Help me remember!

[bluethruandthru]

Was there ever a time when our government was concerned about all of us as citizens of a country we all share? Was there ever a time when we all worked together for the betterment of our country, the health and safety of everyone?
I want to believe that one day we can have a president and leaders who treat us ALL with respect...not just those who believe what they do.
I'm tired of my president and his administration accusing me and others with similar beliefs (aka Democrats) of being traitors/terrorist sympathizers, etc.
I can't remember ever hearing so many leaders denigrating a large group of it's citizens on a regular basis.
I expect to be vilified by Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'reilly, etc., etc.,...but I really can't get over being vilified on a regular basis by my country's so called leaders.

[MissWaverly]

1. ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do

for your country, JFK, started the peace corps, and Martin Luther King had a dream and
we were going to put a man on the moon, and we did.

[Sydnie]

4. Yeah, that too! n/t

[MissWaverly]

6. JFK had his flaws, but he cared about the country

I think FDR, Truman even Eisenhower cared about the country

[bluethruandthru]

5. Yes....

I remember now....

real leaders!

[MissWaverly]

11. there used to be achievements that a leader could point to

with LBJ it was the Medicare Card, with FDR it was social security and the WPA projects, the
end of the Depression, with JFK it was the Apollo program and the peace corps, there was
always something, even Nixon made a diplomatic mission to China.

[Sydnie]

2. Yes, when FDR was in office and

he started the programs that they are attempting to kill today.

[Horse with no Name]

3. That's how you achieve a coup

Divide and conquer.
Divide us into Red and Blue states.
Divide us into Democrats and Republicans.
Divide us into Liberals and Conservatives.

Everyone needs a label.

Their goal is to make you hate your neighbor more than you hate them.
Then when you take your eye off of them, they steal the country right out from underneath you.

[bluethruandthru]

8. I keep wondering what they want with a

country so f***ed up? So full of hate and anger?

[MissWaverly]

9. and they lie and call themselves "crackpots"

and they get drunk and stagger around in public and we are supposed to nod our heads to everything they say because maybe, just maybe, we'll be safe. Baloney!

[rug]

7. LBJ, Great Society

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. Yes, there was

When Washington was President, he made sure he was not made a monarch, as some wanted him to become. John Adams worked for the good of the nation, as did his son, whose brilliant careers as ambassador and congressman were interrupted by a "strange interlude" of four years. I think Lincoln really was concerned with the good of the people, as was Grover Cleveland. Theodore Roosevelt was, thanks to the early tragedy in his life that made him leave New York and travel West. His cousin FDR, himself a victim of physical limitations, understood the importance of government helping the people. And Harry Truman did as well-not everyone agreed with what he did, but no one could say that he wasn't doing what he thought was best for the country. Another president from my lifetime who felt the same way was Jimmy Carter. Since him, I've wondered.....

[bluethruandthru]

12. Good examples....

I saw Al Gore speak a few weeks ago after a screening of "An Inconvenient Truth" and was so struck by how much he cared. Not just for the environment...but for the country, the planet, people, animals, etc. And, even though it would have been easy to do...he didn't spend the time talking about how awful the republicans are, though he would have been accurate!
I'm really longing for that kind of leader again.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. John Quincy Adams died on Capitol Hill

He was stricken while talking on the floor of the House of Representatives. He had fought a battle literally for years to allow ALL people the right of petition, as described under the Constitution. The rights for slaves to petition Congress was finally granted because of his efforts.

Andrew Johnson also so believed in our nation that when he died he had the flag placed on his heart and a copy of the Constitution under his head for a pillow. During the Civil War, he was the only southern Senator who refused to seceed with his state. In his trip back to his home, he was threatened more than once with lynching. He was one brave fellow, because he continued to fight for the Union and the Constitution throughout the Civil War.

[MadMaddie]

14. Well only six years ago.....when Bill was in office

we had some semblance of a decent country.....disasters on US soil would have been taken care of at the drop of hat no questions asked....Bill would have jumped into the Israel conflict himself.....

[Phoebe Loosinhouse]

15. I think Watergate was actually a great example

Political corruption exposed by whistleblowing insiders reported and followed up upon diligently by a vigilant press. Insiders resigning rather than going along with corrupt marching orders. A bi-partisan panel with televised hearings that asked the hard questions resulting in convictions of many of the President's Men and the helicoptoring off of the first President who tried to declare himself above the law.

In retrospect, Watergate was a shining moment of what is SUPPOSED to happen in a country with a free press and a system of checks and balances. If you didn't live through it, I almost feel sorry for you. We survived it, country and Constitution intact.

[bluethruandthru]

17. Very well said!

I think you're absolutely right..and, thank you, I never really looked at it that way before. Yes, I did live through it though I didn't understand much of it at the time.

[pitohui]

16. in fdr times (the 30s)

there was a sense of all pulling together, i'm told, world war 2 as well

now it's the war of the rich against all

[bluethruandthru]

19. Isn't it strange how in those times of shared challenges,

the country's leaders worked to bring everyone together to overcome a common obstacle/threat. Now, those in Washington (or Crawford) who fancy themselves leaders, decide it's best to blame the other political party for what ails the country!

[tkmorris]

18. Well, Carter did

Of course the president does not equal the entire government but he really did have the best interests of the people of the United States in mind throughout his presidency. Trouble was that we the people at that time really needed to hear "an iconvenient truth" if I may borrow a phrase, and the majority of us shot the messenger.

I've been a lot more cynical since then.

[bluethruandthru]

20. I remember those days wondering

why no one wanted to hear anything bad or "inconvenient". We were like a bunch of school kids with our fingers in our ears going "LA-La-la..I can't hear you"!