did you ever think you'd live to see heartless monsters rule the land?

[mopaul]

i never did. i never in all my wildest dreams ever thought it could end up like this. i guess i was always optimistic, looking toward the bright new shiny 21st century. i had this foolish notion that we'd learned terrible lessons in the 20th century that would prevent hitlers and stalins and maos from ever gaining ground anywhere in the world, and now, the same sort of pigs rule our own land.

i never thought i'd live to see it, and i hope to christ i live long enough to see it undone and restored to a small semblance of dignity.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. I've seen it before

with Nixon and Reagan.

And you mean you hope the FSM, right? Listen, don't mess with him. You will be smote and get marinara all over you.

[Faygo Kid]

8. Nixon and Reagan were pikers compared to W.

I indeed never thought it would get this bad. Fool that I was; we should have all seen it coming in the early '90s, with the Rise of Limbaugh and the GOP congressional takeover. They were bound to find some immoral fool (W) to put into office to advance their nefarious plans.

[jobycom]

39. I don't think Reagan was any better.

People forget, or weren't paying as much attention. He killed lots of people, committed flagrant treason, admitted to it, somehow avoided impeachment, ran up an immense deficit chasing fake enemies, courted the religious right, and was more blatantly racist than Bush.

Bush is just trying to emulate King Ronnie and Nancita. They were an evil pair, too.

[DemBones DemBones]

35. It was a picnic with Nixon and Reagan compared to what's

going on today.

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Right

:( How depressing it all is.

[FloridaPat]

3. I can't believe how quickly the USA died. How easy it was.

It boggles my mind that Americans wimped out so fast. I guess all that talk about fighting the good fight was just words. All those John Wayne movies - just fiction. Americans are as easy to manipulate as anyone else.

[Olney Blue]

9. I have come to believe that 9/11 was such a shock...

that Bush et al. took full advantage of that time while we were in mourning
to set the manipulation machinery in place.

What amazes me is that by the 2004 election, it was clear what he was doing.
And he wasn't run out of office on a rail.....

[earth mom]

18. That is why the truth about 9/11 MUST BE TOLD. eom

[DoYouEverWonder]

44. That;s why they all sat on their hands

and stood around watching it on TV. Every single one, Bush, Cheney, Rummie, Myers all admit to watching TV after the first tower was hit and did nothing to respond to the attack until after the Pentagon was hit.

[Greyhound]

10. They've been setting it up for 30 years. A whole generation conditioned

to never question authority, to deride and ridicule science and logic, and to believe to the core of their being that they too can make it to the top.
But of course, I'm just a jaded, skeptical, conspiracy nut. :shrug: :tinfoilhat:

[FloridaPat]

24. I think that's the way everyone was raised for generations. But

the Vietnam War and the peace movement then brought a lot of people to the realizeation that out government is not infallible or right or that patriotism means never asking why. I know a lot of us that did the demonstrations saw immediately what was going on with Iraq. It also helped a lot of us when 9-11 happened to at least look for lies. It took us 20 years with Vietnam to get to that point. We don't have another 20 years to get the rest of the country to wake up.

[Greyhound]

25. So true. If the next couple of elections don't make significant changes

I think it'll be too late.

[buckeyebabe]

11. How quickly the US dies

I agree.....I never thought that Americans would be so gullible, so wet your pants scared, so chicken-shit, that they would hand over their hard won freedoms to some strutting little dictator, just because he and his vampirish side kick threatened "the boogey man will get us if you dont let us{and only US] protect you by taking away your freedom. And the idiots did it; they just handed over control to a mini hitler, cause they were afraid of the monster hiding in the closet.And the fact that these freedoms have been handed over for "a war on terrorism that could last for generations" is frightening and sickening. They can continue this "war" for as long as they want to These freedoms could be gone for our lifetimes, maybe for good.

[EuroObserver]

16. Not so easy over here in eurasia, nor to your south, ojo. n/t

[mwb970]

43. We're acting like total scaredy-cats.

We have one terrorist attack and we race, quaking with fear, to undo our Constitution and system of government, establish an imperial president, and remove our own freedoms and liberties - doing the terrorists' work for them by destroying America from within!

Cowards cut and run - patriots defend America and the Constitution.

