Is this just the eb and flow of politics or are we undergoing true transformations?

[Oldguy]

I get and agree with the Obama is a bad president crowd. But the thing is if you REALLY think about it congress is the constant and unrelenting problem. And it matters not who controls it in the end. They all pass law after law most of which are completely unnecessary and redundit. And with each law a little bit of what made this country great disappears. Freedoms slowly slip away with each congress. Yet here we all sit screaming day in and day out that its Obama or Bush or YOUR side. When in reality its both none and all of them. Today its big gulps in New York tomorrow it'll be football is bad. It never stops.

I don't think you understand the way our regulatory system is being transformed. Cass Sustine, Maobamas regulatory czar is working very hard doing just that. Maobama pormised fundamental transformation, why would you doubt his intent.

Why would you believe him? You don't believe anything else he says.

 

[Mac1958]

Are we really witnessing the transformation of our country or just temporary setbacks that will eventually be worked out?

What a great freakin' question.

On one hand, the conservatives point to the constant political ebb and flow of America and its political system as an predictor that they will experience a resurgence any day now. On the other hand, "America" itself is changing so dramatically demographically that I'm not convinced that history applies as much as they think it does.

And it's not just demographics. America has changed culturally as well, and (in my opinion) not in a good way. I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.

My guess is that America is headed left, and the only question now is how far left. I also think we've essentially peaked as far as overall wealth and standard of living, as a result of both our cultural decay and the fact that capitalism has spread globally.

.

 

[Seawytch]

I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.
.

What general decay do you see all over the place?

If you asked me if I wanted to live in the America of 200 years ago and the America of today, I would choose today in a NY second.

 

[Mac1958]

I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.
.

What general decay do you see all over the place?

If you asked me if I wanted to live in the America of 200 years ago and the America of today, I would choose today in a NY second.

That's a tough question, because my evidence is more qualitative than quantitative.

In my little brain, I see individual things like our popular culture creating "celebrities" out of people with zero discernible talent, a slow decay of our language, kids getting medals in sports just for showing up, a general lowering of standards across the board. These issues can certainly be debated, but in my mind they are definitely contributing to a decay.

However, quantitatively I see our horrific obesity and heart disease rates, for example, and the fact that our students are not performing as well as compared to students in other countries, and my guess is that they are a part of the picture as well. I look down the road and see that our mediocre educational results can have significant long term effects.

.

 

[Claudette]

I get and agree with the Obama is a bad president crowd. But the thing is if you REALLY think about it congress is the constant and unrelenting problem. And it matters not who controls it in the end. They all pass law after law most of which are completely unnecessary and redundit. And with each law a little bit of what made this country great disappears. Freedoms slowly slip away with each congress. Yet here we all sit screaming day in and day out that its Obama or Bush or YOUR side. When in reality its both none and all of them. Today its big gulps in New York tomorrow it'll be football is bad. It never stops.

I don't think you understand the way our regulatory system is being transformed. Cass Sustine, Maobamas regulatory czar is working very hard doing just that. Maobama pormised fundamental transformation, why would you doubt his intent.

Yes he did. He was going to transform America. Of course most Americans thought he was talking about DC not the country. Not so.

He apparantly wants us to be like Europe. Guess he hasn' taken a good look at Europe lately.

Sustein is going back to Harvard at the end of the month.

 

[Dutch]

Like everything things have a rhythm. Besides technology the more things change the more they remain the same. Old styles return then fade again.

With regard to politics its hard for me to judge because I really don't know much political history. But I wonder if its like our weather. Many cycles and they all repeat at some point despite the hysteria.

Are we really witnessing the transformation of our country or just temporary setbacks that will eventually be worked out?

So many of the threads on here remind me of the Jim Jones or David Koresh stories

The United States has been in far greater peril throughout it's history than it is today. Today, however, like minded people can access the internet and other media to reinforce and stoke their fears. This message board is just a small slice of the popualation that actually care about politics. It's sad, but there are probably more posters on sports or reality TV messageboards.

 

[Seawytch]

I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.
.

What general decay do you see all over the place?

If you asked me if I wanted to live in the America of 200 years ago and the America of today, I would choose today in a NY second.

That's a tough question, because my evidence is more qualitative than quantitative.

In my little brain, I see individual things like our popular culture creating "celebrities" out of people with zero discernible talent, a slow decay of our language, kids getting medals in sports just for showing up, a general lowering of standards across the board. These issues can certainly be debated, but in my mind they are definitely contributing to a decay.

