What can we, the people do, to fix our nation

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I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?
First off, fire obamaturd.
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

We could try to bridge the political, social, cultural, economic and ethnic divides that threaten to tear the nation apart. Unfortunately, I have to say it's doubtful at this point that we can do so. Frankly speaking, there are conflicting interests here that simply cannot be reconciled. If that is the case, then at some as yet indeterminate point, those questions will be settled by force. With both major parties now in the control of their extreme respective bases, I see little hope for a long-term political solution.The is little question that such a war, if it comes, will be a long and bloody affair. When it is over i suppose the survivors will have to pick up the pieces of whatever is left, and go on from there. It is not a happy prospect, but it may be unavoidable
 
I agree with Gad.....the US will eventually split asunder because the political divide is too great. It will be interesting to see which society ends up being the better one...
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.


You know, pretty much exactly the opposite of the messages we've been getting for the last 30 years?
 
Once Americans come to terms with the internet, our politics may be healed.

As it is, there are Americans who are generally incurious, yet enraged. They buttress that rage with propaganda that tells them precisely what they want to hear. That propaganda is largely disseminated by "pundits" who have an agenda financed by special interests (oil companies, corporations with production overseas, advocacy groups).

The lack of curiosity among those enraged Americans makes it impossible for diverse points of view to be heard and appreciated. Thus the cycle of rage and satisfaction with their particular news sources continues to an inevitably tragic end for our political system.

This level of boorishness was not apparent before the explosion of cable news and the internet. If we want a better system, we need to be more open to the truth and less willing to follow punditry so blindly.
 
we, the little guy, can't do much.....we can go about doing the best we can with the jobs we have and the money we make.....

we can take a step back in our own lives and ask ourselves, "Do we really need all the things we buy?" and choose to add less trash to the Earth....

This of course means that our economy will never be the same.....and we won't expect it to be the same advertising infested economy with promotions to buy some other useless thing....

Waste not, want not.... we'd all be happier.
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.


You know, pretty much exactly the opposite of the messages we've been getting for the last 30 years?

How very true.


Look at your neighbor and see a human being wlaking the same path as yourself, trying to make a good way for their family.

Treat them with respect and try to imagine that they have good intentions and treat them as such.

I hear so much about latinos here one would think they were horrible people.

My town is 60 percent latino.

kids in skate gear skateboarding (and yes speaking english) looking just like any white neighborhood except you see a little more dark hair and fewer blondes. Beautiful lawns and shiney washed cars.

I really think people who dont live in mixed neighborhoods have no idea just how normal they are.

My neighbors are very sweet and love to wave hello even the ones who dont speak real good english.

I will NEVER understand why people dont like latinos, they have always been very nice to me and are great nieghbors.

They love their kids and family with a passion and are always having family over for get togethers and they never run the music past curfew or do anything that causes a problem.


I really think anyone who doesnt like latinos just never knew enough of them.

In my last neighborhood there was a pretty respectable slice of black people.

They were NO different from any of my other neighbors. Houses just as clean and kept, kids just as respectable. Truely just no differance.

I just dont understand the need for racism some people insist on seeing?
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

We could try to bridge the political, social, cultural, economic and ethnic divides that threaten to tear the nation apart. Unfortunately, I have to say it's doubtful at this point that we can do so. Frankly speaking, there are conflicting interests here that simply cannot be reconciled. If that is the case, then at some as yet indeterminate point, those questions will be settled by force. With both major parties now in the control of their extreme respective bases, I see little hope for a long-term political solution.The is little question that such a war, if it comes, will be a long and bloody affair. When it is over i suppose the survivors will have to pick up the pieces of whatever is left, and go on from there. It is not a happy prospect, but it may be unavoidable

gJMHCl.gif

The political processes of our country are such that if a rule of reason is not applied in this effort, we will lose everything--even to a possible and drastic change in the Constitution. This is what I mean by my constant insistence upon "moderation" in government. Should any political party attempt to abolish social security, unemployment insurance, and eliminate labor laws and farm programs, you would not hear of that party again in our political history. There is a tiny splinter group, of course, that believes you can do these things. Among them are H. L. Hunt (you possibly know his background), a few other Texas oil millionaires, and an occasional politician or business man from other areas. Their number is negligible and they are stupid.
Presidential Papers, Doc#1147 Personal and confidential To Edgar Newton Eisenhower, 8 November 1954. In The Papers of Dwight David Eisenhower

Well, now we have that party...and it will be the END of the GOP.
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

Accept personal responsibility. Stop throwing the blame on others for what you see as 'wrong' in your life.

View your circumstances as an opportunity for growth rather than disappointment or a reason to hate.

Look within to find changes you can make within yourself that will have a positive effect on the world around you.

Allow your level of understanding to continuously grow.
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

Love thy neighbor as thyself.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.


You know, pretty much exactly the opposite of the messages we've been getting for the last 30 years?

How very true.


Look at your neighbor and see a human being wlaking the same path as yourself, trying to make a good way for their family.

Treat them with respect and try to imagine that they have good intentions and treat them as such.