[FloridaPat]

51. And I am just the opposite - anyone that tries to limit the Constitution

for ANY reason is guilty of treason. To me, that is the last straw. I had thought that 200 years of Constitutional law would have given all Americans a deep love of the Constitution. Apparently they don't get the picture. Yes, scaredy-cats.

[cassiepriam]

52. Like taking candy from a baby nt

[HeeBGBz]

54. Senator Amidala:"So this is how liberty dies - with thunderous applause".

That quote hits hard.

[tatertop]

4. I never imagined this was possible in America.

[Nutmegger]

6. Yes, me too

It's hard to believe that we've been dragged through the mud for 5 years +. It feels much longer than that. I knew Bush Inc would start a "war"; I remember Shrub talking about Iraq while he was campaigning. That just struck me as odd that he would talk about energy then shift towards Iraq and its oil and how evil Saddam is.

[tatertop]

28. I am totally freaked out

[Olney Blue]

5. The chimp said that he would restore "dignity" to the WH....

:grr::grr::grr::grr::grr:

Yes, it's practically oozing with dignity......

[Zodiak]

7. Everyone is right

We all had a better opinion of Americans as long as it was an untested myth. Now the myth has been shattered. Americans, collectively, are sheepish anough to allow this to occur.

[mopaul]

12. patriotism too is a lost emotion for me

how can a person get all patriotic and teary-eyed about today's america?

[dogindia]

13. I too had never thought that such thugs could rule this country.

Right that Nixon and Reagan led the way. The power of corporate greed, consumer society and media, humans' desire for safety and ease over the needs of others and Earth's other creatures. Wealth seems to breed corruption. But this lying is just so out of control. This lying is way beyond anything. Stealing elections and torture. The problem it could get worse. The fascism can spread. I wonder if they know they are fascists.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

14. Don Henley...... end of the innocence.....

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn’t have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
When happily ever after fails
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers dwell on small details
Since daddy had to fly
But I know a place where we can go
That’s still untouched by man
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
O’ beautiful, for spacious skies
But now those skies are threatening
They’re beating plowshares into swords
For this tired old man that we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we’ve been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie
But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
We’ll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
Who knows how long this will last
Now we’ve come so far, so fast
But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
And let me take a long last look
Before we say good bye
Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
Offer up your best defense
But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence

[CanSocDem]

15. When I lived in "the great satan"....

...in '66 and early '67 I was a little shocked to see the level of 'commercialism' in peoples lives. At the time I thought the purveyors of 'silly doodads' were the "heartless monsters".

Then, in the early 70's, when we learned that the petro-chemical companies.....RAN EVERYTHING...we would allow our weed soaked imaginations to speculate on what would happen if they ever took over the government......

Being drafted into the military to secure oil fields was the stoner's boogeyman. Nobody else, apparently, was even watching.

Needless to say, when Bush 1 appointed himself RR's running mate, I knew the jig was up. Corporate America was asserting its authority and my worst fears were being realized. I thought the American people would nip it in the bud before this, but I know what you're up against.

Wanna hear my latest 'imaginative speculations'......????

[TallahasseeGrannie]

23. DAMN you guys

are bringing me DOWN.

My mellow is totally harshed.

[Olney Blue]

46. Yes. Welcome to DU, CanSocDem.

What are your speculations?

[CanSocDem]

48. Thank you. For starters, we're all doomed.

NO NO....just kidding!!

We're going to have to fight back....in the streets probably.

[Olney Blue]

50. If things don't change, I think you are right!

These are dangerous times, and our Chimperor here has made them worse.

[Cleita]

17. Paul Rodriguez, the comedian, had an interesting comment

when Bush became President. This was before 9-11. He asked if everyone who voted for Bush had amnesia. He asked if they didn't remember the twelve years of Reagan/Bush. Of course back then we thought another Bush Presidency would be as bad as the first Bush, not infinitely worse.

[CBHagman]

49. I didn' trealize Rodriguez had said that.

I'll have to take another look at him.

As for his comments about amnesia about Reagan and Bush I, I'm constantly amazed that the fairy tale of Republicans as strong on fiscal responsibility, international affairs, national security, and the like still reigns in the mainstream media. Worse yet, there's been a successful effort to cast the Reagan years in the most golden light possible, when anyone who lived through them (and is honest) remembers a very different experience.

