We all constantly adjust....have you noticed?

[NotGivingUp]

According to your age (and awareness) you have suddenly "jumped" into what is going on. I was born in 1953, aware? well, different degrees at different times. we are definitely on a downhill trend. perhaps its difficult to notice what was before.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. born in 1951

been aware of what's happening for a while now....

[EST]

3. 1948

Late bloomer. Run hot and cold.

[mcscajun]

7. 1951, also. Aware? Hell, yes!

1968 prepared me for this.

[NotGivingUp]

2. i think about someone "adjusting" from today....

rather from someone who had slowly adjusted to changes over the years. i have a hard time believing that someone growing up in the united states today would have the same expectations as myself....not that all the expectations were right or wrong...just what is expected.

[magellan]

6. That worries me, the kids

Those born in 2000 and beyond will never know what was lost under Bush**. Heck, a lot of teenagers don't have a good appreciation of it; so little of their lives was lived BC (Before the Chimp) and his reign of terra, terra, terra.

[Gabi Hayes]

4. We're all frogs in slowly boiling water

getting really sweaty in here....

[neoblues]

5. Yeah, we all evolve and grow throughout our lives...

Well, most of us anyway. "W" is a fine example of what happens when you don't (and you happen to also be a part of a filthy, rich, political dynasty).

Nevertheless, given the current events, we must seek to make everyone become all the more politically aware; even if they wouldn't ordinarily have yet become so. It is a facinating subject... and it's true that people adapt (and forget to some degree) to the current conditions; worse, for those who've never known another different or better time, the impetus for change is less. Deep.

[EST]

8. I have always been aware that I am not the smartest that I'm

ever gonna be. The profound point that I've seen is that there is a huge number of humans who are sure that they, themselves, have nothing to be introspective about and questioning themselves as to their motives and processes is simply unthinkable. Not thinkable. More loss, they.

[neoblues]

13. Being so sure...

even when alone in a dark and unfamiliar place they might suspect they really aren't so sure... is one big reason they have difficulty changing course. It's certainly one of W's big problems (uh... stay the course... stay the course... uh... stay the course, and so on).

Seems that many of the individuals who fit those behavioral and intellectual developmental symptoms have been "infected", so to speak, with some counter-productive thought virus (meme). Often it's Religion, sometimes it's just the perverted form of politics Republicans have been practicing for a decade and more. Sadly, short of interrment at a specialized mental facility and 'deprogrammed', it's highly likely they're unreachable. Alas.

One other way they're liable to be reached... and that's if faced with true suffering and strife such as we'll experience if our economy collapses to the degree we'd call a "great depression". That just might open their eyes as well as result in their developing a real compassion for the others who selflessly help them through the hard times. It would be better if we dont have to experience this option (duh). Still, the M$M does nothing to stimulate thinking or even acknowledge the existence of questions nor their answers (ahh, there's that infamous Colbert phrase: "Everybody knows that Reality has a Liberal Bias...", even though the Media does not--no matter how hard Republicans try to believe that it does).

[EST]

14. Even in times of intense suffering, there will be little change

in the repub point of view, I fear.
The way we're now getting it set up, the humans of empathy and thorough understanding line up as democrats--or, at least, non-republican.
The meanest, thorough-going anti-social misfits, if they have any political consciousness at all. HAVE to become republicans. One cannot be a vicious, child molesting, freedom robbing narcissist and line up with those whose greatest calling is truly loving one's neighbor as oneself.


Of course, it could be done for political expediency, but that act cannot be maintained for long: it's too wearing.
If only the folks who merely think they are conservative republicans, because that was still possible forty years ago, can be reached and can allow a glimmer of truth to seep through, the real 70% of this country will start coming alive again.

These days, it comes as no surprise that the culture of corruption, with its sexual peccadilloes that involve non-consenting victims are of the thuglican persuasion. I find it impossible that one could abuse another person and actually operate from a "more like Jesus" or a "walk a mile in my shoes" mind.

I am pleased that the demand from us responsible citizens is creating a clean-up of the dem party. One could condemn it as a purge, but a demand for idealogical purity is a very good thing, if that particular ideology is towering ethical standards, integrity and empathy.

I have hope, even though there is no hope. We shall create a better world, country, party and family.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

9. One Of The Most Gifted Abilities Of The Human Race Is The Ability

to adapt.

[JuniperLea]

10. 1957 perspective here

Too young to be a hippie suffering from generation-gap-itis and too old to be a generation Xer.

I treasure my memories of the oldsters in my family who loved to talk about how things were when they grew up during the depression, how it was to lose a sibling/child in WWII, how to make panties from flour sacks... I learned a lot from them and I have a very healthy love and respect for what used to be the USA. Mom and Pop worked on numerous political campaigns, Grandma made us pray for astronauts when there was trouble, for the Kennedy family when JFK and Bobby were shot, for MLK when he was shot, for our own safety during the Watts riots. They all voted and would move Heaven and Earth to do so. The flag was proudly flown on every flag day holiday, and Grandma even had a flag certified to have been flown over the House of Representatives. Grandpa built Air Force bases in Greenland and the Philippines. I could go on and on.

Perspective is everything. I've been aware for as long as I can remember.

[Skip Intro]

11. its hard to remember what was before

even from 2000 'till know....

downward spiral, oh yeah, and picking up steam, trying to grab ahold of whatever we can on the way down

Sometimes I fear it may be too late...

(I wish I could think of something positive to put here)

[Zookeeper]

12. Well, I don't know how well I'm adjusting....

but I have been thinking a lot lately about how much I took for granted as a kid in the 1960's and early 70's. Who would have suspected that the middle-class would start shrinking? There were issues I was concerned about, but my underlying belief was that things were getting better, that social justice and environmental protection would happen, the question was, "how soon."

I just never guessed that our country and political system would deteriorate the way it has.