DU Weekend Activity - Counter doom & gloom, use your energy

[texpatriot2004]

wisely. In an effort to avoid further doom and gloom scenarios that could dominate DU this weekend, who can name American people in our history that have helped us overcome problems in the past? JFK said, "...Our problems are man-made -- therefore, they can be solved by man. And man can be as big as he wants. No problem of human destiny is beyond human beings. Man's reason and spirit have often solved the seemingly unsolvable -- and we believe they can do it again."

I have been glued to DU lately as many have and it's been wonderful to be informed but it's also quite terrifying. Some of the things I have heard are "...we're going to have an economic collapse, we're going to war with Syria and Iran, we're not going to be able to get rid of these thugs" on and on it goes. Don't get me wrong, I am taking these things very seriously; I have not ruled them out. Consequently, the stress is intense for me and I certain that I am not alone. Upon reflection, I had this idea, this epiphany, wait a second, this is America we used to be creative people, thinkers, we had "American ingenuity." It's possible that we could face these challenges head on and overcome them.

Are we still Americans of this type? We descend from them. Can we learn from them? Do we still have what it takes to come together and solve the problems, the serious problems that face us? Surely there are still Americans with true leadership, vision, ingenuity, plans that benefit this nation and its people. So, then I thought it would be nice to have a list of these American examples to refer to.

Who do you think of? Who comes to mind? What obstacles have we overcome? What are our current resources? Our assets?

[texpatriot2004]

1. Roosevelt and the New Deal comes to mind. n.t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. I just watched Joseph Ellis on CSPAN2... he said...

Most historians consider Washington, Lincoln and FDR to be the three greatest Presidents. They all presided over crisises (sp?) and pulled us through.

[applegrove]

2. America leads the world in corporate leadership (ignore the freaky

Halliburton and kool-aid drinkers - there are many examples of excellent corporations0. They also lead the world in defense technology and that is the stuff that will create wealth in the next 50 years (again - ignore the creepier parts of the MIC). Nanotechnology, computers, space, biotech, America leads. And these will be the industries that bloom in the next 100 years. Just like the defense industries came up with plastic, nylon & computers in the twentieth century.

There is nothing wrong in american hearts on the whole (as Katrina and the total rejection of the Bush WH attitude of not caring or paying attention to the "opportunity in creative destruction" was unacceptable to the importance Americans place on governance mitigating horrid situations).

Americans have been mislead. The threads of all that are being picked up on. For all americans it is a time of renewal and looking anew at creation myths that lead Americans astray in adolescence & self love.


All the great things that America has - are yours again. Just get rid of the creeps. And put "adults" with the hearts of "adults" back in power. And you will rock. Just open your hearts and mind to all the opportunity of being a great part of the world community again. You have things to learn from the world (shared risk health care) and things to share with the world (your advantage in health research and technology). And the world will share with you the ideas and medical advances they come up with.


Courage!!! Nuts getting into power seems to be cyclical. Your cycle is almost over. Too bad it was you this time. Do your homework and accept the things about your culture that make for delusional aggression. Know yourselves.

It will be okay. I know it is hard to believe - I couldn't believe it when I first learnt that the end of the process one was supposed to realize that One "had bad luck". But that is what happened. There you go. You had bad luck in the convergence of leaders and power-mongers. Bad stuff happens. It doesn't say anything about you all as people - if you accept the trauma - resolve it and start to grow as adults again. Sure you have to be more vigilant in fighting off attempts by such creeps again. For sure you have to be on guard for "law diminishing" and the unfurling of the structure of how corporations are policed. For sure you have to think ahead more and stop projecting your goodness onto people who do not deserve that characterization of their actions (Gore comes to mind - bet he would have fought for like a mother bear had he know what the Florida Fiasco would result it - instead of giving up so that the institution of elections would not be diminished - like the gentleman he was). Don't fall for false gods or generalizations too - be discerning always - as adults are supposed to be - (Nader has not helped anyone in a long time - though he was a hero in his time - and he warned of too much power..but did it in a non-discerning way... fact is you need a policy on the economics that is forward looking.. you cannot just ignore that and most americans will not - so they vote for economy often).

[Wordie]

14. A toast to you, applegrove, for an uplifting and heartening post. Thanks.

[Selteri]

3. The list of what man has overcome is beyond count.

The Black Plague
Domination of the Church over science
Leaving the planet
Proving the world isn't flat
Civil rights for women
Civil rights for blacks

[renate]

21. absolutely!