However, quantitatively I see our horrific obesity and heart disease rates, for example, and the fact that our students are not performing as well as compared to students in other countries, and my guess is that they are a part of the picture as well. I look down the road and see that our mediocre educational results can have significant long term effects.

.

Sorry, but I don't see those things as being worse than the culture of 200 years ago when slavery, misogyny, child labor and no education were the standards.

We've been raising standards, not lowering them.

 

[Truthmatters]

Is this just the eb and flow of politics or are we undergoing true transformations?


this country is a futuristic society and is always going through transformations - the melting pot, and usually for the better - bought any slaves lately ?


eb and flow, politically the Republicans are reactionaries to definitions of their own making and in 2012 they were not the majority - and the majority are only so by a slim percentage but the transformations from 2010 to 2012 were pronounced.

Multiculturalism is the antithesis of a "melting pot."

dear silly silly person.


It is the results of the melting pot.


You have a false image of the melting pot.


You see the melting pot as being accrossed the room from you and you watch immigrants climb into the pot and then step out in your image.



This is what the melting pot really is.


we all sit in the melting pot all the time and forever.


new immigrants step in and join us in our melting.



We never come out of the pot.



Your in the pot


all Americans live in the melting pot.


So melt damn it

 

[jwoodie]

Is this just the eb and flow of politics or are we undergoing true transformations?


this country is a futuristic society and is always going through transformations - the melting pot, and usually for the better - bought any slaves lately ?


eb and flow, politically the Republicans are reactionaries to definitions of their own making and in 2012 they were not the majority - and the majority are only so by a slim percentage but the transformations from 2010 to 2012 were pronounced.

Multiculturalism is the antithesis of a "melting pot."

dear silly silly person.


It is the results of the melting pot.


You have a false image of the melting pot.


You see the melting pot as being accrossed the room from you and you watch immigrants climb into the pot and then step out in your image.



This is what the melting pot really is.


we all sit in the melting pot all the time and forever.


new immigrants step in and join us in our melting.



We never come out of the pot.



Your in the pot


all Americans live in the melting pot.


So melt damn it

What's with the multiple line spacing? Are you trying to make your post appear more "weighty?" Come back when you are sober...

 

[saveusfromnazis]

There have been more ebs than flows since the middle-end of the Bush administration. Transformations take a long time, but trends point toward yes.

 

[Soggy in NOLA]

A little of both. No doubt Obama and the statists are trying to transform America into a European style system.. with a lot of help from the uniformed voter that are voting their own self interests.. even in light of the fact that it is all undo-able.

 

[zeke]

Hell yea we are changing. I have never seen as much hatred (including me) expressed toward other Americans than I see today. During Viet Nam, when I grew up, people didn't hate each other as much as fighting about the war. Now it seem we have a multitude of subjects to hate each other over. And the 'Net feeds the fire.

More and more bad information does not make for a more educated populace. Fewer and fewer high school grads do not make for a more educated populace. More and more poor people do not make for a better country in which to live. You can't be considered doing great things when education and standards of living are declining for most citizens. And further declines are almost guaranteed.

No I'd say we are on the down hill side of our remarkable history. Even now I like to tell stories about the good ole days, way back in the 60ties and 70ties, when things seemed better and hope was alive and well.

Ah well, nothing lasts forever. Well some nuclear waste maybe but no form of government.

 

[The Infidel]

We aren't a melting pot because while there used to be a transformation that brought people here from all over the world and made them into Americans that's not happening. They are encouraged to maintain identities from wherever they came from and raise their children with those identities.

A nation is a group of people with shared traditions and values. It is the social fabric that weaves together many into one tapestry. The social fabric is being unwoven. The natural progression is that it won't survive as anything more than the geographic expression of a landmass. The future of the United States is the present of Africa. Divided up into tribes who share nothing with anyone in another tribe.

Go to any school and watch those children of immigrant parents, kids of all colors, signing the National Anthem and reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, then get back to me how they're not Americans, not being assimilated.

Your stereotypes just don't fit reality or even history.

I watch the ones you call "imigrants" sneak in under the radar...the ones I call illegals. i watch them break our laws, steal our welfare, take advantage of our schools and hospitals...and I think the stereotype fits just fine.
I see us learning THEIR language, and picking up their shitty habits.

You think you know it all because you are a "man of the world"... Give me a break.

