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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI will turn 72 at the end of this month and I really don't think
I will live long enough to see our country recover from all the damage DJT and the Republicans have inflicted upon us. I just don't see how it won't take decades to fix it.
Maybe someone smarter or less pessimistic than I am can show me where I'm wrong. Because I really want to be wrong. I want things to turn around in what's left of my lifetime. I want my country back!
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Walleye
(42,701 posts)To quote an old song
Donnie, “I’ll be glad when you’re dead. You rascal you“
“I’ll be standing there elated when they bring you by dilapidated“
I just turned 78 and share the same goal. Thank goodness I've been a vegetarian for 40 years and am not addicted to Adrenal - so I think I have a chance.
Walleye
(42,701 posts)
popsdenver
(582 posts)They should have legalized ALL drugs on the first day of their administration.........It would be even worse for us right now, if they cut off liquor, beer, and grass..........
brakester
(471 posts)a nerve here and I heartily thank her!
I'm sort of gobsmacked at how many of us are in our 70s as am I.
I wonder how much this has to do with growing up in the repressive 1950s followed by the joyous awakening of the 60s and 70s? Those 3 decades had a profound effect on my soul.
In fact I remember having deep feelings as a very young child that something was very askew in America and that I was distinctively different. I was somehow strangely aware of my own identity at way too young an age. In spite of my strong belief in science, I find myself often musing about reincarnation. The elderly have gathered so much wisdom and experience for that to be wiped out by the finality of death. How much more advanced and compassionate the world would be if reincarnation were a reality.
The libraries and museums of the world serve that same purpose. That's why it is so important to contribute to that record, and that applies doubly to minorities and women.
That through line has persisted and strengthened in my life and I've had a profoundly satisfying life because of it.
DU is one of my favorite places because of the many meaningful and lively discussions here. I put that down to its well moderated forums. In contrast to the more mainstream ones that thrive on rancor and division that is noticeably absent here.
Thank you all! You are my Community."
bluestarone
(20,420 posts)78 here and feel exactly the way you do!!! 
BHDem53
(1,111 posts)
Magoo48
(6,624 posts)
MIButterfly
(1,426 posts)And many, many happy returns of the day!
🎂 🎈 🌷 🍾 ❤️
Wounded Bear
(63,119 posts)so I can blow off all of the fake grieving for his passing.
Arthur_Frain
(2,244 posts)There’s an enormous amount of money out there, if we could just get the people hoarding it to care about their fellow man. I don’t know exactly what it’s going to take, but humanity has pulled rabbits out of its hat before.
Take heart.
Heed well.
Lean in when you know you can make a difference.
Peace to you and yours in these interesting times.
oasis
(52,987 posts)just a bad memory before we know it. However, the “recovery” of the America we once knew, will take some years.
bigtree
(92,870 posts)...maybe envision the new unilateral powers the next Democratic president now has to set things right with a swirl of his pen.
And the agencies he can pull maga plants back out of and put career experts back in.
And the republican funding that we object to in this budget and others, as well.
leftstreet
(37,437 posts)but you generally are
Voters will need to put ENORMOUS, ENORMOUS pressure on the next admin to follow your excellent suggestions.
ENORMOUS
OLDMDDEM
(2,787 posts)
BaronChocula
(3,464 posts)we're at least getting help from the unvaxed, the incels, and poisonous maga drugs/supplements which are all a form of right-wing population control.
Gimpyknee
(796 posts)
CousinIT
(11,905 posts)....in my lifetime. 
Random Boomer
(4,367 posts)What we had is gone. Something else will emerge eventually, but it will be different from the U.S. of the 20th century.
This emerging fascist government is going to run head on into the climate emergencies of the mid-century. Infrastructure will be damaged faster than it can be repaired, especially since the federal government is ceding its role as a national resource for resilience.
I'm 71, and I'm not going to be around long enough to see the worst of what is to come. That's a blessing in my book.
