon and it's continuing on with Trump and the current GOP. And Roger Ailes has helped to feed this poison pull to America the last 60 years, funded by immigrant billionaire outsiders like Rupert Murdoch!

by Anonymousreply 253October 28, 2021 4:06 PM

“One could easily contend, as was argued back in the day, that the country "went south" (literally) when it was first truly established because too much had to be given to the South to get the Constitution ratified. We are still suffering from those compromises, and still making them, to this day. America's hidden wound, as writer Wendell Berry termed it, our collective unwillingness to fully acknowledge our history of slavery, is now producing the bad-faith arguments about critical race theory being taught in public schools and the banning of books that address the history of slavery in this country. This wound may prove mortal.“

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by Anonymousreply 254November 26, 2021 3:45 PM

When they started buying slaves from Africa.

by Anonymousreply 255November 26, 2021 3:54 PM

I was just going to give the same answer that R255 made. (I haven't read the whole thread, so I don't know if previous posters gave the same answer.)

Another HUGE mistake was not really establishing or maintaining separation of church and state, as exemplified by the fact that the phrase "under God" was not added to the Pledge of Allegiance until the 1950s.

by Anonymousreply 256November 26, 2021 3:59 PM

R256 the rednecks start their history at the Confederate war, they forget why they left England in the first place.

by Anonymousreply 257November 26, 2021 5:15 PM

Any other answer beyond 1968 is wrong.

That’s the year America assassinated MLK causing a lack of faith and trust in the black community. Also the year when a generational split was occurring in the pro-black movement where the peaceful protest was growing stale.

1968 is the year that the youth’s favored candidate RFK was assassinated, hurting the Democrats chances of finding a strong candidate to bridge the gaps between the angry youth and out of touch adults.

1968 is the year Reagan gained national attention at the ‘68 RNC convention. Setting him up for 1980.

1968 is also when America let racist as hell Nixon into the WH. Every policy that Reagan ushered into America had its seeds planted by Nixon. He also solidified the Republican Party’s power in the south, officially turning it into a white man’s party. Sure he started the EPA, but the moderates had shifted to the Democrats and the parties were still re-aligning at that time.

1968 is also when we had massive death in the Vietnam war, start of women’s movements and a ton of other things that lead to more friction in society. With the withdraw of LBJ from the ‘68 race came the end of any big domestic programs, beyond the EPA which I’ll credit Nixon for.

That’s the year America fucked up. 2016 feels like another 1968.

by Anonymousreply 258November 26, 2021 5:53 PM

[quote]With the withdraw of LBJ from the ‘68 race came the end of any big domestic programs

The Great Society was a huge failure that created the generational welfare state. American blacks were seriously hurt by that debacle. It destroyed their communities.

by Anonymousreply 259November 26, 2021 6:52 PM

I like you r258. You also posted about postww2 as requested. Let’s grow old together.

by Anonymousreply 260November 27, 2021 12:05 AM

R34 may not be a Russian, but he's definitely a Boris.

by Anonymousreply 261November 27, 2021 12:19 AM

America refuses to address its social issues seriously. And until it does, the US won't prosper the way it should. This country could truly be great. The 20th century was a really good start. This country could've built on that in the 21st century and truly owned the future. But it looks more & more like the future is going to be owned be China.

America blew by not investing in its own citizens and stopping with all of the political divisions and wedge issues. Especially when it comes to the republican party. They're hell bent on destroying this country. It's so sad what's happening to America.

We could've truly been great. Instead, we're more aspirational.

by Anonymousreply 262November 27, 2021 3:51 PM

American hubris to fix the world when they can't even fix their own country. People around the world can see through the pompous facade even though too many Americans are still delusional.

by Anonymousreply 263November 27, 2021 4:04 PM

Excellent post r262. So true.

by Anonymousreply 264November 27, 2021 4:29 PM

Citizens United

When the Supreme Court decided that corporations are people and that money = free speech.

by Anonymousreply 265November 27, 2021 4:31 PM

It was Reagan, then Clinton.

Reagan was the one who tilted the table almost vertical in favor of the rich and to harm working class people.

Clinton’s election alarmed the Right so much they set up a propaganda network to create a wedge in the masses. It worked. And here we are.

by Anonymousreply 266November 27, 2021 4:34 PM

This is a depressing thread. But you’re all correct. It’s a collective pile of wrong turns.

by Anonymousreply 267November 27, 2021 8:56 PM

[quote]Clinton’s election alarmed the Right so much they set up a propaganda network to create a wedge in the masses. It worked. And here we are.

Interesting theory, and you may have a point, but I still wouldn't say that America went wrong in actually electing Clinton. It's what happened in response that was the huge problem.

by Anonymousreply 268November 27, 2021 9:09 PM

when the wokesters, democraps and leftists took over.

by Anonymousreply 269November 27, 2021 9:14 PM

Republicans lost their fucking minds with Clinton. I posted the following on another thread but it's pertinent to this thread:

As an outsider I don't think you can fully understand how the Clintons made conservatives lose their fucking minds in the 90s. Bill Clinton was the first Boomer president, and Hillary Clinton was the first Boomer First Lady. But for conservatives, they were the wrong kind of Boomers. Bill and Hillary Clinton represented everything conservatives and Republicans despised about the 60s and 70s and the massive social and cultural changes that happened in those decades. They were a lighting rod for all of that because they personifies the "wrong side" of the 60s and 70s for conservatives. They were absolutely despised, more for what they represented - a changing of the guard and the ideals of the huge social and cultural changes of the Boomer Generation becoming mainstream, symbolized in Bill Clinton being President of the United States.

