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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPinpointing The Exact Moment Where It All Went Wrong In The Last 4 Years
Since the election everyone has been trying to figure out what happened. What went wrong. Where did it go wrong? What significant event in the last 4 years led to this? I think I have figured it out.
I know this might not be the favorable opinion, but I think the precise moment where it all went fuck up was the Sandy Hook massacre. 22 children and 6 teachers were murdered that day. Any other country would have shown the victims the compassion that they deserved. But nope. This is the United States. Where the second amendment trumps people's right to live.
What should have happened is that we should have stopped everything and figured that a tragedy like this should never have happened. But instead the Christian right told the victims to go fuck themselves, that they deserved it, because, Jesus. The NRA and the gun nuts began an all out assault on the left that day. Sandy Hook was the first time I ever heard of that piece of shit Alex Jones. It gave rise to Infowars and put the spotlight on that disgusting group. And now we have a president who supprts these dangerous lunatics, and they support him. We should have been looking at ways to disarm peacefully, not arm more.
The way Alex Jones and his ilk treated the victims of Sandy Hook was truly beyond despicable. The victims still live in fear and Newtown is practically a ghost town because of what Infowars did. And because of Infowars, it started the most dangerous trend in America. It sends paranoid gun nuts to the stores to buy high powered rifles in droves based out of some bizarre fear that the government is coming to take your guns away. That has not and will not ever happen.
Because of Sandy Hook, the GOP went there. They actively treated the victims like shit. They justified the murder of children. You cannot stoop lower than that. At least it seemed until we elected Trump. But now they just get worse and it's but one symptom of how we got Trump.
LonePirate
(13,386 posts)If that was signed into law, so many of the health care distractions and issues since then completely disappear allowing President Obama and Democrats to focus on other issues impacting Americans and removing an effective election issue in 2012-2016 from Republican mouths.
questionseverything
(9,631 posts)led to ridiculously high premiums for those ovr 50
cilla4progress
(24,588 posts)poorly timed passing...
unblock
(51,974 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)Fox begat Hannity, which begat Glenn Beck, which begat Alex Jones.
Va Lefty
(6,252 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)The day that "Might makes right" became the cornerstone of the American zeitgeist.
After WWII Britain lost its empire, but the USA lost its soul.
Initech
(99,915 posts)Haven't been the same since.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)A soul-less time if there ever there was one. It's like there were only two real jobs in America - working on an automobile assembly line, or selling advertising for automobiles and washing machines.
Before that was the Gilded Ara of the industrial robber barons.
Before that was Manifest Destiny and the Indian Wars.
I take it back. America never actually had a soul to lose.
Irish_Dem
(45,636 posts)If Sandy Hook, a room full of slaughtered 6 yr olds, did not evoke change, nothing would.
I still think all Americans should have been forced to look at the pictures of these murdered young children.
We should not be distanced and protected from the results of our gun culture.
Initech
(99,915 posts)And man that guy is batshit fucking crazy.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)Initech
(99,915 posts)That's when he went from insane conspiracy theory kook to nationally known insane conspiracy kook.
defacto7
(13,485 posts)it was a wake up point that showed how deeply twisted our adversaries really are. But the disease goes farther back.
D_Master81
(1,822 posts)it was in my opinion during the 1st year of obama's 1st term. Dems pushed for health care among other things and that got the right fired up which turned into a wave election in 2010, not just at the nat'l level but at the state levels as well. with Repubs winning alot of state houses "redistricting" began in mass and has since lead to a nearly safe majority in the house for repubs for at least the next 3 years.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)And a LOT farther back than 4 years.
Initech
(99,915 posts)If a classroom full of murdered children wouldn't wake them up, nothing would.
Crunchy Frog
(26,548 posts)Just made more visible what the country had already become.
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)Reagan was elected. That was the beginning of the GOP becoming extremely greedy, hypocritical liars and the beginning of the "amoral" majority.
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)That especially includes the horrific appointments of Scalia and O'Connor to the USSC--which gave us Dumbya, who made the even more horrific appointments of Alito and Roberts. Just look at the decisions they helped make, and where that has gotten us. His deregulation of our news media, the public airwaves, and its ownership also played a huge hand in it. His total embracing of the party's "Southern Strategy" was a huge factor causing the racial issues we have now, as well. If there is really such a thing as Hell, there has got to be a special place there for that bastard.
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)liberal pundits and politicians praised him. Will they do that when this moron dies TOO?
GoCubsGo
(32,061 posts)The thing about Reagan was that many found him to be likeable enough that they overlooked everything else. That isn't the case with Trump. He is roundly despised by everyone who is not one of his cult followers. There is nothing to praise him over, other than he would no longer be creating chaos upon his death.
stevenleser
(32,886 posts)Without that we have a Democratic and secular Iran. This blunts the early 1970s oil embargo which keeps the US economy strong throughout the early 1970s and results in no US hostage crisis. Without the US hostage crisis and the oil shocked economy, there is no election of Reagan. In fact Carters efforts to promote peace probably yield even bigger wins than just Camp David and peace between Egypt and Israel. We probably get a Palestinian State at peace with Israel.
This causes a huge boost in prestige for the US. Mondale is elected to succeed Carter. The USSRs economy fails during Mondales administration and Democrats are credited for the fall of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall on top of unprecedented peace and prosperity across the world. Democrats continue to win elections for 20+ years afterward.
ProudLib72
(17,984 posts)Or had more sway with Churchill. I do not really understand why we were so invested in the coup besides the fact that nationalization of Iranian oil would hurt our war time ally. It makes no sense to me why the CIA carried it out when it should have been left up to Britain.
JI7
(89,176 posts)With the amount of power bigot gun nuts have.
wryter2000
(46,016 posts)When Raygun won with a combination of appeal to stupidity and racism. Of course, it really started with Nixon's southern strategy, but that was predated by George Wallace's emergence as a voice of the mainstream.
Which means racism is at the very core of "conservatism."
SunSeeker
(51,369 posts)roamer65
(36,739 posts)President Gore would not have ignored that PDB on Al Qaeda.
workinclasszero
(28,270 posts)then the election of that great destroyer of America, Ronald Reagan got the ball rolling fast.
The rise of Fox 'news', Hate radio and Putin's Russian internet invasion sealed the deal started in the 60's IMO.
ClarendonDem
(720 posts)Over the last 20 or so years (perhaps a bit longer). Firmly believe that Rush Limbaugh and FoxNews contributed greatly to the current divide. Rush peddled (and peddles) lies indiscriminately, and had much of rural America foaming at the mouth about lies relating to Bill and Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, President Obama, etc. Also think the Internet has made things significantly worse. Too easy to spread lies and hate, or even influence elections. Finally, I think gerrymandering has contributed a ton. There are no more moderates in Congress, and very few in the Senate. Trump's election was the ultimate result of this division, hatred, and voter suppression (and apathy).