Katinfl
(521 posts)I want to outlive him and perhaps see our country turning the corner. Don’t know if that will happen, but I have to believe it is possible. Otherwise, we just give up hope and I can’t let that happen.
hamsterjill
(16,617 posts)We all have to live as long as we can so that we can be a part of the fix. You're not wrong in that it's definitely going to take decades and most of us may not see the end result of the fix. But we have to be involved in it for as long as possible, so we all need to try to stay healthy and vibrant and engaged. We owe that to our future generations.
Hang in there! Trump wants us all to be weak and afraid and fearful. It's hard not to be. Believe me, I know. But we have to try to stay strong to fight that sonofabitch!!!
Vinca
(52,775 posts)
yellow dahlia
(3,276 posts)The money could go toward paying down the debt and repairing the damage to the country.
nikatnyte
(332 posts)The chance to be closer to the day when I can piss on Trump's grave is what gets me up in the morning.
patphil
(8,329 posts)We need that to flush eough right wing judges from the courts, especially the Supreme Court, to insure the laws the Democrats pass aren't shot down in litigation.
I also won't survive to see things get fixed. I'll be 79 in a little over a week.
llmart
(16,923 posts)I'll be damned if I'm going to die before I can take part in that massive celebration this country will have when he croaks! I want to see how it all turns out and how butt hurt the MAGAs will be that we're all celebrating. I won't do it quietly either. I'm too old to give a shit what people think about it.
Kaleva
(40,003 posts)Humanity will soon face its greatest calamity in all of recorded history.
popsdenver
(582 posts)have already said, that even if we could stop it today, that we have reached a point of no return years ago.......
I was worried towards the end of Trump's first occupation about something happening even worse......and that was that the elderly psychopathic Narcissist, who, when faced with the end, could say: I'll show you" and in the case of Trump, reach for the nuclear remote control that is near him at all times.
Today, we have many elderly narcissistic psychopaths, all with control of Nuclear Weapons, enough to destroy the planet 1000 times over.......
One launches, they all launch.....
NKorea, Israel, Russia, USA, China.................
lostnfound
(17,229 posts)i know what you are saying. We are all mourning the loss.
Everything changes. For every action there are reactions. Right now, the fascists are dominating, but just as nature abhors a vacuum, the space for a world leading democracy will need to get filled, and maybe some better societies than ours will ascend to it.
It won’t actually ‘get fixed’, but the next generation will grow something new. And the young people may be more savvy and less naive politically after this disaster. The current burdens will fail from its own weight, and they will build something new.
The 20-something and 30-somethings have some real character strengths to eventually build something better. I see a rejection of corporate malfeasance, greed, unfairness, racism and hypocrisy.
1WorldHope
(1,680 posts)We are specs of dust in a vast universe. That universe is ever changing. I agree with you that we are all grieving a loss. In my case, and probably in many others experiences, I have not yet come to realize that. I have been torturing myself with the belief that if I just work hard enough with a lot of other people we can stop this train wreck. I need to embrace the little that I know of Buddhist principles and embrace impermanence. I'll still go protest, mostly because being in a crowd of people who feel like me is so comforting. But I need to lighten up on myself. The tide doesn't just come in, it must also go out. With that movement life thrives and dies and thrives again.
brakester
(471 posts)1WorldHope, another incisive and inspiring post.
PortTack
(35,751 posts)We may not be the example of freedom we’d like to be, but they are seeing the terrible darkness happening here and want no part of it.
As far as taco, musk, thiel, vance and the rest of these assholes….they fucking don’t read history! This will not end the way they want it to.
BBbats
(243 posts)By this time next year we will not recognise this country.
I'm not sure we will survive this. You don't know how desperately I want to be proven wrong!
liberalgunwilltravel
(948 posts)And I feel the same way. If it is even possible, it will take generations to regain the trust of our one time allies. But even when Trump and MAGA are all gone there will still be the billionaire tech bro oligarchs that don’t want to be “shackled” by the very same government regulations that allowed to attain their wealth. They believe we live in a post-government world and don’t want any hindrance to their power and influence.