The "traditional values" crowd knew deep down their culture war was lost, and it drove them insane. That's it in a nutshell.

"The Reagan Revolution" was supposed to be permanent. It meant the end of the hippies and the feminists and the fags and the anti-war and civil rights agendas etc. etc. They worshipped Ronald Reagan as if he were the Second Coming. They thought Republicans had a lock on the country forevermore. Then Bill Clinton got elected and blew all of that away. The ideals of the 60s and 70s were here to stay, the culture had changed and it wasn't going back to what it had been before. It was a HUGE surprise and "WTF?" moment for conservatives, because they thought they'd won and then realized that things were moving forward rapidly and leaving them behind. They truly did lose their minds and Bill and Hillary were a convenient target for all their anger.

by Anonymousreply 270November 27, 2021 9:23 PM

[quote] [R245]. Thank you! Thank you for distilling all the shit we Americans have been slogging ourselves through for the past 50-odd years.

However, I would not put all the blame on the internet and social media. Like a mirror, they truly reflect who we really are, it/they DID NOT itself create our true being(s), it simply let us reveal who and what we really are. And that can only be regarded as a good thing. In my mind, at least.

In his or her post, where does R245 place ANY blame on “internet and social media?” Are you attempting to make a different point about other views expressed? Either way, your writing is unclear and sloppy.

Posters such as R81 and R245 have the best responses, as they help account for a larger plan at play from nefarious, avaricious minds. Toward that end, I submit my contribution of Woodrow Wilson’s Federal Reserve Act of 1913.

Replies such as R197, R254 and R255 seem to smack of a disingenuous agenda. Slavery may be wrong, yet it did not set the stage for the collapse of other countries that employed it. You could make a better argument that slavery helped to ruin the societies that sold their own people or that of competing tribes for thousands of years. Enough with the racist drumhead. “Racism,” or your perception of it, isn’t the root of all evil in the US. Greed and the love of power over others, of which slavery could be considered a part, are much more the source.

by Anonymousreply 271November 27, 2021 9:27 PM

[quote] However, I would not put all the blame on the internet and social media. Like a mirror, they truly reflect who we really are, it/they DID NOT itself create our true being(s), it simply let us reveal who and what we really are. And that can only be regarded as a good thing. In my mind, at least.

The above paragraph was intended as a quote and was directed at R247 who wrote it. My apologies.

by Anonymousreply 272November 27, 2021 9:31 PM

R268, OP asked for turning points and I think Clinton getting into office when the Rightwing thought it had a lock on the presidency forever was one of the turning points because of the republican response.

by Anonymousreply 273November 27, 2021 9:33 PM

Yes, R272. And, of course, the fact that Obama was elected TWICE must have really pushed a lot of right-wingers over the edge. And the result was the tragedy of Trump.

by Anonymousreply 274November 27, 2021 9:35 PM

R274, I am R272. I take it you are answering my correction of a quote of someone else’s words?

by Anonymousreply 275November 27, 2021 10:09 PM

We're making a seriously wrong turn even as we speak.... "The Gosar incident served as the latest data point in an alarming trend in American politics. In a year that began with a deadly insurrection at the US Capitol, lawmakers have seen a sharp rise in the number of threats against them. Republicans’ muted response to Gosar’s behavior has intensified fears about the possibility of more political violence in America in the months to come."

History will look back at Jan 6 and the response to it as another time when America went wrong. Though it may be only be in history books written and available in other countries.

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by Anonymousreply 276November 27, 2021 10:18 PM

Conservatives freaked out over Clinton's victory, but the media provoked & amplified it.

I still remember the first 2 months after election night in 1992. MTV in particular went fucking NUTS with bell bottom jeans, flower power, "hippie fashion", peace symbols, and ugly color schemes straight out of the 1970s. As someone who was ~22 and regarded the 70s as the epitome of uncool, I still get PTSD from the memories.

by Anonymousreply 277November 28, 2021 6:02 AM

[Quote] Conservatives freaked out over Clinton's victory, but the media provoked & amplified it.

I remember this too. The GOP and media were as vicious then as they are today.

by Anonymousreply 278November 28, 2021 6:30 AM

The year 1990 was the beginning of the end for the U.S. because that was the year we allowed China into the WTO (World Trade Organization) and any and everything that was made with Quality first in mind has been a race to the cheapest and the junkest. I’m surprised we don’t yet have walls made of spit and toilet paper.

We should never have allowed China in! Not only did they commit crimes against humanity (and continue to do so), but they’ve cheated their way to the top. Pegging the Yuan exactly to the dollar. ABSOLUTELY ILLEGAL!! Did anyone do anything about it? Fuck no!

I’ll give Hills (yes, I said Hillary Rodham Clinton) to be prescient enough to see this happening from 20+ years ago. It was going to be a problem for us…..maybe we make our own, bigger, better trade association and leave the Chinks out? Hey…anybody out there see a problem coming up with the increasing use of social media?? Anybody? You could see Hills flanking Zuckerberg at many international gatherings for no reason. Hmmmm..

