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Is this what "I want my country back" means to the un-thinking? (Original Post) Mira Jan 2014 OP
One meaning, yes. There really are some who want to rid of those things, and child labor laws ck4829 Jan 2014 #1
Back to "Republican Utopia" ... Scuba Jan 2014 #2
jezus h christ…… they have no idea. BlancheSplanchnik Jan 2014 #3
Here's the rest of their story Art_from_Ark Jan 2014 #34
omg BlancheSplanchnik Jan 2014 #38
FREE ENTERPRISE! I love it. TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #12
methinks to a country that existed solely in their minds nt griloco Jan 2014 #4
Or on TV. TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #15
This Flatpicker Jan 2014 #20
I followed the link... Blanks Jan 2014 #21
All the stars had a pretty face arely staircase Jan 2014 #47
To your exact point, Volaris Jan 2014 #22
Add to that list Aldo Leopold Jan 2014 #5
I think all their "take back America" crap means from the black guy NightWatcher Jan 2014 #6
They don't think that will be them kcr Jan 2014 #7
Or possibly, this much preferable one. longship Jan 2014 #17
But definitely not The Munsters! TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #33
, blkmusclmachine Jan 2014 #8
I always ask "from whom?" louis-t Jan 2014 #9
excellent idea renate Jan 2014 #18
I do that as well. And then I re-iterate it when they don't answer. Mira Jan 2014 #30
I say, I didn't know you were native american" . end of discussion, for some reason! niyad Jan 2014 #36
That picture is the screen saver for Ted Cruz. kairos12 Jan 2014 #10
Mainly THIS, I think. The economic thing is just the unintended result of politics of resentment. TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #11
I wonder where this trio is now. n/t jaysunb Jan 2014 #13
They went to college, and learned how to obfuscate racial resentment with libertarian rhetoric TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #16
Looks just like them! Dark n Stormy Knight Jan 2014 #35
And they ditched the goofy shirts! TrollBuster9090 Jan 2014 #49
and believe it or not PatrynXX Jan 2014 #14
This photo and that history means NOTHING to the 1%. WinkyDink Jan 2014 #19
that's because it is so much easier to be ignorant or pretend to be Mira Jan 2014 #26
That is a truism. WinkyDink Jan 2014 #27
If we could do what needs to be done, it wouldn't matter. They are only 1%. n/t jtuck004 Jan 2014 #32
K & R !!! WillyT Jan 2014 #23
Yeah, they want the Dust Bowl and working Cha Jan 2014 #24
Who needs govt programs when charities were all that were needed to help the poor. ErikJ Jan 2014 #25
How long do you think before America brings back slavery? tclambert Jan 2014 #28
If the minimum wage stays so low - Mira Jan 2014 #29
BEST RESPONSE EVER to what they want is right HERE: freshwest Jan 2014 #31
I always respond to "I want my country back"... Chan790 Jan 2014 #37
Kick alfredo Jan 2014 #39
It means: Back before the n***** was in charge. Drunken Irishman Jan 2014 #40
You nailed it! armed_and_liberal Jan 2014 #41
For many, that is what America currently is. NCTraveler Jan 2014 #42
I see them all around me, if only I look and get Mira Jan 2014 #43
You are spot on with your post. NCTraveler Jan 2014 #44
Teach a man to think and lose a Republican. n/t Mira Jan 2014 #46
Back to the "good old days"... baldguy Jan 2014 #45
how far back they want to take us napkinz Jan 2014 #48

ck4829

(35,059 posts)
1. One meaning, yes. There really are some who want to rid of those things, and child labor laws
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 05:24 PM
Jan 2014

It's such a generalized term, that's why it appeals to so many 'intellectuals' on the right.

Time to take our country back... to like it was how in the 1950's, it'll be like Leave it to Beaver again and there are no uppity minorities and women know their rightful place.

Time to take our country back... away from the pot-smoking, flag-burning, Trotskyist pinko liberal servants of the USSR.

Time to take our country back... from the homosexuals who think they should have the same rights as us.