JMCKUSICK
(4,102 posts)
MissouriDem47
(295 posts)I believe that after TACO, a guy from Illinois, while speaking in a field in Pennsylvania predicted our be destiny when he said:
"....that his nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom-and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth".
One man, even with a sizable minority, can not change the direction of the US after 250 years of history. He is temporary and so his are his policies. History is on our side.
1WorldHope
(1,680 posts)"One man, even with a sizable minority, can not change the direction of the US after 250 years of history. He is temporary and so his are his policies. History is on our side."
I needed to hear that. Like many here, I woke up quite despondent this morning. I had many personal stresses this week, and if I continued to focus on trying to defeat fascism, as if it is all I have to do, then I resent and have a lower tolerance for the things that come up in my personal life. My border collie having cluster seizures and my husbands failing health is where I need to spend my energy and I will continue to fight the good fight on the side. I have way over estimated my power in this struggle.
brakester
(471 posts)compassionate soul with unnecessary self-blame and sadness.
themaguffin
(4,715 posts)at that stage in life.
BigmanPigman
(53,916 posts)will not live long enough to see if the US will ever recover. It won't be in our lifetimes, if it happens at all. I am realist. I'd kill for a crystal ball right now!!!
Elessar Zappa
(16,373 posts)Look at Germany after Hitler. Or the Czech Republic/Slovokia after communism. It just takes determination.
Mysterian
(5,965 posts)and the rule of law prevail.
BurnDoubt
(1,087 posts)I hope to be here when he gets his share of "retribution" and dangles from a street-light pole on Pennsylvania Avenue until maggots carry away the last remnants of his disgraceful tenure.
I want the rest of his administration locked-up in the concentration camps they built, and live under the treatment they prescribe for the detainees they are exploiting for headlines.
I HATE them for making me Hate them.
yellow dahlia
(3,276 posts)I am going to steal your phrase to elaborate.
"I HATE them for making me Hate them."
walkingman
(9,912 posts)These crazy right-wingers have done a pretty good job of fucking up this country. From climate denial to destruction of the middle class all based on the worship of capitalism supported by religious fundamentalism. The result is a nation that doesn't even resemble what it did in my youth.
Smartphones, social media, homophobia, religious nutjobs, denial of science?
Not my idea of progress ☮
Skittles
(167,870 posts)yup
enid602
(9,550 posts)The only way we’ll see great progress in replacing what’s been lost during Trump would be if the Rapture happened.
markodochartaigh
(4,244 posts)I see it more as the roller coaster of history. Sure, the maga wing of the Republican party has taken us over the deepest plunge since the Civil War, but there have been a lot of ups and downs.
I'm about your age. Even if I lived three decades more I don't think that I would see the US where we were four decades ago. I have long covid so I doubt if I will last one decade more.
But if the Democratic party were able to reverse the course and set the country on an uphill course again I would see that very much as a victory. In general it takes much longer to build anything than to knock it over.
orleans
(36,453 posts)
c-rational
(3,094 posts)AverageOldGuy
(3,034 posts)I want to live long enough to piss on his grave but I don't like standing in line.
some_of_us_are_sane
(2,180 posts)
Rebl2
(17,051 posts)
Warpy
(113,982 posts)The good news is that study after study has shown that countries that have gone through a period of sheer insanity, with or without a monarchist strongman at the top, have come back a lot more liberal and dedicated to sanity that they were before they went completely nuts.
I doubt I will live to see a new take on sanity, I'm almost as old as King Rotten Orange, but there are still a few shitbags out there I'd dearly love to outlive, just for spite.
I spent my entire life beating my skull against a wall of conservative smugness. I would love to live long enough to see that smugness smart to crack into shock and disbelief, but I doubt that will happen.
MIButterfly
(1,426 posts)That's one I haven't heard before. Thanks for the laugh!
calimary
(87,975 posts)King Rotten Orange.
Initech
(106,464 posts)We must flush Fox and all of the news network influencers posing as Congress, the Senate, and state and local offices, down the sewer that they came from for good, forever. Fuck all of these clowns!
