I do not believe that America is a lost cause

[Mutiny In Heaven]

It is a heavily flawed country, and I'd say that, as it stands, many places more or less irredeemable for the foreseeable future. However, there are plenty of areas where a perpetual majority shy away from bigotry and embrace compassionate, rational thought.

I understand that it's hard to see through the insanity, but it has so much to offer. There will be peaks and troughs but on a domestic level, the brand of Republican whose mission it is to fan the flames of fear, loathing and violence is losing this war of its own creation. It might not seem like it now, but if that party fails again in 2014-16, it will HAVE to put down its dog whistle, it will HAVE to marginalise that faction and reprogram its base or decline as a viable electoral option will become terminal.

America has so, so many problems. Yet it still has so, so much to offer, and the culture, the art, the compassion, inventiveness and beauty will win the day in the end, even if it's going to take a few more decades for the changing of the generational guard to help that spread beyond its usual boundaries.

[DonCoquixote]

1. true that

we will not cede this country to the scum.

[NOLALady]

2. I do.

[Mutiny In Heaven]

3. And I understand why many will feel that way

But I think the fury we've seen in recent years (particularly post-2008) is because they KNOW it's slipping away. And it is. The walls of the bigoted, paranoid fantasy land are crumbling and we are watching its last stand.

[Jackpine Radical]

4. I think it's going to get a LOT worse

before it starts to get any better.

[olddots]

5. how old were you when the Rodney King verdic came down ?

I said America was not a lost cause then but tonight I want some justice .

[HardTimes99]

6. America: a nice idea while it lasted - nt

[Puglover]

7. It makes me sick to my stomach

Because I absolutely do.

[Blackford]

8. I do believe Florida is, though n/t

[JustAnotherGen]

9. I have a husband

That is an Italian citizen and we own a home there as well as two flats. I can't honestly respond because as a black American - I have an out that others who walk in my shoes don't have.

[moondust]

10. There was some hope in the 60s and 70s.

The civil rights movement, women's rights movement, Vietnam anti-war movement, JFK, MLK, RFK, and others got a lot of people engaged in making America a better, more just place to live for everybody. I'd say the 80s reversed a lot of that, followed by *some* redemtion in the 90s, but the 2000s accelerated the decadence and decline that started in the 80s. The U.S. has become a haven for the wealthy and that's about it.

All I can say to younger Americans looking to the future is good luck!

[Egalitarian Thug]

13. +1 and let me add this for the young.

Screw us. We fucked it all up and we knew that we were doing it while we did it.

You have two choices now; pursue the path of most of your parents and hope that you will be among the lucky 10% over the next 50 years, or stop playing the game altogether and collapse the system. There is no middle ground, there is no fixing it, make your choice and do your best to live with it, it's going to be really hard either way.

[otohara]

11. American Exceptionalism is A Fucking Joke

this place is depressing - corporations, guns, murders, wall street, oil/gas, Monsanto.

[Egalitarian Thug]

12. Nobody's asking you to believe anything.

You're just flat, fucking wrong. There are not "plenty of areas where a perpetual majority shy away from bigotry and embrace compassionate, rational thought." that's just wishful thinking or plain old bullshit.