How does life seem to you in the last six years...

[butterfly77]

do you see the world in the same way. Do you get angrier than you use to, feel more more frustrated or do you feel that things are going to get better. Have any of the bush policies made anything better for you or your family. When you go in the public, do people seem to act the same as in the past. For me it does not. People seem to be more angry and more confrontational. I also see more homeless people. What do you see?

[leftofthedial]

1. I am perpetually angry

people are meaner and they seem much angrier too

there is far less humor in day-to-day life and people seem unable to find and relate to the inherent humanity in one another

it is a struggle just to survive month-to-month, week-to-week, day-to-day.

most people seem much poorer, while a few seem to be much more extravagantly affluent

although we are still better off, the prevailing mood reminds me more and more of a few visits I made to Eastern Europe in the 70's

[butterfly77]

2. I think that a lot of people..

are finally realizing that the things they used to do they can't do anymore due to high gas,utilities, loss of jobs and it is a struggle everyday to survive. What good economy? Bring it on Bullshit! Talk about the economy so that the people will notice that you are full of it.

[KansDem]

10. I was remarking to my wife the other day about our bills...

Very few monthly bills seem to be under $100. Auto insurance, gas, electric, telephone...all seem to be in the "3-digit club." I can remember when double digits were the norm. I used to pay my auto insurance semi-annually--no more. And we've cut out several things: cable TV for example; we cut that out in 1996 when it hit $30+ a month. I drive a 41-year-old car and carry only liability. We don't take elaborate vacation trips: every other year or so my family and I take a car trip around the region (Colorado, Chicago, etc), usually no more than a week. Yet, it seems we're always one step ahead of the creditors.

Oh, and we've had two major medical emergencies in the past three years: that's caused some hardship.

But it always seems like we're playing "catch up."

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. Hmmmm....hard to answer due to the fact that we are not standing

still as time moves on - so as we add six years to our age and collective wisdom, our perspective changes. Our life situation changes (six years ago my two daughters were in school and living at home - how they've flown the coop and our two chocolate labs are our kids!)....yet....

the stolen election of 2000 set a tone that has been pretty consistent for us - the feeling of being ripped off. The failed so called presidency of the last six years causes for us a constant embarrassment of his failings - our thuggish position in the world in no way reflects our values. Katrina was an embarassment. Every time the Emperor opens his mouth and spouts his own special brand of illiteracy, it is an insult to anyone with a shred of class or intellect.

So, though I enjoy my job, make a good wage, have a wonderful wife, great kids, interesting and varied hobbies, there is an overtone of sadness, disillusionment, disappointment.

The other thing is that we've become a bit hermit-like - where we live in Raleigh, we are surrounded by faux holy rollers and bushbots....so we don't really feel connected to people around us. we've carved out a niche that we enjoy - our yard, gardens, pets, kayaking - but it is definitely different.

What we are NOT is any more fearful then we were pre-Sept 11. We can't understand how a mass of people who should have faith are so vulnerable to being played the fool via the fear card.

[butterfly77]

5. I notice when I go to the mall..

some are sitting there like zombies and they aren't shopping. I think that they just want to get out of the house, If they still have one.

[AlCzervik]

4. I hate, hate how cynical i've become, not that i was a ray of sunshine

prior to 2000 or anything but my cynicism has gotten much worse.

[butterfly77]

6. Me too..

now when I hear politicians I am more suspicious. My children say that I have begun not to trust anyone. If you look at the news,can you blame me.

[AlCzervik]

9. i have a 12 year old and i really try to be optimistic around her and

for her, i really don't want her growing up in a republican world. every election day and here in california we have many of them i always take her with me and i hope this will spur her on to be an educated and interrested voter.

[leftofthedial]

7. I don't really believe in anything transcendent anymore

You know all those "self-evident truths" our country is supposed to be based on?

Turns out that not one of them is really true and probably never have been. Not freedom, not equality, not democracy . . .

