How has our country become so petty? so incompetent to solve real problems?

[NRaleighLiberal]

We had Lincoln confronting slavery. We had FDR tackling and solving the great depression. We had JFK setting the ballsy goal of landing on the moon - and we did it.

Now we have a crumbling economy, two quagmires of wars, a crumbling culture that can be spun to support torture, and a health care tragedy in progress - as well as a very sick world due to climate change (well, that one we can share with much of the rest of the world, as far as the cause) - and this is just the big, big stuff.

And what do we get caught up in? Wondering if some jokes went over the line at a "media prom", bemoaning ignorant statements from some boob jobbed airhead in a worthless beauty contest, getting gamed by a bloviating worthless pig of a talk show host who is as thin skinned as a seedless grape?

In Obama I trust - but he cannot do it alone. The way that congress is behaving (sometimes as a body, but largely as some key dysfunctional individuals), the way that the media is failing to do its job....does anyone believe that our country actually has it in us to solve some of these big problems? I wonder.....

[Aragorn]

1. No

we don't.

[Fireweed247]

2. great post

but as predicted, just not as popular as the boob job airhead threads.

These distractions are the reason that our country is so dysfunctional, but people cannot seem to focus.

We are the adults now. WE are not supposed to be playing video games and reading comic books. The country is now our responsibility and we must make it better for the future generations.

We need to focus...on health care, on ending the illegal wars, on helping the recently(and no so recent) poverty stricken.

[Hannah Bell]

5. Those things aren't on the agenda, sorry. The rich don't want to pay for them,

or give up any of their power.

That's the problem in a nutshell. The entrenchment of ruling class money & interests. Unless that's cut down to size, nothing changes.

[bdamomma]

22. unless we push for change, and I am not talking about President Obama.

but I agree it is a class war.

[NRaleighLiberal]

12. Thanks, your comments are appreciated.

[dysfunctional press]

3. of course we don't.

we're all just riding it out to see how it ends.

kind of like getting hooked into a bad movie on a saturday afternoon...it's in our power to change the channel or turn the tv off- but do we do it?

[leftstreet]

4. "We" are not "caught up" in these things. The M$M tell us we are

The tightly controlled media lead us to believe that we (including our neighbors) actually care about this shit.

But we don't.

We care about healthcare, wages, filthy rich corporations, and pointless illegal wars.

It's US v THEM and THEY know it!

[bdamomma]

23. it is just that, us vs them.

[JonLP24]

6. The same people that say torture is ok are saying her joke went over the line

Yeah I stole it from John Stewart but he did make a good point.

[ConcernedCanuk]

7. It's so simple that it's ridiculous - y'all don't listen.

.
.
.

some don't listen to their hearts

some don't listen to their friends

some don't listen to their relatives

some don't listen to their neighbors

some don't listen to the other countries

just HEARING someone doesn't mean they are listening.

Heck, I been dealing with one USAmerican up here and I can't even finish a sentence before she is telling me what I mean!

And she's almost always wrong to boot!

I've been reluctant to admit that she may well represent the mentality of much of the USA;

and the World's problem with the most aggressive/greedy nation on earth.

People TALK all the time

FEW listen . .

(sigh)

[omega minimo]

8. Yes, listening requires paying attention. Not paying attention is the answer to the OP's question.

:hi:

[NRaleighLiberal]

13. agreed.

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Your post is good enough to warrant my rec. n/t

[RushIsRot]

10. Ask Fox News. In my mind it's as simple as that. You have the

broad government propagandists feeding whatever they wish you to believe. Only a few enlightrnrd folks like ouselves can see through the lies and half truths that make up the constant spiel of Fox, but much of what they report goes unchallenged by the vast audience that tunes in.

No doubt this solution is too simplistic to cover all instances, but if considered thoughtfully, many answers to the broader question will be satisfied.

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

11. You pose a very credible question.

Is everything just "too hard" to deal with?

Everything MAJOR gets suffocated under a blanket of laziness and false optimism. We can't deal with impeachment, we can't deal with torture, we cannot craft meaningful change in our health structure, we cannot punish or bring to account financial miscreants (instead we reward them further). We are told constantly to "move forward", that any type of justice or accountability is draining our resources.

I personally find it hard to move forward when my legs are just deadened and heavy with the burden of what we have become.

[Echo In Light]

14. The power structure, and the public's blind faith in it, has been this way a very long time

It's just that after BushCo, more people are aware of it.

Solving problems, so to say, would entail a MAJOR overhaul of the corporate/state nexus that owns/runs everything, and those beholden to those positions of affluence/power aren't about to allow pesky "democratic interference" to unseat them. Profits Over People always trumps humane, democratic ideals and values.

[KharmaTrain]

15. Slavery Didn't End in 1863...The Depression In 1933...

Change takes time. History makes it easy to compress that time as you see the end-result, but not what went on during the transition. We are just beginning some important transitions.

When Lincoln issued the emmancipation, it only applied to areas under Union control...basically MD, DEL & Kentucky. Full enforcement didn't really hit until much more blood was shed, after the War...over 2 years later. And many will say that even after the emancipation, it wasn't until the 1960's that real civil rights began to happen. Also, Lincoln never campaigned on abolishing slavery. Had the South not suceeded, the "institution" would have gone on and continued to fester.

While Roosevelt's 100 days are used as a measure on how effective a President can be, the results of his actions wouldn't be felt for years to come. It took the better part of his first term to halt the damage of the Depression and ran against a Supreme Court that scaled back his programs. It wasn't that simple...and many of the best benefits of the New Deal really didn't kick in until after World War II.

