America the Miserable?

[psychodiva]

Interesting read in The Spectator about you yanks

agree? disagree?

America has been overwhelmed by the politics of fear and the religion of hate. We are also not that educated any longer. Huge numbers of my fellow citizens can barely read. They get all of their information from TV commercials and propaganda channels. We have also become a very lazy country, not just in the physical sense but in the intellectual sense as well. We scorn the "intellectual elite."

As a result our quality of life is falling precipitously. Real wages and income are falling, roads crumble, snow doesn't get plowed, and water systems fail. With more than half of our government's gross income shunted away to support our war machine the social safety nets, common in most western countries, are shredded. Unemployment or a serious medical problem will simply wipe the family out and everything they ever worked for will be lost.

We vote, but it makes no difference. Industry (read "military") and other special interests groups bought our political processes long ago. Come election time there will be 6 or 7 who start the run for President, 4 or 5 for each congressional and senate seat. Before the first primary vote is cast that small group has already be vetted by the powers-that-be. The election is run, lots of heat and hate are generated, huge sums of money get spent, but it is all to support the illusion of democracy.

But we chose religion, we chose hate. We keep the propagandists on the air by watching and listening, and then buying the products of those run commercials on those programs. We vote, perpetuating the illusion of choice, and then we go back to religion and hate.

It is, or it can be, quite depressing. Some of us though, find someone we love. We work (and get lucky) and spend our lives doing things we think important. We help out when we can, run neighborhood associations, and as much as we can ignore the "leadership" and "talking heads." We don't watch TV, we listen to CDs instead of commercial radio, and search for our news, comparing what one says against another and trying to distill the truth (or at least the facts) from the noise. We are in the crushing minority, and there is little hope for our culture. But you live your life as best you can and hope to avoid the worst of the disasters.

[ubs]

Yes, we're gloomier than we were in the 70's.

Part of it is probably because the population was younger and the middle class was wealthier, but certainly some of it is coming to terms with the fact that we no longer live in a republic. No amount of protest or voter rebuke seems to have any impact on the behavior of our public officials. The complete absence of response definitely takes the wind out of your sails and we seem to be at a complete loss for peaceful solutions.

As tjakey mentioned, I think when they look back at us from the future, they will pinpoint the start of our demise to the end of WWII and the military spending that bankrupted everything else, but it wasn't until the Bush years that we really started to see the effects of the decay. The feeling in the air now is definitely "Go Galt."

Maybe once we develop a sense of humor about the politics and adjust to our more frugal lifestyles we will spring back a bit. We'll see.

[Smellyoldgit]

More thoughts; after WWII two nations started the "cold war" in earnest, the old Soviet Union and the USA. The Soviet Union spent itself into bankruptcy and folded its tent more than a decade ago. (Which is actually pretty recently in the scope of history.) The USA is faltering at best, bankrupt by any normal accounting standard, and probably fatally wounded. It is anyone's guess what the fall of the USA will look like. Unlike the Soviet Union we don't hold a bunch of territory by pure force. Hawaii will probably go independent / Japan, Alaska to Canada, various territories will struggle as independent.

I suppose the continental USA could break up into a few big parts. East Coast to the Mason Dixon line and Appalachian mountains, the South below the Mason Dixon line and out to the Rockies, (Texas? Who knows. Those idiots may end up in Mexico after all.) and the West Coast. That may take a hundred years or so to settle out. Clearly after that China rules the roost for a hundred years or more.

This assumes the aliens don't arrive sometime soon to take over, or that human civilization doesn't take a drastic turn due to technical advances or disasters.

[nkb]

In general, I think the article is exaggerating.

The part that jumped out at me the most was the author's contention that we are somehow less tolerant of immigrants now (give me a break, immigrants have always been treated like shit, they just eventually assimilated and became mainstream America), and that the evangelism has changed (religious nuts have always blamed Satan, and his minons, for all the ills of society, it's just that they're getting more airtime now).

That's not very encouraging nkb. The article is exaggerating because things have ALWAYS been this fucked up? (Not that I am disagreeing with you.)

[nkb]

Right, that's exactly my point. The author is glamorizing how this country was 30 years ago, and making the current state of affairs more gloomy than necessary.

I don't like the negative aspects of this country, either in the past or now, any more than you do, all I'm saying is that it's no better or worse.

I agree that we are in a seemingly hopeless cycle of fear-mongering and partisanship, but I don't think it has anything to do with the two issues I mentioned.

[ubs]

Well I remember it as happier - Brady Bunch, Star Trek, playing Barbies. Now it's commute, work, pay bills. Things have gotten worse. Much worse.

[nkb]

Well, the author offers that up as a reason, then dismisses it (too easily, in my opinion).

Things were definitely more care-free when I was a kid, or even in my 20s. It had nothing to do with the state of the country.

[Kate]

[dogpet]

Looks like you Merkins missed on on Monkey.

If someone can find some youtube you will be amazed, & I will have a tear in my eye.

[Sternwallow]

tjakey wrote

More thoughts; after WWII two nations started the "cold war" in earnest, the old Soviet Union and the USA. The Soviet Union spent itself into bankruptcy and folded its tent more than a decade ago. (Which is actually pretty recently in the scope of history.) The USA is faltering at best, bankrupt by any normal accounting standard, and probably fatally wounded. It is anyone's guess what the fall of the USA will look like. Unlike the Soviet Union we don't hold a bunch of territory by pure force. Hawaii will probably go independent / Japan, Alaska to Canada, various territories will struggle as independent.

I suppose the continental USA could break up into a few big parts. East Coast to the Mason Dixon line and Appalachian mountains, the South below the Mason Dixon line and out to the Rockies, (Texas? Who knows. Those idiots may end up in Mexico after all.) and the West Coast. That may take a hundred years or so to settle out. Clearly after that China rules the roost for a hundred years or more.

This assumes the aliens don't arrive sometime soon to take over, or that human civilization doesn't take a drastic turn due to technical advances or disasters.

On a positive note, the asteroid with our name on it might just hit us before the general degradation noted above progresses much farther.

supply side economics

the death knell of Americas working class

Reaganomics and savings..gee,, how telling