The ONLY thing that matters is money and I don't have any of it anymore.

[Coyote_Bandit]

14. I agree

I look for monetary and financial motivations and explanations in every area of life, relationships and existence. I haven't always approached life with this attitude. But it has become fixed in the last four or five years or so.

I happen to live in red state Bible belt hell. The fundies tell me I have a bad attitude. Seems in their book I am a rebellious bound for hell cynic because I dare to quesiton. I respond by saying that the Bible says that "the love of money is the root of all evil" and that "where your treasure is there your heart will be also." It doesn't make me feel any better - but it usually at least shuts them up. How do you respond if prosperity is your measure of spirituality?

I have come to live by the "follow the money" tool of analysis. Altruism is dead. So is freedom, justice, equality and democracy. Maybe they never existed. Maybe they were always just advertising slogans and ploys....

I guess I am a hard sell these days.

[leftofthedial]

17. all the idols and gods and kings

are just bait laid out for you and me
by the scheming snakes and the lying little monkeys
that run through the jungle and swing form the trees

[Greyhound]

30. The myth of Horatio Alger has captured their greedy little

imaginations and they aren't about to let it go as that would expose the meaninglessness of their lives.

Religion by another name.

[Hangingon]

8. Good

The last three years particularly have been great. Sure, the gas prices have caused us to adjust. There are fewer visits to the grand kids now. There are a lot of worries now that we didn't have 6 years ago. The war and my son's two deployments have been tough. There is an uncertainty in plans for the future. Violence here on the coast is up. Drug traffic is up. Mostly attributable to illegal migrations. Many more police chases i the last few months.

[Subdivisions]

11. For me it has gone from 8 busy years of $21/hour union

sheet metal employment in the Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex and vacations on the Mayan Riviera to year+-long unemployment and scraping just to get by.

These days, even the bright sunny days seem like a dark and dingy dungeon of despair. If it weren't for my hobby of creating and maintaining websites, which I taught myself for six years, I'd be one of those guys on the street corner holding a "Will work for food sign".

But what gets me through the night is knowing that, no matter what, I always have my family to brighten things up around here.

[butterfly77]

32. They seem to want everyone to ...

hold signs saying"will work for $5.15 per hour.

[RufusEarl]

12. Just canceled my vacation!

my wife and i just canceled our vacation, we had planned to go to Arkansas to visit the Clinton library. This is a small sacrifice on our part, but allot of americans are having a hard time living week to week.

Our country has been slipping the past six years, and the middle class has slipped the most. The last time i felt like this was during the Reagan admin, so please send help the country is on fire!

[Kierkegaard]

13. There is a greater societal divide than I've ever seen before.

Many people I run into seem generally unsettled, worried and/or angry. A number of people I know personally are very concerned that we have reached a breaking point and may not have the opportunity to make corrections in time to save our former way of life.

Of course, there are a large number of people who have jobs, televisions and a few extra bucks in the bank that are totally oblivious to what is happening to our government. As long as they keep getting a paycheck every week and have football or American Idol to occupy their free time, everything is hunky dory. I believe that job outsourcing and the rising cost of living has chipped away at that group significantly.

The remaining group are hopelessly deluded, seeing good where none exists, making compromises where there is no benefit to the citizenry. They are as angry as many of us. I believe their anger is misplaced.

I've been on edge for most of the last six years, and increasingly so as the boundaries of acceptable (read: BushCo) behavior keep being stretched beyond their limits. My patience has worn thin, although I try to be aware of who it is I am angry with. I'm increasingly frustrated by the 'new' world; the media, the audacity, the mendacity, the conspiracy. The level of corruption appears to be growing exponentially.

The glimmer of hope that is representative of reversing our slide to oblivion continues to fade. With so many people counting on November to be the turning point, I hope that the glimmer isn't extinguished altogether should we be deceived again.