More and more I think much of our current problem owes to the fact that the GOP has exercised so much control in the media. I was watching a C-SPAN interview from 1996 last night (I think it was Dan Balz commenting on the Gingrich Congress), and the point was made that there were literally hundreds of right-wing radio hosts to which the GOP could turn to stir up support or opposition as they pleased.

However, remember that Gingrich's reign didn't last as long as it could have, and now it looks as though DeLay may be on his last legs. Granted, we are stuck with Dr. Evil and Bush for three more years, barring their removal from office for high crimes, but they won't be in power forever either.

I'm not saying any of this will improve any time soon, but you can't afford to take a stance of complete hopelessness. Look at history. What comes around goes around.

[DELUSIONAL]

19. Yes -- if people could put Nixon in office I KNEW they

would put someone far worse -- then we had Ray-gun and he was worse.

Now we have bushie and he is by far the worst.

Question is -- can someone worse than bushie be elected?

[juliana24]

29. B* wasn't elected, he was selected. We shouldn't forget that.

[NI4NI]

20. Seems to me the differences

are Nixon and his gang were far more intellegent than this bunch of bushes; Plus, back then, Republican senators and representatives no way resembled the lock-stepping Kool-aid drinking lemmings that we see today.

[FlemingsGhost]

21. You don't read too many history books, do you?

The system was ripe for usurping. The simple notion that the U.S. was/is immune to the rise of fascism, is a classic illustration of the ignorance and denial needed for fascism to thrive.

America has gotten just what she deserves.

[mopaul]

22. nope, i just fell off the turnip truck

i have to agree with you

[0007]

45. America is full of real live mannequins!

[SmokingJacket]

26. Honesty, I see now how naive I was.

I used to think that it could never be very bad -- that our constitution would keep everything running well, and when it didn't, the media would reveal all.

Yipes!!!

[MadHound]

27. Yes, sadly I've thought those very thoughts and predicted

That this would come to pass. The only thing I didn't get right was the speed with which this would come about. I honestly thought that such times would be in my sixties, not my forties, and I would have had plenty of time to prepare and be ready. Now it is here, the time is short, and there is so much more to do.

[raysr]

30. Reagan, yeah.

[Jade Fox]

31. No. I thought stupid, unimaginative, and corrupt people were...

limited in their ability to succeed by their stupidity, lack of imagination, and corruption. Nope. Not when they have gobs of money backing them up and the money men are telling them what to do/think.

[RagAss]

32. It started on November 22, 1963......wake up..... enough said.

[leftofthedial]

33. someone needs to take The One Ring back to DC

and throw it in the fires of Mt. Doom.

[DemBones DemBones]

36. "Frodo Failed -- Bush Has the Ring"

That's graffiti from 2000.

[EuroObserver]

38. Gollum has the Ring, for now n/t

[Clara T]

34. Who ruled it before?

Genocide started very early on, 1600's in fact okay 1500's.
It's more layered now. Let's stop having rulers.

Peace

[dailykoff]

37. Nope, this bunch takes the cake.

They're mugging us blind with 100% synthetic terror and nobody has the sense to turn on the lights. Sad.

[mopaul]

40. what's truly frightening is that most folks don't even know it's going on

[Vinca]

42. Sometimes I wish I hadn't started paying attention.

Prior to 2000 I was an idiotically optimistic person. I took more time to stop and smell the roses. There was nothing I couldn't do and nothing that couldn't be overcome. Now it seems the whole country's gone to hell in a hand basket. It seems every time we try to get it back we're slapped back down because extreme ignorance/religion/zealotry has caused the color red to creep across our map. The next election will tell the story. If Diebold wins the next 2 elections, it will be the death of a democracy.

[Hubert Flottz]

41. There were a few clues, that these things would come to pass.

As we've worshipped at the altar of EXXON, we were slowly blinded by the Reich...The Tiger we all were putting in the tank, at our world's expense, has come back to bite us where the sun don't shine! As you read your next bill from the gas company, please ask yourself, "Am I better off today than I was five years ago?" The oil and gas corporations are drilling us ALL to death!

[Olney Blue]

47. Good post, Hubert.

That pic is heart-breaking.

[Hubert Flottz]

53. It is a very sad image indeed.

When you think about drilling in Alaska, please, remember the Exxon Valdez...

[Disturbed]

55. Exon Mobile still has not paid reparations.

Amerika is now a Fascist State ruled by the Multi-Corps and the MIC.