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My fellow american: Any hope left for this country?

Discussion in 'Chit Chat' started by MtnFr3sh, Mar 26, 2015.

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My fellow americans: Any hope left for this country?

  1. A lot of hope

    12 vote(s)
    24.0%
  2. Meh, some

    25 vote(s)
    50.0%
  3. None

    13 vote(s)
    26.0%
  1. dano218

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    I have some hope left in country. As long as ISIS does not come to our borders, equality spreads rapidly and Ted Cruz or any republican does not become president I say there is hope still for this country.
     
  2. Pret Allez

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    You do understand that equality is spreading because of courts, not people, right? It has mostly been the state supreme courts and the federal circuit courts of appeal that have caused equality to spread, not the good will of people who use our democratic institutions.

    The majority has behaved as oppressors, and their efforts to block the expansion of human rights have only recently been disrupted by force, and everywhere they have lost, they have complained of the undemocratic nature of the process.

    They have been and continue to be vicious and unredeemable, courts or not.
     
  3. Tritri

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    I am an American and I used to think of us as dumb "Dur dur I'm an America, I weigh 300 pounds, I don't know the difference between your and you're, I don't believe in global warming, etc." but I don't think Americans are that much dumber than other developed countries. I get mad when I see people assume that given stupid people on the internet are Americans. I sometimes like to see people go to non-U.S. countries, asks simple questions like "How long does it take for earth to rotate around its axis once?" and nobody knows. It shows me that we really aren't that far behind.
    I have also heard that the United States is not going to last as a country much longer. We are going through the same stages as every other great power once did that eventually broke down. That looks interesting, and although I'm sure we Americans will turn out fine, we might not be Americans anymore.
     
  4. dano218

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    Of course i know that. Sorry if I implied otherwise. Progressive christians like me and other minorities as well will be the the strong majority in the years to come so i have faith in this country still i really do. The homophobic religious bigots will eventually be a sad minority just like racists are now.
     
  5. Stripe101

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    Or they're made to guide the people and build a global community? if you're suggesting that any form of government is evil, then you have some pretty extreme anarchistic ideas.

    Anyway back to the thread: I do have hope for America. But that implies things are bad now. They're not great, but America is still doing well. So I don't really think hope is necessary. But I'm a bit biased since I love American history and I'd like to see it continue.
     
  6. Pret Allez

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    I am genuinely curious that you express an optimistic view of the country given your love of American history. How would you characterize, for example, US support for regimes that committed human rights violations? Am I simply mistaken about the extent of this support and therefore wrongfully believing it was a sustained pattern, or do you believe that in the event I am factually correct, that this history can in fact be ethically justified?
     
  7. OGS

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    I have to say that I have a great deal of hope for where our country is headed. Do we have a lot of challenges? Sure, but we always have. I find it particularly troubling that people would take the state of LGBT affairs as indicative that this country has no hope. Frankly, I could see people making that assertion from the anti-LGBT camp but not from this side. The advancement of acceptance has been exponential in the past 20 years and while much of the heavy lifting has been done in the courts the fact remains that public opinion has changed in a major way for the better--anyone who disagrees has no idea where we came from. I have to say that reading this thread has brought me the closest I've been in a long time to questioning whether there is hope for the country. If there isn't it seems to me that it is because we have somehow managed to raise a generation that gave up before they even tried. That does scare me...
     
  8. AKTodd

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    I have lots of hope for this country. Yes, there are some not great things going on (but that's always been the case everywhere - existence is a mixed bag of good and bad), but we're not seeing anything on the level of the Great Depression or the Civil War going on. And a lot of progress has been made on various fronts from civil rights to new energy sources. Is the future guaranteed to be great? Nope - never has been, never will be. But that doesn't mean it's guaranteed to be crappy either.

    Life is what you make of it, and slowly but surely a lot of folks are making things better on various fronts. So we can either do what we can to help them - or cry about a perfect world not existing 'right now'.

    I know how I'd rather spend my time.

    Todd
     
  9. Skaros

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    I think we're doomed.
     
  10. Alex101

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    Don't worry, the collapse will come, probably in years, not decades. A little creative destruction, for a reset of economy, politics, society. There are a TON of distortions and imbalances to be worked out of the system, there is NO way they can be "fixed" from within in a deliberate and orderly manner. It has to collapse, for a healthy new restructuring.

    So is there hope? Yeah. Things will be better. But only after they get a lot worse first.
     
  11. MisterTinkles

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    Hope? LMFFFFAO....you are FUNNY!!!!!


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  12. Argentwing

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    ^^Sorry to say, but a couple of weird pictures don't mean a whole lot. Especially the gun one, because it literally is only a different perception of the world that separates pro- and anti-gun advocates. I'm pretty sure Sarah Palin is now irrelevant, and political corruption has been a mainstay as long as humans have lived in hierarchies. As for the cops, well, they do unpleasant work. But a couple of psychos who attack them have ruined the cops for the rest of us.
     
  13. Andrew99

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  14. starfish

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    I think we'll be just fine. Yeah we have problems, but nothing so major they can't be fixed.

    Every genertion comes along and screws up a few tings, and fixes a few things, Then the next generation takes over and the cycle repeats.

    I think one of the big changes we will see over the next 50 years, is that the US will have a lot less global influence,it will shift to the more populist countries in Asia.
     
  15. Manitoban

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    I think that the United States institutionally is fine.(save having an elected upper house... makes no sense) Your government structure works well and you avoided the problem we have in the westminster system where power is concentrated in the PMO(Prime Ministers Office) too much.

    What does need work is the allowing of corporate, union and non-profit group donations. As well as large individual donations to parties. Do it like most Canadian provinces and give each party a few dollars per vote from government coffers and make it preferential ballots then you know your vote counts on a bunch of levels. And maybe even 3rd parties will come along.

    Also in general the US needs to consider new ideas instead of simply shutting them down. That doesn't mean ever progressive idea needs to be accepted but it seems insane to call ever progressive idea communist, socialist and the Devils work(thought your country was secular?!)

    Canada and Australia are honestly conservative by the world's standards but new ideas are at least talked about.

    I couldn't imagine in the United States a conservative politician talking about how having a national pharmaceutical plan might be cheaper for the government...
     
  16. ChameleonSoul

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    That's so beautiful!

    The country may be better in the distant future but right now people are too separated ideologically for any chance of positive change to come without some sort of cost. So in other words, the U.S. is going down the drain!
     
  17. EpicConfusion

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    That last quote is actually miss-attributed to Sinclair Lewis according to wikiquote.
     
  18. RemakeJake

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    I'm a pessimist in many ways, but I do not think this country is a lost cause. I think for being the supposed 'superpower' of the world, we are so far behind on some things. Most of my family is in Sweden, and when they hear certain things, like the passage of the Indiana anti-LGBT law, have them absolutely and completely flabergasted. They couldn't IMAGINE anything like that happening there. It's downright illegal. I feel embarrassed to be an American sometimes, I have to say.

    That being said, there are still millions of genuine, good people in this country. Otherwise, we would've completely imploded by now. The wrong people are just getting elected.
     
  19. Argentwing

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    Ohh trust me, we have that. It's basically what makes the entire thing keep going XD. Corporate donations especially, to parties and individual candidates, have essentially turned a "government for the people" into "government for the cash." They make deals with these companies in order to secure their continuing support, get immensely rich while in office, then let the rest of us deal with the fallout.
     
  20. Manitoban

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    Exactly why these types of donations need to be banned.

    I also forgot to mention spending limits. I think most MP's(similar to congressmen) here can't spend more than 50-80k during the election cycle. That only lasts 30ish days.