I hear so much about latinos here one would think they were horrible people.

My town is 60 percent latino.

kids in skate gear skateboarding (and yes speaking english) looking just like any white neighborhood except you see a little more dark hair and fewer blondes. Beautiful lawns and shiney washed cars.

I really think people who dont live in mixed neighborhoods have no idea just how normal they are.

My neighbors are very sweet and love to wave hello even the ones who dont speak real good english.

I will NEVER understand why people dont like latinos, they have always been very nice to me and are great nieghbors.

They love their kids and family with a passion and are always having family over for get togethers and they never run the music past curfew or do anything that causes a problem.


I really think anyone who doesnt like latinos just never knew enough of them.

In my last neighborhood there was a pretty respectable slice of black people.

They were NO different from any of my other neighbors. Houses just as clean and kept, kids just as respectable. Truely just no differance.

I just dont understand the need for racism some people insist on seeing?

TM, I have nothing against Latinos I have many Latino friends. My ex is a half black Latina.
Please try to see the difference between Latinos here legally who are productive members of society and illegal immigrants.
Please attempt to see the difference between African Americans who work, pay taxes and raise their children to be good citizens and the gang bangers and leeches.
My dislike of criminals and leeches is not about race. it is about what is right and what is wrong.
 
Once Americans come to terms with the internet, our politics may be healed.

As it is, there are Americans who are generally incurious, yet enraged. They buttress that rage with propaganda that tells them precisely what they want to hear. That propaganda is largely disseminated by "pundits" who have an agenda financed by special interests (oil companies, corporations with production overseas, advocacy groups).

The lack of curiosity among those enraged Americans makes it impossible for diverse points of view to be heard and appreciated. Thus the cycle of rage and satisfaction with their particular news sources continues to an inevitably tragic end for our political system.

This level of boorishness was not apparent before the explosion of cable news and the internet. If we want a better system, we need to be more open to the truth and less willing to follow punditry so blindly.
Good post. Too many, it seems, are too lazy to investigate. They are incurious and prone to have their *cough* "news" read to them in sound-bites.
we, the little guy, can't do much.....we can go about doing the best we can with the jobs we have and the money we make.....

we can take a step back in our own lives and ask ourselves, "Do we really need all the things we buy?" and choose to add less trash to the Earth....

This of course means that our economy will never be the same.....and we won't expect it to be the same advertising infested economy with promotions to buy some other useless thing....

Waste not, want not.... we'd all be happier.

agreed. Having an economy which was 70% based on retail sales didn't work out too well.
 
Once Americans come to terms with the internet, our politics may be healed.

As it is, there are Americans who are generally incurious, yet enraged. They buttress that rage with propaganda that tells them precisely what they want to hear. That propaganda is largely disseminated by "pundits" who have an agenda financed by special interests (oil companies, corporations with production overseas, advocacy groups).

The lack of curiosity among those enraged Americans makes it impossible for diverse points of view to be heard and appreciated. Thus the cycle of rage and satisfaction with their particular news sources continues to an inevitably tragic end for our political system.

This level of boorishness was not apparent before the explosion of cable news and the internet. If we want a better system, we need to be more open to the truth and less willing to follow punditry so blindly.
I wish it were that simple; I'm afraid it isn't. Our politics, bad as it is, is only a symptom of larger, underlying problems. You've mentioned one of them; in the last seventy years, we've gone from an industrial/agricultural society to an information consumer society. You've identified some of the implications of that; but beyond those there's the mater of information overload, and a faster news cycle, combined with mass marketing on a scale unimaginable a half-century ago. The average American simply can't process or evaluate it all, hence the rise of the "pundits".

However, that's only one facet of the problem. We aren't the same kind of society we were back then; once a pretty fair percentage of the population lived out their lives within a few miles of where they were born. That meant people simply knew their neighbors better, and there was a greater =sense of community. We don't have that anymore. Once people worked in the same place, if not the same job, for most of their working lives; today, we change jobs, and locations, like we change clothes. It's a far more mobile society, in which many people move so often they never really know their neighbors, or form an attachment to a community. One casualty of that, is the loss of the feeling that "we are all in this together" This is one of many things that have contributed to the "me first" society we now have.

As if that weren't enough, there's more. We went through a societal revolution, most of which occurred in a fifteen year span from 1960-1975. Values, societal norms, religious faith, economic and social structure, all were turned on their heads. In some cases, this was a positive thing; the end of segregation, an acknowledgement of women's rights; but not all the changes were so positive, and none of it was really planned and thought out; what largely happened was haphazard, and often by default,. Some changes never got finished, leaving divides that still plague us today. Others threw out old values and norms and standards, without any social consensus as to what would replace them. A great deal of what occurred could be called generational self-indulgence, which paved the way for a large-scale abdication of personal responsibility. In many ways, what had been a rather dull and bland, if stable, culture, was replaced with one much more loud, crude, vulgar and coarse. As religion and other social institutions were cast aside by so many, government stepped in to take their place. The cultural divides thus spawned are not only still with us, they are growing, and we may well be beyond the point of our being able to come to any compromise on what to do about it.