 

[SayMyName]

I believe we are going through some true transformations, just as we saw the great expansion of government in our lives during the depression and the Roosevelt initiatives and in the 1960's with Great Society programs. Government is expanding, and this time has a powerful electoral mandate to support it. Obama will no doubt have the opportunity to cement these gains with many judicial appointments, along with at least two more liberals on the Supreme Court as the conservatives on the bench age and retire during his term. This will have effects that will last for decades to come.

Even though I am a traditional Goldwater conservative, I have to say, I welcome the progress forward in many ways.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Are we really witnessing the transformation of our country or just temporary setbacks that will eventually be worked out?

What a great freakin' question.

On one hand, the conservatives point to the constant political ebb and flow of America and its political system as an predictor that they will experience a resurgence any day now. On the other hand, "America" itself is changing so dramatically demographically that I'm not convinced that history applies as much as they think it does.

And it's not just demographics. America has changed culturally as well, and (in my opinion) not in a good way. I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.

My guess is that America is headed left, and the only question now is how far left. I also think we've essentially peaked as far as overall wealth and standard of living, as a result of both our cultural decay and the fact that capitalism has spread globally.

.

Not that great of a question. Great questions don't have partisan falsehoods built into them. The idea that we are experiencing a "setback" is bull.

Now, please elaborate on the "general decay" idea. I think we are no more decayed than we were 20, 40, 60, 100 or 200 years ago. Different....yes. More decayed....don't think so.

Fat, lazy and soft backed by "plenty of evidence"?

 

[LoneLaugher]

Yeah....I know I skipped ahead.....I saw where Mac tried to answer these questions. Sorry.

 

[RoadVirus]

Are we really witnessing the transformation of our country or just temporary setbacks that will eventually be worked out?

Hopefully we are just experiencing a temporary speed bump. But who knows. It all depends on our so-called representatives in DC.

 

[OKTexas]

I get and agree with the Obama is a bad president crowd. But the thing is if you REALLY think about it congress is the constant and unrelenting problem. And it matters not who controls it in the end. They all pass law after law most of which are completely unnecessary and redundit. And with each law a little bit of what made this country great disappears. Freedoms slowly slip away with each congress. Yet here we all sit screaming day in and day out that its Obama or Bush or YOUR side. When in reality its both none and all of them. Today its big gulps in New York tomorrow it'll be football is bad. It never stops.

I don't think you understand the way our regulatory system is being transformed. Cass Sustine, Maobamas regulatory czar is working very hard doing just that. Maobama pormised fundamental transformation, why would you doubt his intent.

How is our regulatory system being "transformed"?

Just check the federal registry, Maobama skipped at least 2 required reports to congress on the cost of new regulations the year before the elections because of the many billions of dollars they will cost the economy. Most transparent administration in history, my ass.

 

[theDoctorisIn]

I don't think you understand the way our regulatory system is being transformed. Cass Sustine, Maobamas regulatory czar is working very hard doing just that. Maobama pormised fundamental transformation, why would you doubt his intent.

How is our regulatory system being "transformed"?

Just check the federal registry, Maobama skipped at least 2 required reports to congress on the cost of new regulations the year before the elections because of the many billions of dollars they will cost the economy. Most transparent administration in history, my ass.

How about you check the "federal registry", and find an example of a regulation that Obama has "transformed", and get back to me on it.

Since you're the one who made the claim in the first place, it's your responsibility to do the legwork, not me.

 

[OKTexas]

Are we really witnessing the transformation of our country or just temporary setbacks that will eventually be worked out?

What a great freakin' question.

On one hand, the conservatives point to the constant political ebb and flow of America and its political system as an predictor that they will experience a resurgence any day now. On the other hand, "America" itself is changing so dramatically demographically that I'm not convinced that history applies as much as they think it does.

And it's not just demographics. America has changed culturally as well, and (in my opinion) not in a good way. I see a general decay of our culture all over the place, and I often wonder if it's because the idea of America worked too well. There's plenty of evidence that our incredible success over the last 200+ years has made us fat, lazy and soft.

My guess is that America is headed left, and the only question now is how far left. I also think we've essentially peaked as far as overall wealth and standard of living, as a result of both our cultural decay and the fact that capitalism has spread globally.

.

America has been moving left from day one, it just started moving faster in the early 1900's with a few periods where it was slowed. Our declining society is a direct result of that movement and will continue till all the principles this country was founded on are replaced by arbitrary rules that will change with the whims of the left.