[butterfly77]

20. I agree ...

some days I wake up with a positive mind. Then when I go into the public it seems to drift into the negative. These people have even made religion seem to be fake but I continue to believe in God.

[CTyankee]

25. Crime has increased exponentially here in New Haven

It had been bad during Reagan and Bush One but had gone down in Clinton's 8 years. There is misery and despair in our inner city neighborhoods with kids in gangs on bikes terrorizing people. That is what we are seeing more and more.

[Kierkegaard]

26. I was going to touch on that as well, but felt that I had already

been a bit long-winded. I currently live outside of Charlotte, NC and the crime rate here is off the charts. People are beating, shooting and raping each other with alarming frequency.

Thankfully, I'm moving to an area where things are much quieter (Olive Branch, MS. Of course, any commentary/advice is welcome!)

[butterfly77]

33. We are seeing terrorism over here...

in our daily lives. Look at how the crime has gone up in this country. These are some more statistics that are hidden. They wouldn't know because they don't live in our world. They live in bushworld.

[marions ghost]

15. a dark time

...like living under a cloud. This saps energy. Nobody has much enthusiasm for life. Everyone's just trying to get by. Being victimized--esp victimized by 'elected' officials--takes a toll and makes people very cynical. People start thinking survivalism instead of pulling together. I feel negativity all around me. Nobody cares much about cultural things, volunteer groups, community activities and events. They hunker down in self-protective mode and focus inward. I understand that. I live in what you might call a liberal/progressive stronghold, where more Bushco related depression might be obvious...but I do think it is affecting the whole country.

The only thing that has kept me going is that I knew that if it got terrible bad -as it has, people in large numbers would finally get fed up. I think we've reached that point, so I'm trying to be optimistic. We have a mandate for big changes now. We have enough momentum. It's tipping....there is opportunity now. The challenge will be to come out of our caves, out of our collective depression enough to MOVE on this. It won't be easy, still a struggle, but it'll be better than this present state of suspended animation!

[twilight_sailing]

16. When Bill Clinton was elected,

I remember this like it was yesterday, I turned to my girlfriend and said, "Things are going to get better."

What I wouldn't give to have something like that happen again.

[CTyankee]

24. The day he was elected I remember

laughing with utter joy as I came downstairs to make morning coffee. I hadn't expected to be so elated. It was one of the most wonderful things I ever felt. Looking back on that I feel sad. We had a good run, didn't we?

[Vox Acerbus]

18. The "For us or against us" logic has taken hold...

Chimpy pushed "for us or against us" at the start.

It's officially taken hold. I hate all Republicans. Every last one of them. I have relatives who are Republicans, and I hate them. Most of them I can be civil to, and they probably don't know how much I hate them, but a few I can't be civil to, and we just don't speak any longer.

But make no mistake about it, I hate all Republicans. I don't have any friends who are Republicans, because I don't befriend such people. I wouldn't piss on any of them if they were on fire. In order to be a Republican, every single one of them is either evil, or unforgivingly stupid.

[neoblues]

19. It rapidly went from fair to good, to bad, to worse...

and is continuing to get worse; for the moment, there seems a glimmer of hope, but there's considerable reason to be suspicious that the upcoming elections won't reflect the apparent public opinion. Then too, things have been so aggressively corrupted and either irrevocably or severely damaged or destroyed that even if we turn the corner towards proper policies--which is usually a gradual process, but even if we did it in only months, it's going to be decades before we approach just the conditions of 2000--if we ever do.

On a social level, I see the country becoming more and more Darwinian, in the sense of survival of the fittest becoming the rule. It's harsh out there and there's less and less support by society for those who are in need. From healthcare to education, fewer and fewer Americans are being empowered or prepared for the hard times now and those coming. As the OP noted, people are bcoming more angry and confrontational. Under stress, that's a normal reaction. Unfortunately, many people have lost the hope of being able to influence their own government and have come to accept lies/deceptions and corruption as a given.