While that was going on, we went from being a nation with a relatively isolationist foreign policy, to a global superpower. It's a role our republic is ill-suited for, one that we have never been comfortable with, and still cannot decide what to do with. Oh, and by the way, our population just about doubled. We used to be either urban or rural, now, we're mostly a nation of urban city cores, (many decaying) surrounded by suburbs, shopping malls, and a smaller rural population. None of those three segments relate very well to the other two; another divide. Now, to top it off, a major financial crisis left the economy reeling, many Americans out of work, and more afraid of losing their jobs. Many of those jobs will not be coming back; they, like much of the prosperity of the last thirty years, were an illusion, created and maintained by "wealth" created by market forces, wealth which had most of its basis on paper, rather than in real increased value. Coincidentally, the "Increasing income inequality" so many complain of is similarly created, and STILL exists, like those real estate values three years ago, mostly on paper. Another divide. Meanwhile, the average Americans whose single greatest piece of wealth is their home, have seen that value drop 40% or more (again, on paper; the inflated value they formerly believed it had never really existed, unless they had sold it into an over-hyped and over-heated market). Except for those who bought into the height of the market, they have suffered no actual loss, but, their borrowing power is diminished, and in a society that still overuses credit, that hurts. Another divide.

What this all means, is that there is less and less common ground to be had between Americans with diverging, and often competing, interests. It is increasingly difficult, if not now impossible, to rectify an injustice to one group without doing an equal or greater injustice to another. Put simply, if my interest cannot be helped, except by harming yours, and your interest cannot be helped , except by harming mine, NEITHER of us has any incentive to give in. We therefore have an impasse, in which any number of conflicting interests can make a valid case that they would be wronged in any attempted compromise. It wouldn't matter in any case; with everyone having dug in their heels, compromise simply can't happen. With our sense of community gone, it's now everyone for himself; deplorable, perhaps, but that is what most people now see, and perception is 99.9% of reality.

The only real question now, is how long it will take for one or more of the divides to burst wide open, into civil conflict. There are only two possible outcomes to that; either an authoritarian government may take over, and stem the tide temporarily, or all out civil conflict ensues. In either case, civil strife is all but inevitable; I can't see us splitting up peacefully (though that would be the better course). I don't think we are at a tipping point; I think, sadly, that we passed that a way back.
 
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I can think of 70,000 bridges that are "structurally deficient". We could start there.
 
First of all you have to quit apologizing for America's prosperity. The United States is the greatest Country on the face of the globe. Ask those poor stiffs who die in the southwest desert trying to get here. The second thing you have to realize is that politics R us. It's all about politics and that's not a bad thing. If you quit paying attention to politics you quit trying to fix what's wrong.
 
Once Americans come to terms with the internet, our politics may be healed.

As it is, there are Americans who are generally incurious, yet enraged. They buttress that rage with propaganda that tells them precisely what they want to hear. That propaganda is largely disseminated by "pundits" who have an agenda financed by special interests (oil companies, corporations with production overseas, advocacy groups).

The lack of curiosity among those enraged Americans makes it impossible for diverse points of view to be heard and appreciated. Thus the cycle of rage and satisfaction with their particular news sources continues to an inevitably tragic end for our political system.

This level of boorishness was not apparent before the explosion of cable news and the internet. If we want a better system, we need to be more open to the truth and less willing to follow punditry so blindly.
Good post. Too many, it seems, are too lazy to investigate. They are incurious and prone to have their *cough* "news" read to them in sound-bites.
we, the little guy, can't do much.....we can go about doing the best we can with the jobs we have and the money we make.....

we can take a step back in our own lives and ask ourselves, "Do we really need all the things we buy?" and choose to add less trash to the Earth....

This of course means that our economy will never be the same.....and we won't expect it to be the same advertising infested economy with promotions to buy some other useless thing....

Waste not, want not.... we'd all be happier.

agreed. Having an economy which was 70% based on retail sales didn't work out too well.

No, it didn't, at least, not after we brought the whole house of easy credit crashing down on our heads (and by "we" I mean ALL of us!) From Wall Street, to the bankers, to the regulators, to the politicians, from Main Street, to John Q. Public, there is PLENTY of blame to go around. That may be an unpopular thing to say, but it is the cold hard truth. Now the question is, who do we screw to fix it, and why should they accept it?Make no mistake, fixing it is going to mean screwing over somebody, more likely a LOT of somebodies; so who decides who gets the shaft, who takes the blame for THAT, who takes the fall, and what if the proposed "shaftees" say "NO!"? I'm afraid that horse is not only out of the barn, but halfway to the next county, and there's going to be hell to pay trying to put it back in.
 
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I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?
First off, fire obamaturd.

What part of, no politics, was difficult to understand?
 
I am specifically not talking about politics here. This isn't a discussion on liberalism, conservatism, progressivism, or any sort of isms.

The solutions to this nations problems will not be found in politics but in the people doing things.

So what are the things we need to do to fix our nation?

Stop being enablers.
 

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