Maybe things have to get worse before people wake up

[malaise]

There is always a breaking point.

[Turbineguy]

1. Things can get a lot worse.

But the wrong people will get shot.

[UglyGreed]

2. It gets harder

everyday what are we waiting for???

[hollysmom]

3. nope

people have to stop being so eager to believe the worst about their candidates and expecting them to be perfect. Money and hte lies have to stop. Fox news needs to be taken care of.

[IdiocracyTheNewNorm]

4. Of course things are going to get worse pain and suffering is what America just voted for!

I want the GOP to dole out as much pain as possible hurt as many as possible then maybe people will finally wake the fuck up but I doubt it when Idiocracy is the new normal now.

Even Democrats here on DU want the pain and are actively begging for Hillary in 16, which is a vote for continued GOP economic policies and is something I will not support not even in the voting booth. I don’t care if my 1 vote results in electing a President Cruz, I will not vote for those who do not support what I believe in, period end of story if a Democratic candidate wants my vote they best earn my vote.

Let the pain and suffering begin after all it is what America wants!

[djean111]

5. "Let the pain and suffering begin after all it is what America wants! "

Um, no, that is what a relatively small segment of America wants.
I do not wish pain and suffering on anyone. Not very fucking Progressive or liberal, that.
Just vengeful.

"I want the GOP to dole out as much pain as possible hurt as many as possible"

Sorry, but that sounds really really freeperish. Not like DU at all. IMO and all that.

[IdiocracyTheNewNorm]

6. Sorry you are incorrect those who voted and those who did not vote spoke loudly and clearly they

Sorry you are incorrect those who voted and those who did not vote spoke loudly and clearly they want the pain.

This is no different than telling a child, do not touch the hot stove or you will get hurt, you repeatedly tell the child over and over again do not touch or you will get hurt, Adults know that touching a hot stove results in injury and pain, well America decided to touch the stove.

Give em what they voted for.

Sorry but tough love works.

[djean111]

7. I do not think that those who voted and those who did not vote really understand

about the pain, because most of the campaigns did not fucking focus on the pain.
The campaigns should have BEEN about the current and possible pain.
And let's see if the veto pen gets used on social security cuts, Keystone, TPP, gutting of regulations. Glitter-shitting ponies that those things are, of course.

[tontonmacoute]

8. As long as the blacks and illegals and especially women are kept in their place, most of America

will be hunky dory with it. Because it's affirmative action and undocumented workers and pushy women that prevent this country from being as great as it once was. (Putting myself into the mindset of the average Republican voter.)

[IdiocracyTheNewNorm]

10. Yup I spent a fair amount of time on business in the South and Midwest before the 08 election

I never brought up politics and when people brought it up 9 times out of 10 it was …..That (N-Word) Obama, GD (Insert Pejorative of Choice) for any Hispanic…..position on the issue did not matter and of course he will take away our gunz.

So many whites think that all white people who are around them agree with them, people would not believe what older white people in positions of power and authority will say when it is a roomful of white males. I guess a perk of white privilege and having a wiener.

As long as they got theirs fuck everyone else, they truly do not care.

[Carolina]

16. You are so right, IdiocracyTheNewNorm

I am not white but because of all the mixing in the family, I look it. Frequently with work, I am the lone "other" among a group of white folks (men and women), many of whom reveal their true "colors" (so to speak) on matters of race, immigration, welfare, drugs, etc. AMAZING... everything evil and wrong is because of black and brown people!

I used to be mute or occasionally point out how multinational corporations are screwing "us" all while using race and religion to distract from their economic and environmental destruction.

Now, however, being older and nearing retirement, I have a fuck it attitude and counter with -- "Well, y'all, as my slave-born great, great grandfather (his master's son, btw) once said: 'a nation founded on genocide and slavery is doomed to failure.' So this 200+ year experiment premised on such platitudes as all men are created equal ... liberty and justice for all ... we, the people.. has always been a hypocritical lie that is finally bearing forth its bitter fruit."