Time to take our country back... to the time before some foreign born Muslim black man was President.

TrollBuster9090

(5,954 posts)
12. FREE ENTERPRISE! I love it.
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 06:39 PM
Jan 2014

However, as any good libertarian capitalist knows, you shouldn't have to sell your KIDS. Just your ORGANS, for transplant.

Blanks

(4,835 posts)
21. I followed the link...
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 07:57 PM
Jan 2014

Where the dude is whining about the minority makeup of Sesame Street.

I'm kind of amused by his comments because of the TV commercials that I see. It doesn't matter what product they're advertising on TV - if there are two people one will be a minority, if there are three, two will be minorities.

When we look back on TV commercials in 50 years - future people will believe that all races have gotten along for a really long time.

arely staircase

(12,482 posts)
47. All the stars had a pretty face
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 05:41 PM
Jan 2014

Children and negroes knew their place
Blocks of happy families
With Moms and Dads all in love
Or are these wholesome memories
Really from reruns on TV

Volaris

(10,270 posts)
22. To your exact point,
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 07:59 PM
Jan 2014

I really want to say to those people:
"Id be happy to help you get it back. But first you need to tell me who you think took it from you."

When the answer is anything and everything EXCEPT multinational corporotists and their idiot GOPers (and fairly, some democrats) in Congress, NOW we can play the kind of ball that we Liberals should be really good at---changing minds.

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)
6. I think all their "take back America" crap means from the black guy
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 05:57 PM
Jan 2014

But they think it sounds better than displaying their racism proudly on their back bumper.

louis-t

(23,292 posts)
9. I always ask "from whom?"
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 06:31 PM
Jan 2014

Make them say it out loud. In front of lots of people. The subject gets changed really quick. so tiresome.

renate

(13,776 posts)
18. excellent idea
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 07:34 PM
Jan 2014

Luckily for me, I don't ever run into the kind of people who say anything like that, but if I ever do I will use your question. Thanks!

Mira

(22,380 posts)
30. I do that as well. And then I re-iterate it when they don't answer.
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 10:50 PM
Jan 2014

After that I don't proceed to a new topic. The entire interaction ends.

TrollBuster9090

(5,954 posts)
16. They went to college, and learned how to obfuscate racial resentment with libertarian rhetoric
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 06:52 PM
Jan 2014

about 'freedom of choice,' and freedom to discriminate.

PatrynXX

(5,668 posts)
14. and believe it or not
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 06:43 PM
Jan 2014

even back then the rich were taxed way more than they are now. and we wonder why the debt is so high. because some people in Government don't want the above to happen again..

Mira

(22,380 posts)
26. that's because it is so much easier to be ignorant or pretend to be
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 09:33 PM
Jan 2014

My sentence of the week is: Teach a man to think, and lose a Republican.

tclambert

(11,085 posts)
28. How long do you think before America brings back slavery?
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 10:43 PM
Jan 2014

Trick question. Arrests are made every year for violating anti-slavery laws.

Maybe the question should be how long before we legalize slavery?

(Another trick question. Look up prison labor.)

Mira

(22,380 posts)
29. If the minimum wage stays so low -
Thu Jan 23, 2014, 10:49 PM
Jan 2014

and if immigrants be they legal or not work for even less than that in order to somehow survive - it's quite entrenched as I see it.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
31. BEST RESPONSE EVER to what they want is right HERE:
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 01:30 AM
Jan 2014
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024324819

It dissects the conservative - in this example the platform of the New Jersey Libertarian Party - philosophy and shows why it's insane and will lead to exactly what is in the OP.

It's a must read for evaluating what is so wrong with conservative thinking.

 

Chan790

(20,176 posts)
37. I always respond to "I want my country back"...
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 12:01 PM
Jan 2014

by reciting Langston Hughes' poem, Let America be America Again.

Let America be America again.
Let it be the dream it used to be.
Let it be the pioneer on the plain
Seeking a home where he himself is free.

(America never was America to me.)

Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above.

(It never was America to me.)

O, let my land be a land where Liberty
Is crowned with no false patriotic wreath,
But opportunity is real, and life is free,
Equality is in the air we breathe.

(There's never been equality for me,
Nor freedom in this "homeland of the free.&quot

Say, who are you that mumbles in the dark?
And who are you that draws your veil across the stars?

I am the poor white, fooled and pushed apart,
I am the Negro bearing slavery's scars.
I am the red man driven from the land,
I am the immigrant clutching the hope I seek—
And finding only the same old stupid plan
Of dog eat dog, of mighty crush the weak.

I am the young man, full of strength and hope,
Tangled in that ancient endless chain
Of profit, power, gain, of grab the land!
Of grab the gold! Of grab the ways of satisfying need!
Of work the men! Of take the pay!
Of owning everything for one's own greed!

I am the farmer, bondsman to the soil.
I am the worker sold to the machine.
I am the Negro, servant to you all.
I am the people, humble, hungry, mean—
Hungry yet today despite the dream.
Beaten yet today—O, Pioneers!
I am the man who never got ahead,
The poorest worker bartered through the years.

Yet I'm the one who dreamt our basic dream
In the Old World while still a serf of kings,
Who dreamt a dream so strong, so brave, so true,
That even yet its mighty daring sings
In every brick and stone, in every furrow turned
That's made America the land it has become.
O, I'm the man who sailed those early seas
In search of what I meant to be my home—
For I'm the one who left dark Ireland's shore,
And Poland's plain, and England's grassy lea,
And torn from Black Africa's strand
I came To build a "homeland of the free."

The free?

Who said the free? Not me?
Surely not me? The millions on relief today?
The millions shot down when we strike?
The millions who have nothing for our pay?
For all the dreams we've dreamed
And all the songs we've sung
And all the hopes we've held
And all the flags we've hung,
The millions who have nothing for our pay—
Except the dream that's almost dead today.

O, let America be America again—
The land that never has been yet—
And yet must be—the land where every man is free.
The land that's mine—the poor man's, Indian's, Negro's, ME—
Who made America,
Whose sweat and blood, whose faith and pain,
Whose hand at the foundry, whose plow in the rain,
Must bring back our mighty dream again.

Sure, call me any ugly name you choose—
The steel of freedom does not stain.
From those who live like leeches on the people's lives,
We must take back our land again,
America!

O, yes, I say it plain,
America never was America to me,
And yet I swear this oath—
America will be!

Out of the rack and ruin of our gangster death,
The rape and rot of graft, and stealth, and lies,
We, the people, must redeem
The land, the mines, the plants, the rivers.
The mountains and the endless plain—
All, all the stretch of these great green states—
And make America again!
 

NCTraveler

(30,481 posts)
42. For many, that is what America currently is.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 02:40 PM
Jan 2014

I can drive an hour north, south, east or west and take a picture of a family in similar circumstances. So very sad that this is what Americans offer to those without. No one in this country should be living in these conditions.

That picture is not a part of the past, it is the present for scores of people right here in the good old US of A.

Mira

(22,380 posts)
43. I see them all around me, if only I look and get
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 03:52 PM
Jan 2014

off the beaten path a bit.
Sadly, many of them are the ones with Jesus signs / Flags / Guns and if they vote they vote against "big Government" and their own best interests. (please note I said many - not all by any stretch)

Oh for a country where parents are educated enough to have and hold good jobs. Where one parent can stay with a newborn til it is 3 years old and can go to good, free pre-schools ect. ect. ect.

 

NCTraveler

(30,481 posts)
44. You are spot on with your post.
Fri Jan 24, 2014, 04:00 PM
Jan 2014

I truly don't care about their signs, flags, or voting patterns. All of that could change through the proper funding and education of their children. Many are uneducated and told what their best interests are, it is not of their own thinking. The cycle could be broken if we put the same emphasis behind poverty as we do the MIC. <- Just elaborating with my own thought, not making any assumptions of what your wrote.

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