Otherwise, I see the country as losing key capabilities, from farming to manufacturing, for being prepared to survive very well in the future. It's also facing a mountain of neverending debt (until the world "civilization" as we know it gets so bad "all bets are off" (which could mean war; if anyone is capable of fighting one)).

The world is going downhill as well, which will make any recovery that much more difficult. We will, before many more decades pass (perhaps just years or even months), be hit by a global pandemic--that will be a catastrophe for the economies of the world. If we manage to avoid that, there's global warming which will begin to increase more and more rapidly--also affecting national economies and causing millions to starve (and suffer other misfortunes). Under such radically unstable conditions, wars are more likely to occur--over things like water or other natural resources. We'd better have our act together in the next few decades if we hope to survive as a nation. Though, at least the distribution of what remains of our federal budget will be redirected from the military to trying to help millions of Americans who will be in dire straights--when things like New Orleans seem like a modest catastrophe.

The Case of The Doomed Car Chase...
It's as though we (the people) were running from the "authorities" (our ruling class (rc), though we still mostly haven't realized it) in a desperate car chase, and we just ran over the tire deflating device deployed by the authorities... That "spike strip" was a group of people (Shrub, Rummy, Condo, Dick "Drakul", and their NeoConniving friends). They just blew the tires off our nation (as well as blowing the engine, ruining the suspension and transmission, and smashing/wrecking the body/paint/lights etc). The thing is, they are driving our car (or nation/economy/foreign relations/future/etc)--as well as chasing and trying to destroy it! We're just the passengers! To make matters worse, in spite the already catastrophic damage, they're continuing to try to run--driving on the spark spewing steel rims, when we need to stop to make repairs--which isn't much of a possibility. Though the passengers are beginning to grow disillusioned, and might hope someone votes the bastards out of the driver's seat, they control the minds of many of the passengers and have the vote "fixed". Did I mention that the drivers also own the only car repair shop and car dealership in town? Thus, they profit from the catastrophe while we're about to re-discover walking everywhere we go. So onward--to oblivion we go.

Still, given American "ingenuity" (which, while declining, still exists), our arable lands, and the fact that Canada has enormous water resources, North America--though short on oil/energy, is probably one of the better places to be (in terms of surviving/not starving; so long as we re-learn how to work together).

Okay, now you can say you've had your dose of doom and gloom for the day.

[butterfly77]

21. When I go to church ...

Which is less now. I seem to have become suspicious of the pastor or speaker, due to all of these liars and thieves, they have infiltrated the church and this was my only place for relief when I felt overwhelmed.

[walldude]

22. This is tough for me because although

the world is falling apart around me, my family is actually doing a little better. In the first couple years after the shrub took office, my job became stagnant. Health care costs tripled, raises were non existant, we were going deeper into debt every month. Due to a stupid mistake I made posting on DU a freeper got me fired from my job. With no savings and only 2 weeks vacation pay coming to me I went to work for myself. Talk about crazy. Well, we struggled even harder for about 6 months and then business took off. I'm now making triple what I was when I quit my old job. We are climbing out of debt fast, and next year at the age of 43 I will finally be able to buy my own house. If we can get the Dems back in charge and fix Iraq, the health care crisis and a few other things life may just be looking good. And I have an asshole freeper to thank for it. If you are reading this, Mr Mod from the site that is not to be named, thanks I owe you one you stupid piece of shit...

[KidBlue]

50. They're talking about you over there

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1720139/posts?page=85#85

[CTyankee]

23. I've been lucky

It tears me up to read so many of the posts on this thread. My heart goes out to those DUers, good people who shouldn't have to suffer through no fault of their own.

In late 2004 I quit ("retired")my horrendous job when the stress damn near killed me. They were systematically getting rid of the over 60 female workers (they are all gone now, most of them forced out). I took my full Social Security and got a part time job with a nice nonprofit. My 94 year old mother died 5 months later and I was her sole heir (my brother had predeceased our mother by 8 months).