I know all white people do not feel this way and I have found some true kindred spirits through work, life and on this board, but some of what I have heard, in private settings when people are not being politically correct and think they are solely among their own kind, truly reinforces that a post racial America will NEVER exist

[IdiocracyTheNewNorm]

9. How do you propose to fix stupid when the GOP has a 50 year head start keeping

50% of the population ignorant by attacking education and the current democratic leadership also supports destructive GOP educational policies?

Sorry I don't expect the veto pen to get much use myself.

[tontonmacoute]

11. The veto pen will be in the same storage unit as...

those comfortable "union shoes."

[KingCharlemagne]

32. You're throwing children under the bus. That attitude is or should be unacceptable

on any forum styling itself 'progressive' or 'humane.'

[Sienna86]

12. This is exactly what I thought the morning after elections.

We must learn from the losses and continue to do what we feel is right for us, our families, and communities. Don't give up.

[Vinca]

13. The old white voters will change their allegiance in a nanosecond

if the GOP starts talking privatizing SS and Medicare. The one "known" about the Republican voter is they only care about themselves and will raise hell when their personal benefit is on the line. (Don't accuse me of age-ism . . . I'm an old, white voter. Of the bleeding heart liberal variety.)

[geek tragedy]

15. No, the seniors will keep theirs.

It will be everyone else who loses out.

[Carolina]

17. many do not realize

that Medicare is a government program, legacy of Democratic president Lyndon Johnson. During the ACA fight, some even stupidly said: keep gov't out of my Medicare!

A nation of idiots

[mountain grammy]

22. I'm an old white voter, and so is my husband..

but of course we vote Democratic. I gotta tell you, most of the old, white voters we know are teabaggers. If changes come to Social Security and Medicare, they are ok because it won't affect them. Oh, did I mention, they are teabaggers, oh yeah, and the President is not white.

[Vinca]

24. I had a confrontation with an old, white teabagger at the polls on Tuesday.

I've never done anything like that before, but the stupidity of the conversation I was overhearing made me snap. What's wrong with these people???????????

[mountain grammy]

30. I parked next to a truck with an "Impeach Obama" bumper sticker

as we both got out of our vehicles, I asked the guy, "Why should Obama be impeached?" The old man said "he's not like us, he shouldn't be president." I said "Really? How so?" He said, "well, if you can't see it lady, I feel sorry for you." to which I replied, as he was walking away, "Well sir, you sure ARE sorry." No arguing with these bigots.

[Vinca]

39. Wow - racism doesn't get more overt than that.

[geek tragedy]

14. That never works, they never wake up.

They just blindly lash out at the most visible scapegoat.

[Skidmore]

18. I don't know.

I think that if everything exists on a continuum and what is normal changes because you become accustomed to a new environment, people lose a point of reference. I'm so sick of the endless bickering and infighting. People can't hear one another when everyone is shouting. In some areas, things are better than people recognize and, in others, not so much. People have been as well trained as any of Pavlov's dogs to react to the right buzzwords. We can untrain ourselves on the left to look for other ways of discourse. I'm not certain what can be done on the right other than to keep talking to friends and neighbors or family in a reasonable manner.

My husband had a surreal experience at work this week. The guy he was teamed up with was just happy as a clam about Ernst's victory. He was just thrilled because "she's cute, like Sarah Palin." And she was going to make sure no one took his guns away like Obama did. Huh??? Obama made certain that the price of bullets went up so that he couldn't afford to buy as many as he used to. And Obama was trying to make it hard for Christians (dude hasn't spent Sundays anywhere else but his bedroom with a hangover since he was a teenager). I asked my husband if he responded to him in any way. To which, he replies, "Are you kidding? I'm a black man in a transformer room with a wingnut Teabagger surrounded by high voltage equipment. I listened. That wasn't the time to disagree." Knowing the guys he works with, I understood.

I guess I don't see what kind of a breaking point can occur when people are so grounded in hatred that they cannot even objectively view their circumstances.

[malaise]

19. ROFL at your husband's response

because he sure has a 'shocking' point.

