so, how's it goin?

[welshTerrier2]

if you're like the people in the NBC/WSJ poll, it ain't goin too well ...

there are certain policies our government has been following that i believe contribute to some of the darkness we see in the poll (See article below) ... my view is that the great American empire is very clearly on the verge of collapse ... our country needs to change in very significant ways ... some of these changes will be incredibly painful and will result in very significant turbulence to our way of life ... the bad news? no one with power wants to speak the truth because doing so is perceived as political suicide ... and so, we continue our march towards the great cliffs ...

is the collapse of empire and the predicted devastation to follow real? some say it could never happen here ... they said the same about the Soviet Union ... school children today read about the collapse of the Soviet Union the way we read about the collapse of ancient Rome; it's all just history ... and that's what the US is soon to be ... history ...

what must change?

we have badly squandered our own treasures ... some of it was due to our own ignorance ... some was due to our materialism and overconsumption ... some because we allowed our government to sell our country to the highest bidder ... some because we foolishly allowed "market forces" to define our policies rather than making the necessary and sometimes unpopular choices ... and we have drowned ourselves in militarism ...

militarism is destroying the last vestiges of the realm ... we cannot fight the whole world ... we cannot spend our limited resources at war with "enemies" all over the globe ... instead of asking how to build friends, and alliances, and shared goals, we alienate country after country and peoples after peoples and culture after culture ... instead of building strength through alliances, we build weapons and spend our treasure, and blood, fighting a war that never seems to end ... we cannot fight the whole world and succeed ... our lifeblood is being drained away because we have let those with selfish and greedy purposes command the power of our nation ...

Americans do not adequately respect education ... we go through the motions but fail to see education as a competitive edge internationally ... other "third world" countries are passing us by ... our literacy rates are disgraceful ... now we are even sold the idea that religion is science ... our schools are often poisoned with drugs and disrespect and family and emotional problems so deep that real learning is badly compromised ... our answers have been anemic ...

and we are consumers ... we save nothing for a rainy day ... and we buy large vehicles that suck the lifeblood from our planet ... so much for letting the "free market" guide us on what is sensible policy ... yes, the free market will force us to more fuel efficient cars as gas prices continue to rise ... this is REACTIVE; NOT PROACTIVE ... we should have been demanding more fuel efficiency for the last 50 years ... in fact, we should have been demanding mass transit - real mass transit ... and we should have been demanding far better urban planning ... the daily commute into America's cities is truly madness - it's environmental madness; it's lifestyle madness - it reflects the abominable failure of government ...

and energy policy overall? don't even get me started ...

there are tons of other changes that are needed ... oh, we're going to make each and every one of them ... that's the only glimmer of good news ... we will change no matter what power resists that change ... in the end, there will be no choice but to change ... but for now, not enough of us demand of our government the changes that are needed ... as the shadows creep closer and closer, more have begun to observe them ... an astute political party would offer a more radical agenda to offer real hope and real change to a country that finds its people increasingly fearful of what awaits them ... the political mechanics in DC will not take risks like that ...

it is left to "we the people" to demand that they do ...

here are a few excerpts from the poll:

source: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0727-01.htm

NBC/WSJ Poll: U.S. Pessimism on Increase
Doubts about children’s future and concerns about wars weigh heavily

With congressional midterm elections less than four months away, the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll finds that candidates will be facing a public that has grown increasingly pessimistic, as nearly two-thirds don't believe life for their children's generation will be better than it has been for them, and nearly 60 percent are doubtful the Iraq war will come to a successful conclusion.

And there's more pessimism: Among those who believe the nation is headed on the wrong track, more than 80 percent say it's part of a longer-term decline.

"This is just a horrendous set of numbers," says Democratic pollster Peter D. Hart, who conducted this survey with Republican Bill McInturff. The mood is "as dank and depressing as I have seen." <skip>

And among those who believe that the nation is headed on the wrong track, a whopping 81 percent believe it's part of a longer-term decline and that things won't get better for some time. Just 12 percent think the problems are short-term blips.

[skids]

1. Saddest part: "leaders" will genuinely be surprised by this.

What did they think would happen when they and the oligarchs they cater to started leaching the lifeblood out of people? ("Hitting them in all of their hats" as has been said.) Did they think people wouldn't get depressed about it? That they'd be happy little blood doners? Did they think people would look up to see who's driving the bus, see them lying, cheating, stealing, and worse, and just say "that's the way things have always been" and not let it worry them?

Even the American Potbellied Sheep has its limit.

[kimmerspixelated]

3. And even sadder

than war and hate doing us in, is the fact that bad effects of global warming is not like they said... 10 or 20 years away. It's here folx, now! When California gets to be 100 degrees for days on end, as well as Europe, things are more than just a little askew! Not just a little wacky weather....so what do we do Captain Gore? Help!

[Burried News]

2. Brilliant. Thank you.

[welshTerrier2]

4. the unsustainable, disproportionate use of resources by the US ...

here's a very interesting article about a Quaker group who are "environmentally aware" ... the point in the context of this thread is that, not only are we greedy and "disproportionate" in our use of planetary resources and in our failure to protect the environment, but our current lifestyles are NOT SUSTAINABLE ... we have become addicts of excess and as the rest of the world grows ever more sophisticated, competition for dwindling resources will make our civilization collapse ...

we have so little time if any to make the necessary changes and to prepare for a more "living in harmony with the planet" future ... politicians will wait for an almost total collapse before REACTING and calling for the extreme changes we need because to "win" requires a broad level of support and the changes will not be popular ... real leadership demands PROACTIVE solutions but this is seen by our current political class of cowards as not politically viable ...

and so our march towards the great cliffs continues unabated ... even here on DU, the political threads trump discussions like these many times over ... and these are our more aware citizens ... looking out my little window on the world, it just don't look too good folks ...

source: http://www.quakerearthcare.org/InterestGroups/OtherAreasBeingExplored/AgricultureandDiet/MollyArticle1.htm

Simplicity has become more complex in a society that virtually requires the acquisition and use of sophisticated technology—automobiles, computers, cell phones, fax machines, to earn income. Securing life’s necessities, such as food, water, shelter and healthcare, requires that we participate in an economic system propped up by overconsumption of material goods. The negative effects of overconsumption are obvious in the disproportionate use of resources by the United States and the vast amount of waste generated. With less than five percent of the world’s population, the United States uses more than a quarter of its non-renewable resources: 26 percent of the oil, 25 percent of the coal, and 27 percent of the natural gas. The lack of proportion inherent in overconsumption is apparent at the most personal level too, in the growing worldwide incidence of obesity and related diseases.