Since then I haven't worried about money, even tho I am far from rich. I still work part time so I can take a trip to Europe once a year, which I could never do before.

What I find so inexorably sad is the "it could have been" syndrome. I think about Gore and what a great president he would have been. The loss of the America I believed in has hit me hard. Bush has just systematically destroyed America piece by piece, in addition to effing up every place in the world that he could. Every week a new disaster. It's great that he's destroyed his own party; they deserved it. I'm hoping that after NOv. 7 there will be light at the end of the tunnel, not just more tunnel.

[tinfoilinfor2005]

27. I think the biggest difference I have noticed is the loss of some friends.

Not really a loss, because we still pretend to be good friends, when we see each other, which now is rarely. We all used to get together at parties, small town events, etc. and talk about kids, dreams, furniture, the weather...whatever. When bush was selected, people took sides, and after Iraq, the conversations at the get-togethers were stilted. Pretty soon we didn't get or give so many invitations. I miss a lot of these good times. I don't remember any other administration causing this kind of a rift between friends and family. And reading posts here at DU, I have noticed that this has happened all over the country. Very sad.

On edit -

P.S. And my flag. I don't feel the same goose-bumps I used to feel when I would look at Old Glory. Breaks my heart.

[earth mom]

28. It's beyond bad.

I have become more cynical which each passing day about this country and the people in it. Though I never used to be like that. In the past, I naively and idealistically thought everyone felt the same way about the Constitution, about humanity, about ethics. I believed that the majority of people in this country were on the same page, save a very small handful of wacko extremists like Pat Robertson.

The past several years have been a nasty wake up call and it weighs on me because everything that is happening totally conflicts with how I was raised to view the world and how I want to live in the world.

Look at how the corporate bastards and the powers that be have ripped this country from the hands of the people to use for their own greedy and selfish purposes with out a thought of what it does to the people or to the environment. The destruction they have wrought has caused our Earth serious harm that it may never recover from.

Because of the rampant greed in this country-utilities, insurance, groceries, gas, products, services-far too many are teetering on the edge living paycheck to paycheck. Wages and jobs are disappearing at a rapid rate. How much longer before we are a country of just rich or poor?

The widening divide between the haves and the have nots is sickening to me and their self absorption is disgusting. Nothing matters except their own narrow little world. What is it going to take for them to care?! WW 3, The Draft, The Great Depression 3?! Why does it have to get that bad for them to care?!

Worst of all is the corruption, the lying, the manipulation, the trashing of the Constitution by the government. It all totally blows me away. How did it get to the point that we are so close to actually living in a 1984 world?! How can it be that most people don't seem to understand that or care?!

Yes, it's bad, it's very bad.

[butterfly77]

34. I think that we are in a depression...

but some don't Know it yet. He wants ww3 and is inching toward it, and maybe the draft will be coming soon if it keeps going at the rate its going

[earth mom]

40. I think he wants to destroy the country so that he and his buddies

can take control it and turn it into the North American Union with Canada and Mexico. Then they can control the whole place and profit from it as much as they want because there will be no constitution or government in place to stop them.

Welcome to 1984.

[butterfly77]

47. There is some type of agreement ...

that is being set up, I don't know how far it has gone but everytime it is brought up on some show it is quickly dismissed,as though it is a myth. These people are changing every law so that when they are done this country will be unrecognizable.

Due to one stupid ass in the whitehouse who knows in some cases and doesn't really know the consequences of what is being done. Some how they seem to think it won't effect them or their families.

[earth mom]

48. The topic is definitely hush hush. Call it CT or whatever they want to

but Rumsfield WAS in a meeting about it up in Canada in September and it wasn't on the news ANYWHERE.

http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article.php?story=20060919132553106&query=north%2Bamerican%2Bunion

Why DU isn't on top of this I don't understand. It's very worrisome to me! :(

[butterfly77]

49. Its the same as the amino explosion in Iraq...

we haven't heard that much information on that subject and from the sounds of it, it would seem to have a lot of injuries or something but no word on how the soldiers are doing everything seems to be hush, hush... due to the election and afterwards everything about everything will be revealed.