It's a complete mess

[mountain grammy]

20. It's quite remarkable, isn't it?

Fools like Joni Ernst and our own teabagger, Cory Gardner (doesn't SOUND as crazy as Joni, but he is) going after Obama's "failed policies" which would be advocating the very tiniest bit for anyone other than the mega rich.

[Skidmore]

23. Joni Ernst sold a soft focus image of herself to

the farmers of Iowa. She Koch bro. owned through and through and is dangerous because of it. I fully expect them to push her for the VP position as soon as they can at national level. She is dishonest and sneaky,

[rock]

21. Good! Good! 'Cause it's gonna get worst

It's gonna get a lot worse. That's the direction it's headed in and it has a lot of momentum!

[Live and Learn]

25. People seem to put up with a lot of tyranny for long periods of time

before anything happens. I certainly hope we don't have to go that far or wait that long. I doubt many of us would survive to see the breaking point.

[merrily]

26. Thing is, what to do once they wake up. "Ay, there's the rub."

[pinto]

27. That thought crossed my mind. Or maybe, a run of Presidential vetoes of regressive (R) legislation.

What Congress sends the President may well be telling.

[MoonRiver]

28. The thing is, we've been saying that since 2000.

My feeling is that Rethugs have significantly rigged the vote, or people are just so brainwashed they can't think straight. Maybe it's a combination of both.

[malaise]

29. The problem is that the media is compromised

and so are the hacks they employ since they benefit big time for the increased corporate money in elections. Please remember that there were no blue or red states until the media started that circus.

There is no media to expose the vote rigging and the fugging dems so love the 'system' that they don't want to sound like sore losers.
Something has to give.

[mountain grammy]

33. It's all entertainment, no more news

and with the money they make, they're all Republicans...

[malaise]

40. I disagree - there is a lot of brainwashing

and character assassination. Do not think the non-stop Ebola and ISIS fear-mongering was an accident.

Amazing how Ebola disappeared with tasteless haste the day after the election - there was one death and now I have several questions about that one.

I actually watched Tweety blaming Obama for not keeping America safe from Ebola.

They all bought the meme from Fox.

[mountain grammy]

45. Oh yes, the brainwashing..

you know, as a kid, I was so naive. I honestly thought people couldn't be brainwashed if the truth was in front of them. That's why I thought we were special because we had the news that tells us the truth. I remember telling my mom all this and she just laughed and laughed.

You're right, the corporate "news" media is complicate in the brainwashing that occurs every day in the "news" cycle.

[malaise]

46. I remember reading about Madison Avenue

and public relations and the fear of their influence on people. The author (whose name I can't remember) was beyond prescient.

[MoonRiver]

38. All true, unfortunately.

I will continue to vote for Democrats, of course, but I'm feeling pretty tired.

[malaise]

41. It is hard not to be tired

[MoonRiver]

42. Thanks malaise!

[KingCharlemagne]

31. In January 1933, when FDR took office, the adult unemployment rate

stood at 25%. That's right: 1 in 4 adults who was looking for work could not find a job. (Rate was far worse in some parts of the country and far better in others, so the 25% figure is a national average.)

Even then, though, the American system bent but did not 'break.' So I don't know exactly what the 'breaking point' would look like, just that we know it is hypothetically there.

[malaise]

36. Maybe this time it will be about civil and political rights, due process

of law, voting rights and privacy rights.

[johnp3907]

34. I used to believe this.

Then came the Newtown school shooting.

[malaise]

35. That should have been breaking point

I agree

[steve2470]

37. I hate to say this but....

we're not going to get our 21st century FDR and 21st century New Deal until we have another economic depression. That was the main reason for the 1933 version.

I don't WANT a depression, but I'm afraid that's what it will take. The 1933 depression totally decimated the Republicans from 1933 to 1953, when Ike took office, and we liberal Democrats had power in Congress beyond that.

Right now too many people think trickle down economics works and that the Republicans have a clue. Anyway, I hope I'm wrong. A depression could easily produce our version of Adolf Hitler.

[Odin2005]

43. It took millions of starving people to get us FDR.

[HereSince1628]

44. Unfortunately, the tea-party's patience broke first

now we've not only got bad government we've got the white wing rebels trying to make it better!