Maybe the trick isn't to focus on looking for a single person fixing a single problem (although MLK and Gandhi, though not acting alone, come to mind) but to look at how human beings have been able to overcome a multitude of problems that seemed insurmountable at the time.

[mestup]

4. This is depressing.

LOL - I keep refreshing this page hoping for something.

I personally can't think of anyone without also thinking about how his/her message or activism got beat back down by the dominant corporate culture.

In 2005, you'd think we'd never once had a Populist Party, a MLK, or a Vietnam war protester.

I'm back to doom and gloom.

[texpatriot2004]

5. Hang in there. It's overwhelming but keep reading the hopeful

stuff too and maybe some hope will rub off on you.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

6. Our resources are our people

For example.. during a northeast blackout not long ago, there were very few negative incidents. People pulled together. We raise money quickly when we need to. Many people still have evacuees in their homes from Katrina.

Over 300 men on 9/11 went up the stairs to bring people down, went up to a sure inferno, and never came back. That is bravery.

Every day in this country police, firefighters, medics and other emergency personnel..the Coast Guard... risk their lives to help others. Even just standing on the interstate working an accident is risky and the leading cause of death among medics, but yet they do it.

Teachers go to work every day and face too many children coming from hopeless situations and they don't give up. They go to work every day.

We are not our government.

These are just a few examples I can think of.

[damntexdem]

7. Examples of American ingenuity:

1. Rove claims that he didn't 'out' Valerie Plame because he only referred to her as 'Wilson's wife.'
2. Dubya calls his air-pollution policy a 'Blue Skies Initiative.'
3. DeLay says that sending $190k to the RNC and having $190k come back to Texas campaigns is not money laundering.
4. Dubya says "you're doing a heck of a job, Brownie."
5. Frist says that his sale of HCA stock just before the stock tanked was because he wanted to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest.
6. U.S. preemptive invasion of a sovereign nation is dubbed 'Operation Iraqi Freedom.'
7. Dubya says he will fire anyone in the White House involved in the Plame leak, although he has already gotten mad at his chief of staff for being involved in the Plame leak.
8. Christian conservatives push for a theocracy using the claim that Christians are discriminated against when others resist theocracy.

Yeah, there is a lot of American ingenuity around.

[texpatriot2004]

18. Funny. True. Thanks. n.t

[BlueIris]

8. DU poster Lexington is a wealth of optimism...Lex, where are you?

That person always has good insights about the future...

[texpatriot2004]

9. I like Lex too. n.t

[Democrats_win]

10. USA where people are free to think and live. JFK expanded our hopes.

Clinton made America the envy of the world. "Good Bless America" was how people really felt, not just what they said at the end of a meaningless speech. Clinton overcame his father's death before he was born and he overcame his family's modest means to become a Rhodes scholar and President of the United States with ideas that were successful. As his presidency began we could see how he tried to avoid pitfalls that plagued previous presidents. President Clinton's story was no myth, the only thing that was missing was the log cabin.

Carl Sagan showed how America's openness contributed to our success in so many fields, scientific and non-scientific. We still see this. The Middle East keeps half their population down while women in America become leaders.

Who knows where nanotechnology will take us? It could revolutionize technology one day. Different areas of research seems to be coming together in this field. This field started to buzz with the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) which won the nobel prize for its European/IBM employee inventors in 1986 and with the discovery partly in the USA of a third form of carbon: buckyballs (Diamond and Graphite are the others) which won the 1996 Nobel prize for its inventors. Those who invented these tiny soccer-ball-like molecules named them after another American, Buckminster Fuller, whose unique geodesic dome resembled the new molecules.

You can just see the scientific curiosity and openness contributing to this. Buckyballs were turned into nanotubes at an American university lab and nanotubes can be turned into transistors. Much of this happens because companies and the government fund research. They're investing in our future. Medically, buckballs soak up cell-damaging free radicals which makes buckyballs antioxidants. They're still working to find more uses.

[texpatriot2004]

17. JFK expanded hopes. Clinton expanded my hopes, I never felt

as hopeful about my country and my future as I did when he was President.

[texpatriot2004]

11. Thank you all for your replies, it will give me something to occupy

my mind with over the weekend - something positive and constructive.

[texpatriot2004]

12. What will be next for America and Americans? nm

[texpatriot2004]

13. kick it for help with this n/t

[Wordie]

15. Kicked (and recommended)

[texpatriot2004]

16. Hey thanks for that. I appreciate it. Morning crowd, any input? nm

[texpatriot2004]

20. Today is the last day. n.t

[texpatriot2004]

22. Thank you all for your replies nm