[Greyhound]

29. My life has been in a free-fall for this whole century, so far.

It is too painful to list all that I've lost since the corporatists took control.

[SmokingJacket]

31. I now have a pessimistic world view.

I do have a lot of hope for scientific advances, like combatting cancer, but as far as everything else goes -- peace, prosperity, health for all -- I feel pretty hopeless. If I didn't already have kids, I might be thinking twice about having them. I really worry about their futures...

And I do have more anger, too -- seems like a lot of people do.

[slackmaster]

35. I perceive an increase in general incivility

More people doing selfish, inconsiderate things like failing to use turn signals while driving, yakking on cell phones at inappropriate times, blocking doors while others are trying to pass through.

Maybe it's just my perception, but it seems like the world is a ruder place.

[Quantess]

36. News discussions are most certainly ruder!

They talk over each other and interrupt, and raise their voices over each other. How did this get to be? Who decided shouting matches would be good television? Oh, right, Jerry Springer did. Now that's good for mindless boob tube, but when you want to actually hear the issues presented clearly and rationally, shouting matches fail.

Now, failing to use turn signals and inappropriate cell phone yakking, I think those bad habits have been around since cell phones and turn signals were invented.
But, many people are unhappier these days, because B*sh is in office doing his damage. There might well be an increase in snippiness and sour attitudes.

[butterfly77]

37. Its a little better on Larry King..

but he has too many people on at once.

[slackmaster]

41. I've been driving in California since 1974

People used to use their turn signals MOST of the time. Now, it seems that particularly younger drivers almost never use them.

It has changed.

[CTyankee]

39. today I was at a funeral and somebody's cell phone went off

not just once, but twice during the service. Bad enough the first time. You'd think the person would have turned it off after the first time.

[slackmaster]

42. I hope it wasn't in the deceased person's pocket

:D

[CTyankee]

46. no, dear god, it wasn't. It was in an attendees possession

which made me angry. What in the hell did they think when they arrived at the funeral home for the service? Turn the damn thing off, for gawd's sake!!

[Kickin_Donkey]

38. It seems like ...

I'm stuck in this bizarre nightmare in which up is down, and down is up; or I'm watching an endless loop of an anti-utopian movie like "Brazil" or "Bladerunner" or "1984."

But it's neither a nightmare nor a movie -- it's a real-life Amerika.

[Rex]

43. Very bad.

Actually my personal/professional life was going well until 911. I had anxiety over Dec 2000, but that soon was replaced by anger after 911. Now I stay perpetually mad and have replaced hate with pity for the poor creatures who supposedly run our federal government.

[blues90]

44. I am going right down the drain

I was doing good until 2004 oct , right before the elections I was fired for no good reason from a 12 year long job . After 8 months I found another jobs that i was laid off from and this lasted 5 months , now I have been looking with no luck for 7 months and sold just about everything we had to pay bills and food and have used credit cards to make the bare ends meet .

I spent 18 years dealing with anxiety attacks and full blown panic attackes and managed with meds to dampen this enough to live , I used to worry during a panic attack with racing heart and dizziness and rubber legs i would die , since then i have given up worrying about death , i almost welcome it now and the panic went away , now I am an internal bunch of nerves with no insurance and less and less hope my wife and i will pull out of this . i drive for a messenger service and we barely have the money to keep the basics and I worry we have not much time left , every day i wake in a start with the world rushing in telling me I don't have a real job and can;t find one .

[StellaBlue]

45. I am cynical and enraged.

I was 21 when * was selected. Amongst my fellow Texas Capitol tour guides, liberals to a (wo)man, * was hated. We routinely told frothy-mouthed *-lovers on our tours, when they would ask us, "Aren't you EXCITED about your governor running for/becoming president?!", either cynically blank-faced or with an eyebrow raised, "Come back and ask me at five."

