Yada Yada Yada Yada....

[WCGreen]

I just stopped in for a moment and I see a dozen threads about it's all over, the country is dissolving, The US will not survive...

Is it really that bad? Is it really so dire that people are willing to chat about it on the internet while the whole house of cards comes crashing down around us with the chaos and doom that will follow...

No SS for at least 1/2 of the people posting here. AT LEAST!

No hope, no change, nothing.

So what do we do about it?

Collect enough canned goods and guns to weather the storm?

Welcome to glenn beck's world. (His name does not deserve to be capitalized)

Things are bad now but they were a lot worse in the 60's and the 70's as most people thought the country was coming apart at the seams. There were riots and people were getting killed.

Now we chat, resigned to our fate.

So what do we do? What can we do to change this whole thing around?

We are one big crisis away from flying apart at the seams, so it seems.

Remember this, all the turmoil, the stolen election, the attacks, the wars, two huge financial meltdowns, Katrina, The Gulf, it's unprecedented in my life.

And yet here we are.

I wasn't at all happy about how we handled any of these threats that shook us to the core. But we survived. For sure we are weaker now then we were back in 2000 but this doom and gloom pessimism is so thick here you can cut it with a knife.

Now I'm not saying we are going to come out on the other side all real warm and cozy. I harbor no such delusions.

But I do have some faith in the American people left in me.

We will never be the same.

We will be diminished.

But, we will survive.

[Crazy Dave]

1. Luckily I paid off my house under Bill Clinton making $22 an hour...

...'cause now under Obama I've been having to pay the rest of my bills these past two years only making $10 an hour.

[WCGreen]

2. It's tough, I know...

The '00's were the worst time I lived through.

[lunatica]

3. All Empires survived

It's not a big deal. It would be nice to lose the Empire thing though. Get our military out of other countries would be very nice.

[WCGreen]

4. All we are doing is subsidizing the world trade by having a strong

and expensive navy out there all over the world and yet we have no tariffs.

[Mojeoux]

5. fascinating point nt

[onethatcares]

6. what are we going to do with 500,000 trained troops

without jobs?

I think this is the reason the empire continues to mess with other countries.

[lunatica]

12. Well if you take the money they're being paid right now plus military spending

It would create plenty of new jobs. Especially life altering green industry and jobs. Just like our government converted regular industry into war machine making when we were attacked by Japan, they can do the same thing in reverse.

Will it be done? Highly unlikely since politicians are really cowards who constantly have to test the wind to see where they stand. But it can be done.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

7. Finally.

A voice of reason.

Recommended.

[moondust]

8. One problem.

The U.S. gov't has become dysfunctional. How will "we" survive if the gov't is unable to pass legislation or solve problems?

"You may assume that our party will oppose and filibuster everything you do until we have a supermajority."

That is a dead end.

[WCGreen]

9. It's been dysfunctional through most of our history....

It's only in times of incredible national danger that it ever acts in concert.

Look how FDR had to twist and turn and twirl just to help out the Brits before we entered WWII.

[bvar22]

10. I gave you a K&R, but...

...in the 60s & 70s it was easy to find a GOOD job that had benefits.

*In the 60s & 70s, anyone could attend the State University
and graduate DEBT FREE if willing to work a part-time job.

*In the 60s and 70s, a father could honestly tell his children that if they Study,
Work hard, and stay out of trouble, they can do better than he did.

*In the 60s and 70s, there WAS progress toward traditional Democratic Party values (Medicare, the Civil Rights Act, The Great Society).

*In the 60s & 70s, the Working Class had a voice in our government.

*In the 60s and 70s, there WAS evidence that we were moving in the right direction.

So while I agree in principle that we WILL survive (somehow),
the problems we face today are much worse than those we faced in those days.



Who will STAND and FIGHT for THIS American Majority?
"By their WORKS you will know them."

[WCGreen]

11. there was also the nasty handling of minorities, women, homosexuals

and pretty much anyone who wasn't a white male...

Oh and the War and the Middle East tension, the cold war and of course the racial riots that turn many urban areas in this country into war zones...

the coming awareness about chemicals being released into the environment with hardly a check.

But if you were white and preferably a male, you could indeed get all those things you mentioned.

Being a white male who came of age during that time and all, I remember it well.

[bvar22]

14. The progress was NOT limited to White Males.

The Civil Rights ACT was REAL,
and the Women's Movement picked up momentum.

It was NO Utopia,
but, unlike today, there WAS evidence that we were moving in the right direction.

Everything I see today is movement in the WRONG direction,
and I see no way to stop it.
Things WILL get WORSE (for the lower 98%) before they get better.

[WCGreen]

16. The progress was, as it was viewed then, at the expense of white males...

Of course we were moving in the right direction, but it was a battle and people were killed and people put themsleves on the line n order to prove their point...

Today, not so much.

[Martin Eden]

13. That depends on how you define "diminished"

If We The People of the United States of America learn how to work together for our common good and for the good of our planet and the people who inhabit Spaceship Earth, our past glories will seem "diminished" by comparison.

All too often we base our values on material wealth. We live in a society and an economy based on mass consumption, which is in the long run unsustainable. Our natural resources are certainly diminished, if defined by mineral deposits and fossil fuels. However, the natural resources of the human intellect and the human spirit are not so finite. The biggest obstacle to our progress as a human society is not a shortage of material resources -- it is a shortage of understanding and compassion and cooperation.

These are tremendous obstacles indeed, but not insurmountable. My parents grew up during the Great Depression and were young adults when the world was at war against the forces of fascism (father served in the Pacific); yet in their recollections I never got the sense they were resigned to doom and gloom. Perhaps we have been pampered by material wealth and never having to make the kinds of sacrifices their generation made but whatever the differences may be, it is clear that some perspective is called for. And some optimism, despite all the disappointments and daily outrage at the current state of affairs.

Things may get worse before they get better. REAL CHANGE often comes about only with real crisis. The Chinese word for "crisis" consists of both "danger" and "opportunity" -- two unavoidable elements we will likely face in the not too distant future. How well we are prepared and how well we respond will determine our fate. One thing is for sure: we will have to do more than muse about it on internet forums.

[WCGreen]

15. I do agree and meant diminished in the manner that many people would

view it as a withdrawl as the world power..

[JFN1]

17. Survival is not enough - we are responsible for a viable future, too.

Simply suggesting that we abandon a better future for our children in favor of our own expediency is part of what has brought us to this particular abyss.

And for the record - America did NOT survive - and we're still here.

Surviving so our children can become corporate serfs, is not an option - at least not for me.