OnlinePoker
(6,030 posts)You are correct that you won't see this fixed in your (or my lifetime).
misanthrope
(9,210 posts)This IS the damage Reagan caused. Trump first ascended into the national spotlight on the wave of Reagan Era zeitgeist.
stage left
(3,142 posts)and I'm determined to live long enough to see Trump in the ground. I think there was a prediction of six to eight months. Maybe I can make that.
I'm diabetic, but it's under control. I'm not entirely cukoo yet.
Fil1957
(243 posts)in the Soviet Union in 1988 and had no idea that it would all be gone in just 3 years.
Norbert
(7,400 posts)then we had 8 years of President Eisenhower, one of the greatest of Republican presidents. How I pray our country could have this much good fortune starting in 2028. I would be quite old though.
MIButterfly
(1,426 posts)Mblaze
(801 posts)And there may be political division for years but America is still beautiful and our friends are still with us. I see a future of emotionally healthy humans consolidating around each other and producing our own joys. Communes of sanity.
That said, what goes around comes around. I see the worm turning in this country because the insanity of MAGA is so readily apparent that it can't hold for long.
bucolic_frolic
(52,620 posts)but they didn't have toxic MAGA to bottleneck everything.
Conjuay
(2,720 posts)All of Reagan's perversions. The fairness doctrine would be a good place to start from. Citizens United would be the next obvious point to go after.
We can't build further unless the original structure is restored.
doc03
(38,471 posts)out of office and dead before I die. But I will not live to see it recover from the damage Trump has done.
Initech
(106,464 posts)He's like the Joker from the Dark Knight - he's an agent of chaos who just wants to watch the world burn, much like his buddy Netanyahu and the Saudi oligarchs.
Atreus
(73 posts)I understand how heavy it feels watching everything play out. But history shows that our country has been through some dark chapters before and found its way back, often faster than people expected. Change doesn’t only come from leaders; it comes from ordinary people speaking up, voting, organizing, and refusing to give up. The very fact that you care this deeply is part of the cure, not the problem. Don’t underestimate how quickly tides can turn, you may live to see more good than you think.
Crunchy Frog
(28,085 posts)I don't think I'll see it in my lifetime either.
MuseRider
(34,974 posts)the beginning of December. I want like everything not to have to die worried about my sons and their families, so far all darling little girls.
I am trying to gather up anything that might help them. I know they will help each other. I hoped they would love my farm, it would give them a lot of choice but they hate it so.....lol.
Like you I worry sick about how this turns out. Saving every bit to help is about all I can do, they are smart and do not need my help with figuring what they need to do. If they flee they will not be telling us. I, and likely only I, will stay on the farm if my husband has a chance to tag along with them.
1WorldHope
(1,680 posts)interested in coming back home and living in this wonderful old house, because, who wants to go backwards and just repeat their parents lives. But, it will be here if they have no other choices. I have to let go. As Gibran said, " ...your children are not your children, they are the sons and daughters of Life longing for itself"..., I hope I got that right from memory.
rambler_american
(919 posts)and I am certain I will not live to see the Unite States return to its former self. TSF has damaged it, perhaps, beyond repair. and I am heartbroken.
proud patriot
(102,282 posts)that somehow my Generation couldn't save all of your lifetimes hard work towards
justice and equity .
It breaks my heart , what the rest of my life is going to be , trying to restore some selblence
of what we had what you all did for us .
Roy Rolling
(7,324 posts)71 and agree with every rant.
2na fisherman
(107 posts)I'm an old guy too so I'll be happy if I make it to see the Orange Hitler gone. Just imagine the size of the lake filled with urine that will be over his grave! But I can't help from having bad feelings about living among the millions of my fellow Americans who still support the MAGA way of thinking. If hard new rules and safeguards are not codified into new laws and sanity restored to the Supreme Court, this can happen again. If a Democratic majority is restored to the Presidency and Congress, there must be a serious discussion about having another Constitutional Convention to make key amendments to the Constitution to ensure another Trump regime cannot happen and that rights we have taken for granted shall not be revoked or abridged by partisan Supreme Court members. But I fear it will take a generation to change the minds of the many who thrive on ignorance, bigotry, racism and hate. For you can't legislate morality, as the saying goes. And meanwhile, the planet gets hotter and The Doomsday Clock tics closer to midnight. I should be long gone from natural causes as the younger generation struggles for survival. Good luck with that.
vapor2
(3,193 posts)but the republicans are more afraid of a 79 yr old man with dementia than they are of their voters.
Silver Gaia
(5,154 posts)There are some great posts here! I've read them all, and rec'd many.
I will also turn 72 before this year ends, so we are the same age. I refuse to believe that we cannot or will not recover from this, and that we will at least see that recovery begin in our lifetimes. And yes, this is a belief. We have no actual knowledge of what the future holds. We can surmise, conjecture, and so on, but we cannot KNOW. What we have are beliefs, and we can choose what we want to believe.
I choose to believe that we can and will bring our country back, and for me, there is strength in that belief. This is where I choose to direct my personal energy and project it forward toward a better future. It does not serve me or my loved ones to live in fear or misery. I refuse. I choose to hope for a better world as I have done my entire life, and will continue to work toward with body, mind, and spirit. There is power in that. Please don't let them take your power from you.
My point, I suppose, is that we all can choose what we believe. Beliefs are not fixed, even though we may sometimes think they are. Beliefs can change, for better or worse. So, I ask you to take time to think about your thinking, and ask yourself what beliefs will best serve you and the future you want to help manifest. Reject what does not serve YOU, and focus on what does best serve YOU. Build on that base of beliefs. And remember simply that we have no foreknowledge. We cannot KNOW what will happen. But we can choose how we think about this, and project our beliefs with strength and good intention.
I realize how difficult all of this is, and I have my down days, too. I am often sad or angry. Some days are better than others. But I do know (and yes, I do know this) that I can choose to stay in those down days or I can choose to pull myself up into a better place. I choose that better, kinder, more positive and hopeful place. It serves me better as I walk through the rest of my life. I hope you will find a way to do the same for yourself so that in your own way you can feel some joy and hope again. That seems important to you.
My words may or may not help, but to somehow help is my intention. I wish you well.
MIButterfly
(1,426 posts)
Silver Gaia
(5,154 posts)I have to say that I agree with what Warpy said above, that essentially, we won't get it back the way it was. But do we really want it back the way it was? There were flaws that allowed this to happen, so I dont think I want it back the way it was. It reminds me of the Biden slogan, "Build Back Better." That's what I envision.
Maybe it had to be broken in order to be made better? Maybe these difficult days are a catalyst toward rebuilding a better, stronger nation. My daughter tells me this is what she sees, too, and that this is what she believes her generation and younger will do. In that, I find hope. And purpose. I see our generation's job as forming a foundation they can stand on. Resist. Survive. Rebuild. I believe we can do this.
I said more than I intended to in this reply! Apologies for that. Thank you for reading.
Abstractartist
(350 posts)Ok so to all in our 60s, 70s, and beyond…..let’s make sure we vote and get others out there, and we will begin to see our country improve in 2026.
Timewas
(2,535 posts)Just turned 84 Tue. I doubt that I willsee the end of this shit...
Marcuse
(8,698 posts)
D_Master81
(2,225 posts)And I wonder if I will live long enough. We are talking decades not years at this point
Biglinda 52
(116 posts)I'm 73 and my goal is to walk past his casket in the Rotunda and spit on it.
Martin68
(26,534 posts)came to their senses.
North Coast Lawyer
(193 posts)I'm 61. My middle daughter is going to start college next year and her little sister two years after that. They're both full of hopes and dreams for the future. We need to turn things around for them and the millions of other young people whose future hangs in the balance. We can't let this dumpster fire be our legacy.
czarjak
(13,211 posts)Republican policies such unless you're rich. Just. The. Facts.