What about the time she proposed having the U.S.A. help Africa build its roads and bridges. “If we don’t, you know someone else will….say China??”

We have to give her credit where it was due and not dwell on emails and Benghazi shit. Hillary has been a hard target for most of her adult life. I guess Americans LOVES THEM TOO MUCH WHITE BALLS (even black ones) then to freer a bitch on wheels!

by Anonymousreply 279November 28, 2021 8:48 AM

Excuse-moi. Meant to say “PREFER a bitch on wheels!”

by Anonymousreply 280November 28, 2021 8:51 AM

Actually, all of you are correct. And incorrect. You've all pointed out the many places where America has gone wrong, from the Civil War all the way through Trump. Some blame the right, some the left, some the center. Some blame everyone and everything, some are extremely specific. Some are smart, some not so smart. But...

What you're all missing is simply this: human beings aren't governable, America was a rather remarkable democracy for a long time, the longest of a major power in human history (it's hard to count the UK as a democracy as long given how limited voting rights were there for so long. Rome was hardly a real democracy as we define it now. Greece under Pericles had a moment, but again, it was a semi-democracy at best ). But democracy cannot succeed given its inherent frailty -- ie: the essential willingness of the majority of citizens to listen to, and care about, other people.

All the democracies of the twentieth century will disappear in the twenty-first century, including America's. There will be periods of autocracy, dictatorships, oligarchies, as the powerful reach for more power. Then, it may change again.

The point is not where America went wrong. It's where America went right for such a long period of time. But that time has ended.

by Anonymousreply 281November 28, 2021 2:18 PM

Agree with a lot of these. Want to know an easy fix IMOH? Term limits for everyone! That would shift focus of our elected officials from staying in office to voting what’s left of their consciences.

by Anonymousreply 282November 28, 2021 2:29 PM

I would go a step further. Single terms, maybe longer.

Most elected lawmakers spends half their term running for the next. And the first year is learning about the job. The second is figuring our how to use the office for what you want to do. That leaves no time to actually do anything if you spend all your time raising money for the next run.

One five to seven year term and thank you very much.

by Anonymousreply 283November 28, 2021 2:41 PM

The problem with term limits is that it makes it EASIER for organized corporate interests to manipulate perpetually-transient legislators.

The supreme irony is that Britain's House of Lords was (prior to Labour's reforms) unelected, but was arguably more representative (at least, of white Britons) than Commons. Why? Unlike Common, most Lords saw politics as a part-time duty, but had "normal" jobs (at least, normal affluent-white-person jobs). And after 3 or 4 hereditary generations, a peerage became almost randomly chosen anyway.

No, it wasn't technically 'representative' if you were brown, black, Asian, or female... but if you were a poor white male Briton, chances are you were within 2 or 3 degrees of separation from at least one hereditary life Peer anyway, just due to blind random luck. If you were a white male college grad, you were almost guaranteed to personally know at least one. That's an EXTRAORDINARY amount of "closeness" between government & governed compared to most real-world representative democracies.

There's a reason Lords persisted the way it did as long as it did... in its own, randomly-indirect way, it (mostly) WORKED. It had individual failures, but statistical success.

From what I recall, Labour & LibDems (or their predecessors) were actually OVER-represented in Lords. Why? The same reason wealthy American kids at elite universities tend to be Woke Progressives, even when most people from their hometowns are Deplorables. They know they're privileged, feel kind of guilty about it, and over-compensate in the opposite direction so they can feel smugly good about their own righteousness.

Would Lords work in the US? No. The whole reason it worked in Britain was because it WAS stable over the long term, and only a few Lords per year "turned over". Something like that is impossible to deliberately create from scratch & bootstrap... it can only arise organically and grow into its future self over time.

by Anonymousreply 284November 28, 2021 4:51 PM

Reconstruction. The traitors from the Civil War got a pass with very few exceptions. Lee and the rest should have been hanged for treason, Sherman should have burned the entire south to the ground and Northern Confederate sympathizers should have been jailed. They all got a pass and infected their children, and their children and on and on with racism and treason. Gosar, Boebert and their ilk are nothing but modern day confederates.

by Anonymousreply 285November 28, 2021 5:02 PM

I have hope that Millennials and Gen Z will do better once the Boomers and Silent Gen steps down and dies off.

We don't have enough young people going into politics. But I really do have some hope - I have to think from what I see online that most people under 45 are fed up with this shit and inequality.

We shall see.

by Anonymousreply 286November 28, 2021 5:12 PM

Nothing truly progressive is going to happen until the Boomers are gone. They're holding everything back.

by Anonymousreply 287November 28, 2021 5:49 PM

R285 gets it right. I pray R287 gets hit by a truck this afternoon.

by Anonymousreply 288November 28, 2021 6:13 PM

Tough shit if you don't like it r288. Boomers really are holding back progress.

by Anonymousreply 289November 28, 2021 6:59 PM

Shut up and drink your bleach, R289. Tougher shit for you! I don’t give a fuck. Lol. There’s no way your ilk represents “progress” in any category. Die now.

by Anonymousreply 290November 28, 2021 7:15 PM

r290 is a good example of a Boomer. We'll all be glad when you're gone.

by Anonymousreply 291November 28, 2021 7:17 PM

You will die first, R291. Too stupid to live. Perhaps you’d prefer Fentanyl? Just get on with it and stop your yammering.

by Anonymousreply 292November 28, 2021 7:19 PM

[Quote] The problem with term limits is that it makes it EASIER for organized corporate interests to manipulate perpetually-transient legislators.