I give President Obama a lot of credit for moving the agenda that can bring some long term positive results. It's not just changing policy, it's changing mindset and/or finding compromise. It's putting the focus on issues and perspectives that have been in the shadows and many need to be educated on the benefits. He also faces an entrenched beauracracy...including the corporate media...inside the beltway that has gotten bloated with power and its own self importance...a culture that needs reform and will be the hardest nut to crack.

You don't turn around nearly 40 years of right/center to far right policies overnight. The mess this President has taken on seems endless and before we can move forward, we have to stop the backsliding. This is uncharted waters as no President has had to manuever with so many moving parts. I have faith as I see the President as a pragmatist who can and will play the game where he needs to and find ways to prevail.

Cheers...

[Vidar]

16. Corporations have bee allowed to monopolize every sector, especially the media.

Anti-trust, anti-lobbyist & pro-union activity are the solution

[lunatica]

17. So getting a black man as President means we're doing nothing to change things?

The Bush Mob were in real power for less than 6 years because it was in 2006 that they started losing power. And that loss was in spite of the almost total capitulation of the media and the gaming of the votes in key states to make it look like they won elections. Even the Supreme Court was in on the big lie, yet we managed to turn that around because the young people of this country made it happen.

You bet we have what it takes.

[NRaleighLiberal]

18. We shall see - I am not yet convinced, esp. with the way that public attention

is so easily captured by junk like American Idol and missing blonde girls.

[bighart]

19. My take is that all of this is due to a LACK OF LEADERSHIP

in ALL LEVELS of government up to and including the White House.

The only thing the politicians seem to really get excited and care about is what will get them re-elected. I see so much pandering and "issue of the day" outrage that is so fake and obviously self-serving it almost makes me cry.

WHERE ARE THE LEADERS, you know the kind that will step up and do the right thing, the thing that needs to be done because it is in the best interest of the nation long term?

What we have now is a government that makes policy decisions based on poll numbers and speeches geared around sound bites that will sound good in a 15 second regurgitation on CNN.

WE DESPERATELY NEED REAL LEADERS WHO DO WHAT SHOULD BE DONE NOT WHAT WILL DRIVE THeiR POLL NUMBERS UP!!

[The2ndWheel]

20. I don't know if solve is the word I'd use

"We had Lincoln confronting slavery."

I'd say cheap energy had more to do with overt slavery going away in this country. Then you had to have a war to make sure everyone played by the same rules. Not to mention the increasing impact on the planet because of what cheaper energy allows us to do. It's not a problem that has really been solved.

"We had FDR tackling and solving the great depression."

Again, if it were solved, then we wouldn't be slowly creeping back down the hole, no matter who was in charge. The whole safety net idea is always an interesting one, because we call it a safety net. How high is the tightrope that the economy is built on? We want more and more nets, as we increase the scale of our fight against gravity. If people not consuming the planet for a few short months is enough to put the entire global economy into a tailspin, what was solved? Seems to me we're still on the edge.

"We had JFK setting the ballsy goal of landing on the moon - and we did it.""

"so incompetent to solve real problems?"

Was not being on the moon a real problem? What was solved by going to the moon?

[surrealAmerican]

21. You're looking at the past through the "lens of time".

There were quite as many petty distractions then, but they are all forgotten. Nobody is going to remember miss California or jokes from the press dinner next year, and in twenty years we won't remember Limbaugh either.
Try looking at a newspaper from 1961, 1933 or 1863. You'll see as much trivial nonsense there as you will in today's paper.

[nichomachus]

24. Short answer: It wasn't an accident

It was all carefully planned.

[Uzybone]

25. Imagine if we had a president almost as unserious as the media

or as the much of congress. Childish things have overtaken our culture.

[FatDave]

26. Because nothing can get done without somebody getting paid.

In 21st century America, if somebody can't make money from it, it ain't gonna happen. Sorry.

[blueworld]

27. God, I hate to sound like the old, cranky sob I am but...

If I had to find one word to define the problem that word would be "sacrifice". We stopped doing it decades ago. Saint Reagan thought it was foolish & old-fashioned & out of line with the Hollywood persona he reeked of. It's so unnecessary! We're America! If you can't afford it, charge it! Your entire human worth depends on your line of credit & the size of your house/car. Sacrifice is for suckers & addicts & bums.

Our Depression-era parents made jokes & had fun sharing soup bones among neighbors. Women painted their legs when they couldn't afford nylons. Rationing during the war brought forth heroic efforts of saving & sharing commodities like sugar & coffee. People had to talk with each other & help each other. No web, no Twitter, no freakin-24-hours-per-day blithering idiots on cable you-should-pardon-the-expression "news".

Sacrifice made people feel good, expressed love & patriotism. Think bond drives & metal drives & victory gardens. Even into the sixties, we sacrificed to get off our asses & protest a disgusting war & risk being arrested. Think Peace Corps.

I remember when companies were proud to be "good citizens" of communities they were in; employees were an asset. Ha!

Saint Reagan preached the infallible beauty of stock prices as the only true indicator of health & happiness. Corporate America began to buy entire blocks of Congress instead of one or two greedy slobs at a time. Marijuana laws were changed. Jails became a thriving business. The GOP promised prosperity & spiritual redemption to all white Americans & screw the rest because they weren't working hard enough.

The irony is that none of the sacrifices will be that bad if we share them again together. I believe President Obama obviously knows that - we have to help him. I do believe we can & will, but not without some serious whining first.:grouphug:

[NRaleighLiberal]

28. I completely agree with you. Sacrifice in this culture? Too many people too spoiled!

[Hannah Bell]

29. There is no virtue to sacrifice when there's no reason for it.

The problem with the US & global economy is too much money & power in too few hands.