"You know, this used to be a hell of a good country"

[MichiganVote]

Jack Nicholson, Easy Rider.

[jellybelly]

1. when?

:silly:

[MichiganVote]

2. On amc right now. Jack just got killed by the rednecks

[ladjf]

4. I saw a voting chart today showing the the Dems won in all major

sections in the country except the South. How in the hell did the "ignorance belt" take over the world? That has been an amazing phenomenon.

[MichiganVote]

5. Yup. Won't last never does.

[ladjf]

3. It had it's problems but overall the good prevailed.

Now days, it has become a very mean, greedy and stupid place with the good aspects in the minority. It is amazing how fast the transformation took place. The stupid evil behavior picked up lots of momentum during the Nixon, Reagan years. It's tied to racism, mis-guided religious fundamentalism and corporate greed. (nothing new here, just stating the obvious again.)

[MichiganVote]

6. Helps to state the obvious w/all the spin around

[ladjf]

11. Sometimes when repeating your thoughts one is able to

draw out some more precise definitions of the issues.

Democracy as we've known it is OVER. That is obvious.

Can a similar form of government be restored in America?

Maybe. The problem is that while we are floundering, there are competing governments who may well seize the opportunity to gut us while we are "wallowing the fires of our own stupidity". It might not be a blessing to combine greed, stupidity, and massive weaponry.
Somebody might get hurt.

[MichiganVote]

12. Yeah. Like us. Democracy on paper, theocracy in action. Not good.

[ladjf]

13. Existence is all about change. In order for the Pubs to suddenly

succeed as they have in gaining the upper hand, there had to be some serious Democratic deficiencies. The wood had to be rotten otherwise the termites couldn't have feasted so effectively.

but, now the Republican administration has lots of rotten wood in their structure. What are those weak points? How best to attack there?
We are somewhat like prisoners who have the disadvantage of being locked in, with ruthless and stupid guards in possession of the keys on the OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR?

How did we get here in the first place? Our number one error was that we placed our trust in the Democratic Party politicians. They seemed to have been good for so many years that we stopped monitoring them. Consequently, we followed a process of replacing outgoing politicians with incoming ones who were less capable and less honest. Bad plan!

[MichiganVote]

14. The Dem's have no farm club

[ladjf]

15. Correct. We might as well start thinking about a new political

party, one that can remember what it's values are. Even if it took
a couple of decades to get started, it might be worth it.

There are those on the DU who feel that the political situation in America has deteriorated so far that there is nothing that can be done to rectify the situation, that only outside intervention will be strong enough to head of the murderous and greedy thugs who are not at the helm of OUR government. I don't believe the situation has gotten quite that bad YET.

[MichiganVote]

16. Read the period of Theodore Roosevelt.Interesting.

As far as a new political party goes. I really don't much care what party it is so long as it abides by and upholds the law. Neither the Republicans or Democrats are doing that. I am sick and tired of getting ripped off in this country. They don't even bother to try to hide it anymore, i.e. the current Armstrong Williams deal. Corporations, churches, local, national...its everywhere.

The trouble with the Republicans is that they think you can clean up values by violating values for the sake of values. The trouble with the Dem's is that the leadership keeps waiting for the perfect swing in place of just getting in there and playing the game.

[johnnie]

7. Here ya go

George: You know, this used to be a helluva good country. I can't understand what's gone wrong with it.

Billy: Huh. Man, everybody got chicken, that's what happened, man. Hey, we can't even get into like, uh, second-rate hotel, I mean, a second-rate motel. You dig? They think we're gonna cut their throat or something, man. They're scared, man.

George: Oh, they're not scared of you. They're scared of what you represent to 'em.

Billy: Hey man. All we represent to them, man, is somebody needs a haircut.

George: Oh no. What you represent to them is freedom.

Billy: What the hell's wrong with freedom, man? That's what it's all about.

George: Oh yeah, that's right, that's what it's all about, all right. But talkin' about it and bein' it - that's two different things. I mean, it's real hard to be free when you are bought and sold in the marketplace. 'Course, don't ever tell anybody that they're not free 'cause then they're gonna get real busy killin' and maimin' to prove to you that they are. Oh yeah, they're gonna talk to you, and talk to you, and talk to you about individual freedom, but they see a free individual, it's gonna scare 'em.

Billy: Mmmm, well, that don't make 'em runnin' scared.

George: No, it makes 'em dangerous.

[MichiganVote]

8. LOL. True words, true words....who would have thought dialogue

30 years later could be so true...

[johnnie]

9. Hell of a movie really

I haven't seen it in years and it just ended. The more things change...the more they stay the same I guess.

[MichiganVote]

10. Yeah it was great watching it again. haven't seen it in a decade or 2