It would also be easier for other interests of get organized as well. Labor is foremost as corporations need workers. Labor unions are the wounded, sleeping giants of America.

K Street lobbyists need to be banned or severely regulated with electoral finance reform going hand in hand as well.

by Anonymousreply 293November 28, 2021 7:20 PM

America has always been wrong. Tell me about a time when America was great for its citizens, not just the ones with wealth.

by Anonymousreply 294November 28, 2021 7:29 PM

Pretty much true of most countries r294.

by Anonymousreply 295November 28, 2021 7:38 PM

As so many have said, the election of Reagan.

The GOP always cheats. That election was no exception.

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by Anonymousreply 296November 28, 2021 7:50 PM

^^ Furthermore:

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by Anonymousreply 297November 28, 2021 7:53 PM

Gas prices are down to 2018 levels. Good job Brandon!

by Anonymousreply 298November 28, 2021 8:16 PM

The info is all out there r87. Unless you've never learned how to research. Something tells me that you are not very bright.

by Anonymousreply 299November 29, 2021 1:12 AM

October 3, 1965. I'll let you guys figure out why.

by Anonymousreply 300November 29, 2021 1:17 AM

When did America go wrong?

Read the 300 posts on your thread.

by Anonymousreply 301November 29, 2021 1:50 AM

[quote]October 3, 1965. I'll let you guys figure out why.

How terribly white of you.

by Anonymousreply 302November 29, 2021 1:52 AM

We're not interested r300

by Anonymousreply 303November 29, 2021 1:52 AM

I change my answer to August 20, 1619.

by Anonymousreply 304November 29, 2021 2:14 AM

Lyndon Johnson beating Barry Goldwater.

by Anonymousreply 305November 29, 2021 2:28 AM

March 7, 1974.

MAME starring Lucille Ball was released on an unsuspecting public.

by Anonymousreply 306November 29, 2021 2:36 AM

My answer would be your birthday, R300/R304.

by Anonymousreply 307November 29, 2021 2:37 AM

November 17, 1978. TV executives high on blow and the smell of their own farts unleashed this upon the world.

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by Anonymousreply 308November 29, 2021 2:43 AM

McCarthyism. The cancer was never cut out.

by Anonymousreply 309November 29, 2021 2:44 AM

Trump was pretty much the nail in the coffin.

by Anonymousreply 310November 29, 2021 2:49 AM

Civil war, should have split then.

by Anonymousreply 311November 29, 2021 2:51 AM

Good God! R308 how did the Bee Arthur as the bartender in Star Was bar ever seem like a good idea? I feel embarrassed just watching it.

by Anonymousreply 312November 29, 2021 2:56 AM

October 7, 1995. Fox News went on the air.

by Anonymousreply 313November 29, 2021 2:57 AM

So many dominoes have fallen to get us here. When you see people who are not particularly bright ----MTG, Madison Cawthorne, and yes even AOC---ALL elected. Then you see even stupider ones running....

by Anonymousreply 314November 29, 2021 3:01 AM

Lyndon Johnson.

by Anonymousreply 315November 29, 2021 3:06 AM

It started with Christopher Columbus

by Anonymousreply 316November 29, 2021 3:17 AM

Reagan.

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by Anonymousreply 317November 29, 2021 3:26 AM

Bruce Vilanch was a writer on the Star Wars Holiday Special and he talks about what a disaster it was and how Bea Arthur* had no idea what the hell she was doing there.

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by Anonymousreply 318November 29, 2021 3:29 AM

Bruce Vilanch being a writer explains a lot.

I have seen that nasty pig in WeHo once at a salad place ironically. He's more disgusting looking in person.

by Anonymousreply 319November 29, 2021 4:10 AM

Is he ChiChi LaRue's twin?

by Anonymousreply 320November 29, 2021 4:26 AM

[Quote] Trump was pretty much the nail in the coffin.

I wish I could share your optimism. I fear there many more nails being hammered into the coffin even as we speak.

by Anonymousreply 321November 29, 2021 4:35 AM

That was not optimize R321. Everyone after trump is just a death cloth. He really did break the camel's back of Democracy so to speak. Had any other Republican won the nomination back in 2016 it would just be normal tit for tat Dem vs Republican. There would never have been an insurrection and an attack on the Capital.

by Anonymousreply 322November 29, 2021 6:48 AM

The GOP have literally robbed us with the lights on (Trump Tax Breaks for the Rich. SCOTUS. Voters Rights). And we Democrats sit and watch it happen. And 85 year old Nancy does nothing and you queens drool over rat faced Pete thinking HE is going to save us?....The only thing that can save us in 2024 is if the Military stops the GOP Coup. If they side with the Republican Thieves we are moving into Dictatorship where only the rich thrive and the rest of us scrape by in bread lines for hours. Gays and Democrats will be persecuted. It all comes down to the Military.

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by Anonymousreply 323November 29, 2021 9:22 AM

When the Repugs hired an actor to be president in the 80s.

How much do you have to disrespect this country to hire an actor to run it?

by Anonymousreply 324November 29, 2021 9:33 AM

TL;DR. I agree that we are at a fork in the road. But we must accept that White Americans will not be the majority for much longer. Younger generations, even those that include WASPY whites do not see a bright future as the ruling class (despite being overwhelmingly white for now, anyway) if we do not make fundamental adjustments. We are experiencing the balkanization of America. There will be regional differences, sure. But to contend that we Americans would choose complete annihilation is even too misanthropic for me.

Like our Redwoods, we will bend and be the better and greater for it.

And just for argument sake, what so-called Pure Breed race has ever lasted through all time? Just a question.

by Anonymousreply 325November 29, 2021 10:12 AM

R325 = You're going to be a riot in the Gay Camps. I'm sure the guards will laugh endlessly at your Redwoods analogy.

by Anonymousreply 326November 29, 2021 10:15 AM

Admittedly cringeworthy. I deserve that. However, do not overlook the larger points made.

by Anonymousreply 327November 29, 2021 10:26 AM

America went wrong when the democrats sat back and did little while the republicans started slowly destroying democracy. They first started dumbing down the public education structure to the point that now, decades later, we're graduating lots of kids who are basically cretins compared to when I was in HS in the 60s when actually were taught, and we learned. Many of those dumbasses married and had children who turned out even dumber than their parents, and they did the same thing with their children. That's what got us Trump. An electorate who are too dumb to see through a big, fat con artist. Luckily at least some of them have wised up, but it appears that at least 30% of republican voters will never get any smarter. They embrace their own stupidity proudly. I can only hope that the ensuing generations of the ones who figured out what a mistake they made by voting for Trump will slowly get smarter and smarter.

The coup de grace of America's downfall is what we see now. A large # of republicans in Congress who are unashamedly criminally minded who actively assisted in the attempted overthrow of our government and who have suffered few to no repercussions for their actions.

IMO until the democrats in congress get some real balls and start fighting fire with fire and doing it as fast as possible rather than investigating people for months (if not years) before some watered down action, not much will change. They'll waddle along with their investigations until they lose power and it will all magically just go away, and we'll suffer through 4 more years of republican hell that will most likely be far worse than what we went through with Trump. If the GOP wins back power in Congress they'll be more emboldened than ever. They will destroy every ounce of progress Biden has made.

I'm 68 years old and I don't believe I'll live to see America coming back in any meaningful way. I just hope I die before it gets too bad.

by Anonymousreply 328November 29, 2021 10:44 AM

I’m 58 unfortunately, but I have some hope to seeing which side will win out in the end.

R328. Stick around, eh? I have a feeling it will be a wild ride!

by Anonymousreply 329November 29, 2021 11:22 AM

The ones that got away. If any of these people had won the presidency, the country would've been a happier and stronger place: Hillary, Howard Dean, Ralph Nader.

by Anonymousreply 330November 29, 2021 1:14 PM

[quote] They first started dumbing down the public education structure to the point that now, decades later, we're graduating lots of kids who are basically cretins compared to when I was in HS in the 60s when actually were taught, and we learned. Many of those dumbasses married and had children who turned out even dumber than their parents, and they did the same thing with their children. That's what got us Trump.

Boomers had a helluva lot to do with giving us Trump.

by Anonymousreply 331November 29, 2021 3:15 PM

[quote]The coup de grace of America's downfall is what we see now. A large # of republicans in Congress who are unashamedly criminally minded who actively assisted in the attempted overthrow of our government and who have suffered few to no repercussions for their actions.

Again, mostly Boomers

by Anonymousreply 332November 29, 2021 3:16 PM

It all went wrong with Reagan in the 80s. He was truly an awful human being.

No morals at all.

I also just watched that "The Reagan's" documentary on showtime. He and Nancy we're truly awful people.

by Anonymousreply 333November 29, 2021 3:57 PM

r328, you're basically calling for the Democrats to become populists, too. That wouldn't be an improvement, and eliminating the Democratic Party as the NON-populist alternative would leave voters with no non-populist alternative at all.

MTG and Boebert are bad, but AOC & the Squad are awful, too.

Pelosi & Biden are trying to tiptoe the delicate path of unwinding Republican fascist populism without turning the Democrats into an equally-authoritarian populist party in the process. One strategy is to keep the Democrats wholesome long enough for the Republican coalition to fracture first, so the Democrats can grab enough centrist Republican refugees to offset the loss of the populist Democrats who'd split off next.

It's not all unicorns & roses. One writer recently noted a bizarro possible future could be a mainstream center-right Democratic Party, opposed by Deplorable racists who want to make America "Green for Jesus".

by Anonymousreply 334November 29, 2021 4:05 PM

Do you have that article, R334?

by Anonymousreply 335November 29, 2021 4:08 PM

[quote]It all went wrong with Reagan in the 80s. He was truly an awful human being.

What did we expect? How much do you have to hate your country to hire an actor to play the part of President?

by Anonymousreply 336November 29, 2021 9:28 PM

“ and we'll suffer through 4 more years of republican hell that will most likely be far worse than what we went through with Trump. If the GOP wins back power in Congress they'll be more emboldened than ever. ”

Wow. You’re optimistic. You think we’re only going to suffer 4 more years if they get back into office? Try the rest of our lives. Between gerrymandering, a radical Supreme Court and voter suppression, Republicans will have absolute power for generations.

Get ready for American-style fascism, y’all!!

by Anonymousreply 337November 29, 2021 9:44 PM

It's not where it went wrong, but where there was a cultural shift. That was 1968. You had a shift to civil rights for Black Americans, the Women's Liberation Movement, and Gay Liberation. There were also the effects of a deeply unpopular war in Vietnam and the image of Americans committing atrocities. And a few years later, there was the Watergate scandal. Along with that cultural shift came a backlash. You saw that with the politicization of evangelical Christians against women's liberation and gay liberation. Alongside that was white fright (busing) and white flight. The Republican party saw an opportunity to play on those fears and prejudices.

And you have to look at the underbelly of greater emphasis on individualism. The positive side to it is choice and greater civil rights to minority groups (Blacks and gays). The negative is unbound gun rights, the growth of selfishness, and a complete misunderstanding of the meaning of liberty.

Just my two cents.

by Anonymousreply 338November 29, 2021 9:58 PM

Remember that guy that ran in 2000, the Democrat who actually gave a flying fuck about the environment? And the fact that he gave a fuck about the environment was such a derisive punch line that nobody took him seriously?

And now half the US is burning down and the other half is floating away in flash floods.

Where would we be in terms of climate if Gore won that fucked-up 2000 election?

by Anonymousreply 339November 30, 2021 1:44 AM

Where we are today. ^

by Anonymousreply 340November 30, 2021 1:50 AM

R336 = Stop repeating that Reagan actor jibberish. It makes you sound stupid. He was governor for years (and sided with gays teaching in schools). Yes he was a horrible president but you make it sound like he was elected right off a movie lot. Or maybe you are just ignorant enough to think that's how it happened.

by Anonymousreply 341November 30, 2021 4:36 AM

Was he or was he not an actor?

Just because they beta tested him as governor first didn’t make it less of an degradation of America.

And look what lowering the standard for President got us. A few tries later, they moved from actor to reality tv star.

by Anonymousreply 342November 30, 2021 4:40 AM

R342 = Qanon Nut.....Who else did they "beta test" ?.....That is Q-Speak...

by Anonymousreply 343November 30, 2021 5:46 AM

Oh shut up, idiot.

You Reagan worshipers brought us QAnon

by Anonymousreply 344November 30, 2021 5:49 AM

Yes, of course, weird, once in a lifetime chad counting contest in the 2000 US Presidential election. That weird, once in a life event that took place in Florida (of all places, (Florida? Must be a coincidence.). Even AFTER Al Gore had declared himself victory, we still ended up with Georgie-boy as our newly “elected” President. Who would imagine any funny business going on? Then another weird thing happened on September 11, 2001. Whereby we must secretly jet away those bin Ladins living in NYC. What ensued then was the longest, most expensive war in history with no real winner declared. All these weird things, shucks….bad luck?

We must remember that it was one single man who changed the course of America’s history. And that little known man was named Antonin Scalia. A devout Catholic Supreme Court Judge who essentially handed the most powerful position in the world to George W. Bush. We all know now what was to follow.

Antonin Scalia died of a heart attack in his sleep at age 79 in the year 2016 in a very remote area in West Texas, so remote it didn’t have cell phone accessibility. Hold on…then matters get even more weird: President Barrack Obama nominates Merrick Garland as Scalia’s replacement, okay…..but hold on….then Senate Leader Mitch McConnell cancels Obama’s nominee and waits one year until then President Donald J. Trump installs Neil S. Gorsuch instead.

My,my,my…..how weird how these coincidinky things get with this venal line of Repug Pigs!

by Anonymousreply 345November 30, 2021 10:09 AM

[Quote] President Barrack Obama nominates Merrick Garland as Scalia’s replacement, okay…..but hold on….then Senate Leader Mitch McConnell cancels Obama’s nominee

Now what's Garland doing as AG.

by Anonymousreply 346November 30, 2021 10:13 AM

Kissing pig ass?

by Anonymousreply 347November 30, 2021 10:15 AM

Vietnam War

by Anonymousreply 348November 30, 2021 10:25 AM

The War On Terror is part 2 of the Vietnam war….only in the Middle East this time.

by Anonymousreply 349November 30, 2021 10:29 AM

[quote]Stop repeating that Reagan actor jibberish. It makes you sound stupid. He was governor for years (and sided with gays teaching in schools). Yes he was a horrible president but you make it sound like he was elected right off a movie lot. Or maybe you are just ignorant enough to think that's how it happened.

Well the VAST majority of his career was as an actor. He was no more qualified to be Governor than he was to be President. You know what he ran on as his skills to run the state? He was president of the Screen Actors Guild. A tiny, tiny group of people. And all union I might add. Typical of all Repugs, it's ok if it benefits them, but if not, turn your back on them, become a Republican and call them card carrying liberals.

by Anonymousreply 350November 30, 2021 12:02 PM

“There you go again…”

by Anonymousreply 351November 30, 2021 12:27 PM

Yes Ronny, you were great at slogans. That acting career with chimps really paid off didn't it?

by Anonymousreply 352November 30, 2021 10:38 PM

The Reagan's we're literally taken care of their entire adult lives by billionaire benefactors. But had the nerve to push this narrative about pulling yourself by your bootstraps.

Fuck them for that.

Then you have Miss Nancy, when first Lady of California. Refused to live In the governors mansion and complained until they we're able to move into the upscale suburbs.

Ungrateful entitled woman.

by Anonymousreply 353December 1, 2021 12:32 AM

Nancy had Designer loan her their dresses and would just keep them. I love that one of them called her out on it and pointed out her claim that she returned them was in fact a lie. How do you forget to return 80 different designer outfits?

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by Anonymousreply 354December 1, 2021 1:17 AM

Reagan

by Anonymousreply 355December 1, 2021 1:34 AM

We wouldn’t have had Reagan is Goldwater won in 64.

by Anonymousreply 356December 1, 2021 1:41 AM

*if

by Anonymousreply 357December 1, 2021 1:41 AM

R339 wins.

by Anonymousreply 358December 1, 2021 3:17 AM

Liberals I know do not follow the news. It's too 'upsetting'.

by Anonymousreply 359December 24, 2021 7:02 PM

Republicunts I know only watch the fascist channels, it reinforces their ignorance and gullibility to GRU disinformation.

by Anonymousreply 360December 24, 2021 7:08 PM

Whereas my friends only watch the stock market and go to meditation camps and country homes.

by Anonymousreply 361December 24, 2021 7:13 PM

Both of those left the GOP when it became the GQP. Far more likely to be WalMarts.

by Anonymousreply 362December 24, 2021 7:15 PM

Operation Paperclip.

by Anonymousreply 363December 24, 2021 7:45 PM

When the Russians took over the GOP.

by Anonymousreply 364December 24, 2021 7:59 PM

An extremely partial, extremely selective list of notable American inventions and innovations. Who else compares?

Swivel chair Cotton gin Suspension bridge Fire hydrant Dental floss Sewing machine Dishwasher Toilet paper Electric stove Escalator Vacuum cleaner Air brake Jeans QWERTY keyboard layout Dental drill Phonograph Cash register Electric fan Thermostat Skyscraper Photo film Induction motor Revolving door Payphone Stop sign Smoke detector Incandescent lightbulb Zipper Engine muffler Remote control Manufacturing assembly line Hearing aid Air conditioning Airplane Automatic transmission Paper towel Traffic light Supermarket Hydraulic brake Liquid fuel rocketry Garbage disposal Sunglasses Electric guitar Radio telescope FM radio Machine-readable programming Flourescent lamp Bass guitar Digital computer ATM machine Deodorant Microwave over Credit card Instant camera Cable television Video game Airbag Noise cancellation technology Computer operating system Videotape Laser technology Integrated circuitry Child safety seat LED technology LCD display technology Electronic spreadsheet Communications satellite Geosynchronous satellite GPS Snowboarding Handheld calculator Virtual reality technology Laser printer WLAN technology Personal computer Microprocessor chip Email Recombinant DNA (rDNA) Digital photography Graphic user interface Camera phone Internet

by Anonymousreply 365December 25, 2021 4:38 PM

An extremely partial, extremely selective list of notable American inventions and innovations. Who else compares?

Swivel chair

Cotton gin

Suspension bridge

Fire hydrant

Dental floss

Sewing machine

Dishwasher

Toilet paper

Electric stove

Escalator

Vacuum cleaner

Air brake

Jeans

QWERTY keyboard layout

Dental drill

Phonograph

Cash register

Electric fan

Thermostat

Skyscraper

Photo film

Induction motor

Revolving door

Payphone

Stop sign

Smoke detector

Incandescent lightbulb

Zipper

Engine muffler

Remote control

Manufacturing assembly line

Hearing aid

Air conditioning

Airplane

Automatic transmission

Paper towel

Traffic light

Supermarket

Hydraulic brake

Liquid fuel rocketry

Garbage disposal

Sunglasses

Electric guitar

Radio telescope

FM radio

Machine-readable programming

Flourescent lamp

Bass guitar

Digital computer

ATM machine

Deodorant

Microwave over

Credit card

Instant camera

Cable television

Video game

Airbag

Noise cancellation technology

Computer operating system

Videotape

Laser technology

Integrated circuitry

Child safety seat

LED technology

LCD display technology

Electronic spreadsheet

Communications satellite

Geosynchronous satellite

GPS

Snowboarding

Handheld calculator

Virtual reality technology

Laser printer

WLAN technology

Personal computer

Microprocessor chip

Email

Recombinant DNA (rDNA)

Digital photography

Graphic user interface

Camera phone

Internet

by Anonymousreply 366December 25, 2021 4:39 PM

Letting the nutcase evangelicals gain influence with people and politics was a major mistake.

by Anonymousreply 367December 28, 2021 12:08 AM

[quote]The reckoning is coming.

What?

WHAT reckoning? Jebus and his Heavenly Host coming down to Smite the Wicked?

Fucking moron.

by Anonymousreply 368December 28, 2021 12:15 AM

R368 you know you're going to hell, right?

by Anonymousreply 369December 28, 2021 6:52 AM

Cocksucker R369, you didn't answer the question.

Fucking freeper cunt fuck troll.

by Anonymousreply 370December 29, 2021 1:26 AM

Yes. He will smite you. Sometime in 2022. Sorry, you asked.

by Anonymousreply 371December 29, 2021 10:06 AM

Watch me tremble shiteater R371.

You still haven’t answered the question.

by Anonymousreply 372December 29, 2021 12:49 PM

Is the reckoning coming on Jan 6 next month, the elections in November, or in 2024?

by Anonymousreply 373December 29, 2021 5:48 PM

MAGAT infested thread.

by Anonymousreply 374December 31, 2021 9:50 AM

After we did away with the no white after Labor Day rule.

by Anonymousreply 375January 1, 2022 2:21 AM

June 6, 1968 hope died . Nixon lived. The rest was predictable.

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by Anonymousreply 376January 1, 2022 2:58 AM

The course of history was changed on July 16, 1999. JFK Jr had turned down the NY Democrats who originally wanted JFK Jr to run for Senator Moynihans seat. He declined and Hillary ran instead. George Magazine was folding up and a financial failure. John would have ran for senate in Massachusetts replacing Ted who would have stepped aside. Then a Kennedy/Clinton ticket would have won in 2008 and 2012. Obama would probably have run and won in 2016.

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by Anonymousreply 377January 1, 2022 6:28 AM

I’ve always thought the country had a nervous breakdown after the Kennedy assassination. The chaos of the 60s followed, almost as if according to plan.

by Anonymousreply 378January 1, 2022 10:02 AM

The 60s generation lost their compass with the assassination of RFK. Rudderless, they turned to Wall Street liberals after the fall of McGovern at the Chicago convention.

RFK would have prevented that. He was the one who went on the famous poverty tour. I forget the year. Some here would remember more.

by Anonymousreply 379January 1, 2022 12:20 PM

JFK assignation followed by Lyndon Johnson.

by Anonymousreply 380January 1, 2022 12:33 PM

*assassination

by Anonymousreply 381January 1, 2022 12:33 PM

R380, we thought you were referring to JFK's assignation with Marilyn Monroe :-)

by Anonymousreply 382January 1, 2022 2:38 PM

Granting Nixon a pardon. It proved that the there are two different judicial systems - one for rich white men and one for poor black men. Nixon was nothing more than a gang leader, authorizing his follower to break into an office. Had he been a black gang leader, authorizing a break in, the outcome would have been different. If you won't convict Nixon, how can you go after the average crook?

by Anonymousreply 383January 4, 2022 3:49 PM

R380. If Johnson hadn’t been president the country might have fallen apart. Even ignoring the immorality of racism, the country couldn’t have held together if it continued to treat 10 to 15 percent of the population as subhuman. And of course there is Medicare.

by Anonymousreply 384January 4, 2022 4:05 PM

Lyndon Johnson.

by Anonymousreply 385January 4, 2022 4:23 PM

r383, nobody, not even the Democrats, ever claimed Nixon had the slightest idea that the break-ins occurred, let alone authorized or ordered them. Nixon got in trouble because he eventually found out what they did, and covered it up instead of reporting it. The fact is, had Nixon actually BEEN impeached, he would have had about 50-50 odds of prevailing and having the impeachment attempt fail IF he'd been willing to maintain other lies & get every Republican in Congress to back him up. He resigned because he had too much honor to drag the Republican Party down to that level, and because he knew that someday, the truth WOULD come out, and it would have absolutely DEVASTATED the Republican Party's future legitimacy (vs a short-term setback).

By the 1990s, Nixon's image was mostly-rehabilitated within the Republican Party. His political career was over, but he was already becoming respectable enough to start attending Republican fundraisers again. By the early 1990s, "Tanned, Rested, and Ready" Nixon T-shirts were popular among College Republicans.

Truth be told, compared to Trump, Nixon was a saint. Even Democrats have mostly quit invoking Nixon's shame, because just about any elected official (Republican OR Democrat) who's been around more than 10-12 years has had at least one "there but for the grace of God go I" close-call moment with rogue staffers. Nixon got in trouble for doing something expedient. Clinton was just on the receiving end of a political hit job. Trump was literally point-blank guilty as sin of actively collaborating to pervert American democracy. Like O.J. Simpson, he (metaphorically) got away with murder... but I also think that, like O.J., Trump will eventually get convicted of something completely unrelated, and the jury will use it as a proxy for his REAL crime to make sure he ultimately pays.

by Anonymousreply 386January 4, 2022 8:01 PM

[Quote] Nixon had [not] the slightest idea that the break-ins occurred, let alone authorized or ordered them

Yeah right. There are many things that people especially politicians know but do not say for any number of reasons, gullible one.

by Anonymousreply 387January 5, 2022 7:21 AM

Hillary Clinton would be on her second term had she not been robbed in 2016. She would have taken Covid seriously immediately. Unlike Trump who spent vital months saying Covid was going to disappear.

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by Anonymousreply 388January 5, 2022 8:09 AM

He's responsible for 500K deaths. The bereaved should sue him.

by Anonymousreply 389January 5, 2022 8:15 AM

R388 'Once upon a time there was a goddess named Hillary and we lived happily ever after.

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by Anonymousreply 390January 5, 2022 11:30 PM
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