I am the only person I know who actually left the country after the coup of 2000. On September 21, 2001, I moved to the UK for graduate study. I stayed there four years.

I came back to Austin last summer. I am now 27. I have a masters degree, and I have been working since age 15. I have a solid five years of real experience. And I currently have two part-time jobs with no benefits - both with the same state agency, same division. One is a month-to-month renewal. I make $12 an hour.

I cannot afford to go to the doctor, though I have taken out individual health insurance at $83 a month.

My considerable student loans are in forbearance - with interest.

I cannot save any money.

I can never buy property, even if I got married and had a dual income, unless I want to move about 20 miles away from where I work, in the Republican suburbs (I would rather rent forever, thanks).

I have no retirement savings.

I have no vacation time until next June, and cannot afford to go anywhere, anyway.

I cannot even contemplate having children (before I am too old to do so).

It's bleak. Very bleak.

I am cynical, pessimistic, unsentimental, and disappointed with life.

But I am also fun, witty, confrontational, and totally uncompromising. I was never the game-playing type to begin with, and the circumstances in which my non-nepotistically-connected peers and I find ourselves have made me realize that, at this point, even trying to play the game is futile, so I refuse to sell out.

"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."

[undeterred]

51. Worst time of my life, financially

It took me 5.5 years after a layoff to find a permanent job which was equivalent. 22 months of unemployment, 40 months with no health insurance.

And this was not a coincidence. The economy took a turn for the worse and there was no safety net for someone like me- if I'd had children I could have gotten health coverage from the state. No safety net when unemployment lasts 16 months instead of 6.

I see lots of elderly people working at fast food jobs and at low paying grocery store jobs- people who should be enjoying retirement. To me this is a direct result of the Bush administrations policies and it makes me angry.

[ecstatic]

52. learned helplessness & acceptance regarding politics

I got my hopes up in 2004-thought the Bush chapter was about to be over. They will never be able to affect me in that way again, the way they did in '04. I wouldn't say I'm pessimistic--I'm just not optimistic. I'm neutral. If we lose again, so be it. I won't lose any sleep over it though.

[VOX]

53. **Everything** I was taught by major American institutions is ALL bankrupt

When I was a kid, my schools and teachers, clergy, Scout leaders, guidance counselors and parents all taught me to:
-Think about others first, and to put oneself last;
-To help others less fortunate;
-To not pick on the defenseless or weak;
-To play fairly;
-To arrive at decisions by consulting the group;
-To settle arguments by consensus; to work for the greater good of all, rather than for the betterment of the individual;
-To not think ill of others because of their culture, religion or ethnicity, or economic background;
-To be kind and nurturing to a shared natural environment and all animals;
-To do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
- - - - - - -
America, by dint of its me-first, bomb-now-ask-questions-never "leaders," has allowed these elementary Life 101 rules --not to mention common sense -- to fall by the wayside. Hate radio and right-wing talking heads constantly spew forth utter lies and divisive propaganda to whip up contempt for others (and total fear in general), so that the public may be easily manipulated.

It's a waking nightmare. The country is almost hopelessly right wing now. * has been putting right-wing judges on the bench for years, where they will interpret the laws of the land for the remainder of their lives.

I've lived through a time when nutcase right-wingers were laughingstocks, a la Archie Bunker, et al. Now they are running all three branches of government.

The very fact that a significant portion of the American public actually wants * to be president is astounding. On his manner alone -- constant rudeness, crassness, inarticulateness, dumb behavior, embarrassment -- I would think that the American people would have had better sense than to allow this clod to (figuratively) represent them for eight years. He is the very *antithesis* of a good leader, and yet a disturbing number of people continue to speak about how "moral" and "Godly" he is. :shrug: