General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDo you think the United States is lost?
Some days it's hard not losing hope. Anti-choicers are targeting non-abortion related services, especially those that poor women need the most. Climate rules are being rolled back at an unprecedented rate. Workers are losing their rights. Rules in place that doesn't allow for discrimination are disappearing. The wealthy and large corporations are making more money than ever through tax cuts designed for them. Wages are not keeping up with inflation. Rent across the country is skyrocketing and people are having to spend a large chunk of their income. Ben Carson wants to triple rent for the poorest households in federally subsidized housing.
On top of it all we have a criminal president that assaults the press in order to destroy them and who thinks he's above the law. That's not to mention his unwillingness to defend our elections from foreign intrusion. I think he's just allowing it to try to secure his next term.
This list goes on and on. This is just at the top of my head.
It's depressing. We'll all vote and hope the Dems can at least take the house, but some days like today...I feel like this country is lost.
The USA has it's faults and it's been crappy when the repubs had the WH, but never did I feel like this about where we're at today.
Comatose Sphagetti
(836 posts)jalan48
(13,901 posts)of innocent people killed and for what reason? Empire and money. So yeah, we're lost but it's been that way for awhile.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)The US has done some incomprehensible things, but it all just feels different now.
To a degree, I think the population has just gotten so used to it all that apathy reigns supreme. With every protest and with every instance of the repubs getting routed, they bide their time and come back like roaches, then do even more damage to the country. Now, they're getting everything they want it seems.
jalan48
(13,901 posts)Bush attacked Iraq and then told us to "go shopping". Actions have consequences and IMHO the evil people responsible for these wars and suffering around the world are ready to unleash the same on those of us here at home who get in their way.
yonder
(9,682 posts)Maybe we're just now harvesting the fruits of this country's history of international misbehavior.
jalan48
(13,901 posts)saidsimplesimon
(7,888 posts)it all felt different when our National Guard fired on students at Kent State, when Nixon was impeached after a long media war, when Iran-Contra went unpunished. The arc of justice is in danger on being broken by a twittler? I don't think so. GOTV
Now, they're getting everything they want it seems.
Let's give them enough rope to send them into the annals of infamy. Along with their ridiculous excuse for a leader.
Ferrets are Cool
(21,110 posts)roamer65
(36,747 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,026 posts)so many are delighted with how things are going.
sunRISEnow
(217 posts)Thekaspervote
(32,809 posts)Oh I see.. its not in the time frame you would like?
sunRISEnow
(217 posts)Well, I like this. Cool mom.
TimeSnowDemos
(476 posts)But of course plenty of lost things are eventually found.
But... I mean look, the US is barely a democracy... It has a long history of dispicible behavior and is extremely corrupt. It's justice system is known for its violence and corruption. It's schools are failing, as is its Healthcare system.
And that doesn't even touch Trump and his neo-Nazi supporters
One last thing, to many many people the lesson of Trump is that rich corrupt rascist scumbags can scheme their way into the oval office... Trump is therefore probably just the beginning of people like Trump.
Thekaspervote
(32,809 posts)sinkingfeeling
(51,482 posts)kimbutgar
(21,224 posts)BootinUp
(47,201 posts)Earlier today. The barrage of bad or frightening news is unrelenting right now. But no, I am not ready to give up hope. Got to stick it out. It will turn around again, just a matter of time.
Anon-C
(3,430 posts)Like Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street, when asked why he broke up Blue Star Airlines. "Because it's wreckable" and it is, sadly.
roamer65
(36,747 posts)The US is a multi-ethnic state like the former Yugoslavia.
Spanky is a blundering, bellicose idiot like Slobodan Milosevic.
Enuff said.
Initech
(100,108 posts)A breakup of the United States would cement Russia as the dominant world power. Which would give them any excuse to take out any country they wanted- whether by force or by election fraud or other means.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)And trashy MSM news. If it bleeds it leads, and leads, and leads holds for MSNBC as surely as your local paper.
Go for a walk each day and look around as you do. Take up a nice hobby or volunteer at a local hospital where you'll associate all kinds of people.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)I'm with my Mom a lot since she's been ill and she has the TV most of the time anyway. I do keep on top of things, just there's a slew of bad news as of late.
The Dems are being locked out of important meetings such as the one tomorrow. They're not even trying to hide their corruption anymore.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)and you need to take care of yourself first. Do what you want, but there's no virtue in wallowing in daily imaginings of being knowledgeable that actually destroy ability to understand reality.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)I learned early on not to allow things to pile when it comes to caring for my mother. It's important to balance things out with her care and my care, too. We do pretty good taking care of each other and she makes sure I know it, too.
Anyway, my point was is that there is an assault on our constitution and the fabric of the country. Sometimes a thinking person can't help but wonder what the future holds with someone like tRump in the WH.
H2O Man
(73,637 posts)I was talking to some local friends today. We share a love of local history, and visited a site. She's a Democrat, and he's a republican. He comes from an extended family that farmed these hills and valleys for generations, and served in the military in the Vietnam War era. Both of them despise Trump and worry about the nation. In particular, they expressed their concerns for the economy, the environment, and other things that are serious issues without Trump. Then they both talked about how, under these conditions, Trump is exploiting fears and hatreds. And that republicans in DC are betraying this country.
Towards the end, I asked about one of the reports I heard on the news last night and this morning? She said they turn their tv off frequently, because all of the Trump corruption is overwhelming.
These are the types of people, from a range of backgrounds, that our party needs to appeal and give hope to. It's not too late.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)the Democrats in Washington speaking UP -- forcefully, giving people a good look at how they're protecting the nation ( or trying to) against Trump. How better, in the face of no "wins" (other than from the courts) in keeping Trump in tow than loudly articulating and protesting his many sins?
Thanks for that info.
H2O Man
(73,637 posts)At one point early on, the guy asked me if I was a "Trump fan?" I assured him that I believe Trump should be secured in prison, perhaps a military prison for traitors.
When a president talks about the "good guys" in a neo-Nazi march, it's time for people to take the threats he/she poses very seriously.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)One of the several experts on authoritarianism -- maybe more than one -- warned us: When they say what they're going to do, believe them. Might have been Sarah Kendzior, or that Russian woman who sometimes appears on MSNBC.
As you well know, there's a whole host of things Trump has said which are actually terrifying if taken literally, but they must be. They must.
CanonRay
(14,121 posts)We can save it or lose it all right now. We appear to be failing.
BigmanPigman
(51,642 posts)We are tired and depressed but we have a good reason to feel this way. All is not lost though. As long as people are real patriots there is a chance we will survive this dark period in our country's history. I just hope that the citizens learn something when it is over and that is what worries me. This country has too many purposely ignorant people and that is why we are in this mess.
ecstatic
(32,748 posts)that I'm wrong and that we'll get past this.
CrispyQ
(36,540 posts)If the dems don't gain control of at least one chamber so they can thwart some of the damage, then yes.
Mr. Ected
(9,673 posts)Lately, for the past several weeks, it seems that the crazies control the news. Relatively few victories for the good guys, and those get forgotten when Trump tweets his poison again. I don't think we're lost; I think we're weary and yearning for a breakthrough.
Too bad that the rule of law grinds slowly, but finely, because that allows demons to create false narratives and tear down the rule of law before it can even be applied.
doc03
(35,389 posts)loosing any advantage we had. IMO
XRubicon
(2,212 posts)Is it lost? no, but it could be if things don't start turning around.
RandomAccess
(5,210 posts)Crucial is the November election, as well as how corrupted and polluted our judiciary becomes with his horrible court nominees.
liberal N proud
(60,347 posts)Unless congress acts soon, there will be no retrun.
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)far far worse.
maxsolomon
(33,432 posts)Have we had a Populist Autocrat who was also a deeply stupid Malignant Narcissist?
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)maxsolomon
(33,432 posts)still, President Asshole is qualitatively different than Jefferson Davis. its an entirely different context technologically, as well.
everyone knows everything now, and there's so much to know that it all levels out into background noise. mass protests on the west coast? in every blue state? who cares. irrelevant. mass protests in DC? as long as they get their permits and stay in line, who cares.
we're going to have to learn an entirely new way to fight this Autocracy. as long as the economy keeps humming along, will we bother?
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)Nay
(12,051 posts)ranking Pubs, including Dipshit, being charged with crimes, we are indeed done. They will have gotten away with everything.
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)at what a dick he is and how fucked up this is but won't say it in public. I don't know how they sleep at night.
XRubicon
(2,212 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)byronius
(7,402 posts)I really do think this is a Reset. Cultural stress has been building for thirty years. 40% of the nation is living in a Cult, and have now come to a state where they wrap themselves in the flag and wave a bible while pushing unamerican and anti-christian policy.
Now they've got everything they want, and it's Hell.
We'll either die as a species or learn this lesson and get money out of politics, raise taxes on the super-wealthy substantially, and regulate the hell out of banks and guns.
This could still end well. Most people know better. And they're all certainly awake now.
OliverQ
(3,363 posts)The propaganda, the huge percent of Americans who are enemies of America, the treason of the Republican party.
We have no mechanism to fix this short of a Revolution, and Americans are too apathetic to ever do that.
ck4829
(35,094 posts)"We've gone from politics being the idea of giving healthcare and an income for all to legislators getting in twitter fights with high school students who survived shootings, just think about that for a second."
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210417610
We are witnessing the decline of our political culture, it's just become shocking to us because of Trump.
maxsolomon
(33,432 posts)I expect him to be re-elected. I'll be 61 by the time he is gone in 2025 (if he goes). He is installing an Autocracy. That's not even debatable. It won't be a brutish Putin-styled Autocracy, but it will be more of a clownish Berlusconi-styled Autocracy. Dissent will be ignored, and then repressed by street violence from heavily-armed rural militias. National Guards will be deployed if convenient.
The judges he puts in place throughout the Federal system will outlive his reign for years.
The damage he does to our national reputation will be irreparable. The ongoing cruelty to Immigrants is only getting started. The chance to really commit to actually addressing Climate Change has already passed. The earth, and species diversity, is fucked.
I have no faith that the Dems will find a way to stand up to him electorally or legislatively. They seem adrift and unsure how to counter his bully tactics. Impeachment is a hazy dream.
I have no faith in the "Free Press" that has been made irrelevant by the RW Noise Machine and its endless funding. No one is listening; it takes too much time.
So yeah. But I hope I'm very wrong.
Shaddox
(384 posts)Non-citizen- I used to live in the States and visit several times a year but cutting down because I think that you have lost the rule of law and that is frightening.
mythology
(9,527 posts)All those things you say we're losing, they didn't spring out in 1776. They were fought for over the years. They were won over the years. Whatever the idiot in chief does, unless it's total nuclear war (which won't happen) can be undone.
Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln abused the press. FDR locked up American citizens Japanese descent. We had centuries of an enslaved workforce. Decades of women not being allowed to vote.
You are letting hyperbole or desperation get the better of you. All those things you claim are unprecedented, they've been done before. We grew and got better over time. But progress is never linear. Sometimes we have to fall back to move forward.
Initech
(100,108 posts)We have pulled through much worse and I really hope it doesn't come to that but I feel like it might.
BlueTsunami2018
(3,505 posts)And the idiots propaganda campaign is working well enough that it wouldnt shock people if the Republicans win again in November.
I have an ugly feeling that the doom weve seen coming for a long time has finally arrived. I just never thought such an obvious inept carnival barker would be able to pull it off.
All is not lost yet but were hanging by a thread.
LenaBaby61
(6,979 posts)I'm one of the most skeptical and pessimistic folks on the planet , trust me.
But I still hear the old adage that my late parents used to tell me constantly while growing up:
"What goes up, must come down."
Yeah fatso's riding HIGH in terms of controlling the media, breaking the laws of this country, and he's succeeding in destroying his tRumpers lives IE: Taxes for the rich are permanent, while tRumpers get an increase of $12-20 in their pay checks that will go AWAY next year, and these folks don't know what he's doing TO them. Their health care costs are going through the roof. Gasoline, food and electricity costs are all going up. I mean, many of his dumber than a bag of hammers thuglicans are still mostly with him even though he's screwing THEM.
I will say that I'm surprised to learn from friends however, that their tRump-loving buddies/relatives are becoming a bit hocked off now, because amongst other things their health insurance premiums are going up, because some didn't get any tax refund checks AND, they're tired of him tweeting. I'll say this also, and it's that some tRumpers with a bit of a functioning brain are also realizing that he's enriching himself/his family as president off of our treasury dollars. One friend told me recently that her uncle who lives near Gilbert Arizona and who hated Pres. Obama (Her son heard this uncle call him a ni**er), and whose childish beyond belief, and who actually bought $600 worth of MAGA hats for his employees--and who gave nice size donation to tRump said out of the blue @ Mother's Day dinner (Where no one was talking politics) that "The fat Son of a bitch has spent more time & money vacationing & golfing in 2 years than that other guy did in 8." She said she couldn't believe he said that. And those at the table and going past him to their pool (About 12 family members/cousins, His wife) who are tRump lovers didn't say ONE word.
I'm rambling, but the point I made a gazillion years ago: "What goes up, must come down." Yeah, fatso's doing permanent damage to our country via Deep state mems, continually lying, tearing down our highest law enforcement agencies while at the same time allowing a foreign entity to continue interfere with our elections. He's exacerbating racism, sexism and most thuglicans are either helping him or they're sitting back afraid too afraid to challenge him unless they're leaving office
But his fat ass won't be in the White House for 8 years IMHO. And Dems, in spite of not being able to speak up or say loudly enough that this White House is corrupt, or that there are people connected with/to tRump who've actually committed CRIMES and that there are convictions, are flipping seats all across this country from red to blue, and are registering voters in very large numbers thus far.
cynatnite
(31,011 posts)Eko
(7,384 posts)Its north of south America and south of Canada. Is it missing?
bigtree
(86,008 posts)...(after checking my pulse).
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)The country has dove headfirst into warm shit before and always self-corrected to become better on average (before jumping on my ass, "on average" means there are many issues that we, as a country, get wrong).
wasupaloopa
(4,516 posts)who they believe and what they do.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)YessirAtsaFact
(2,064 posts)I wasnt alive during World War II but I imagine this is what 1942 world have felt like, with the Nazis occupying Western Europe and the Japanese dominating Asia and the Western Pacific.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)I believe we are very near the point of no return.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)Pain or damage don't end the world. Or despair or fucking beatings. The world ends when you're dead. Until then, you got more punishment in store. Stand it like a man... and give some back.
The immortal philosophy of Al Swearengen in "Deadwood".
Basically, we fight until we can't fight anymore for what's right.
fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)Then Bush. Then Bush 2. Now Trump.
Pretty sure I'm correct this time.
old guy
(3,284 posts)The problems we are seeing are not because tRump has a master plan. He has no plan. Our problems are caused by the conservatives having the leader they always wanted, one they can manipulate. Congress could stop him in his tracks tomorrow if they chose to. They have systematically put their people into government positions across the country by appointments, gerrymandering elections, voter suppression foreign interference, etc. The time involved to root them out, remembering that some have lifetime appointments, would take decades and the damage they will have caused may never be corrected.
So no, even if tRump and his WH minions were to disappear they will be replaced by a similar group of fascist/repubs and continue their march to complete their agenda which gives them unlimited power. As I wrote above, Congress could stop it all, but there is no way Dems could ever get the numbers necessary to carry out what they would have to do.
I will continue to resist in any way I can and urge others to do the same, but personally I feel I will never see a better future. On that note, I'm going to bed and will hopefully still be here tomorrow.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,794 posts)But lots of nations have had hiccups. Great Britain, which was essentially a parliamentary oligarchy, went full-on theocracy under Cromwell. France has had a very crooked road from the overthrow of the monarchy to today.
One thing we are as a nation is loud and opinionated, and we've been that way for 2.5 centuries. I have doubts we will put up with fascism for the long haul. However, things may get way worse before they get better.
KT2000
(20,591 posts)It will morph into something else.
VOX
(22,976 posts)-Dump the Electoral College
-Give densely populated coastal states senatorial representation commensurate with the number of citizens
-Get the fucking money out of politics
Of course, Republicans wont go for any of the above changes, since the system currently favors them all too well.
If that fails, break the union apart, let the red and blue states go their own way. Although I doubt Republicans will even want that. The fact that they hold most of the cards and most of the money is whats killing us. We dance to their tune. For now.
brooklynite
(94,792 posts)"The Sky is Falling" posts are pointless.