Remember when Americans were happy & optimistic?

[Erika]

When we thought our economy was booming and when our wages were great? Then W was (s)elected and we keep heading for the bottom of the abyss. Much like the miners who have died because W's administration said to back off of mine inspections.

W has tried his hardest to kill the spirit of America for corporate worship.

[ClintonTyree]

1. That seems like eons ago..........

when the biggest "crisis" in our country was if our President's sexual drive was healthy.

Then it all started. The Republicans turned a blow job into a "constitutional crisis". Our country has never been the same since. If Bill Clinton had done 10% of the shit "W" has perpetrated upon our country the Republicans would have been throwing a rope over a tree limb to hang him.

This country is falling apart because the "party of personal responsibility" and "moral clarity" has had unfettered power and abused it to a degree none thought possible. Republicans are destroying our country.

[Erika]

Excellent post

The GOP with their total power has screwed this country completely.

[Erika]

2. Delete Dupe

The GOP with their total power has screwed this country completely.

[NMMNG]

4. That is the way they are, and the way they have been for decades

My friend Mike and I were talking the other night. He grew up in the late 60's through the early 80's. His father was a rabid Catholic and stringently controlled what they saw on tv. Anything the least bit risque/sexual was absolutely forbidden, but murder/violence was acceptable. Sound like anybody we know--the Fundies for example? They rail away at any sort of sexual content in tv or society in general, but violence is not only acceptable, it is even glorified. Give your six-year-old an AK47 to play with, proudly announce that you beat the crap out of "some fag", cheer the fact that another 35 civilian Iraqis died today. It's all good and well. But two guys kissed on tv? Picket! Boycott! E-mail the entire Senate and House demanding action! :eyes:

[varkam]

5. Exactamundo

You want to drop a nuke on the middle-east? I think I can find a bible passage to support that! Beating gays? Yup, that's in there! Xenophobia? You betcha! Oh but when it comes to affairs and men kissing (not necessarily women...well hot ones anyway) well that *really* pisses god off. Nothing makes god want to send a natural disaster our way like Brokeback Mountain winning some awards.
I especially like the semantic difference some people point out b/t the words "murder" and "kill". Whenever I bring up that one of the ten commandments to one of these fundies is "Thou Shalt Not Murder", and ask them why they support war - well, you see, when we kill 13 or so Pakistani civilians from missiles launched from a Predator drone, that's not "murder", that's killing! And killing is okay! I mean it's as American as apple pie and blow jobs! Bombing brown people is pretty much our national past-time.

[NMMNG]

6. Yep.

And extracting a clump of cells from a womans uterus is "murder", but beating a gay man to death for fun somehow isn't. Go figure. :crazy:

[mwb970]

16. They see no moral dimension to war, or poverty, or the environment.

Only abortion and gay sex, with which they are obsessed. Of course the country is off on the wrong track. We have become a nation of right-wing idiots.

[1620rock]

3. ...And for 30 pieces of silver,,,so he (we) were betrayed... n/t.

[JohnnyRingo]

7. I call it "the cruise-control 90s"

I had money all the time, I retired young, the future looked pretty bright.
Since then, it appears I'm going to lose my pension, health care, and my country.

In six short years.
Am I bitter?

You bet you're ass I'm bitter.
And I know who's to blame.

[awoke_in_2003]

8. I really long for those days...

just had a performance review, in which I scored extremely well. Big raise, right? Wrong. Top raises for this year are 3.5%. Last years inflation rate 3.4%. Barely keeping up, and probably not even that, because I don't think gas prices are factored into inflation index.

[newportdadde]

13. I'd kill for 3.5%

We had those back in 99/2000 time period. Now with offshore hammering my industry after having a really good year I got 2.5% last year... freakin 1.5% the year before that. These were both good years with good reviews... I'll find out my next one soon, I have my fingers crossed for 3%.

[awoke_in_2003]

14. I hear ya

bust your ass all year long, get an effective decrease in pay. Got to pay for the CEOs salary and bonus somehow :sarcasm:

[Peter Frank]

9. Remember When America Made Other Countries Optomistic???...

America is now fulfilling Ike's nightmare -- "Beware the military/industrial complex."

[DanCa]

10. I remember when most americans thought rush and the lifer nuts

were just right wing fringe loonies. I miss those days.

[Libby2]

11. Vaguely

[TheBaldyMan]

12. IMHO you still are ...

Admittedly 5 years of monkey boy is enough to get anyone down. There are still activists that won't shut up no matter how much Bill O'Reilly screams at them. It will be a long and arduous journey but one that must be made.Pessimists would shrug their shoulders and do nothing.

It's better to be a pissed off optimist than a pessimist.

[marions ghost]

15. There is a cloud hanging over this country now...

It's everywhere you go. When unhappiness and uncertainty becomes a national condition, the energy drains out of people. It's hard to support anything, it's hard to give anything back. Community spirit dries up.

Under conditions of oppression, many people just surrender immediately, bowing to the perceived authority. They will choose to quietly acquiesce to the powers that be, though some would never admit it. That's when you know their spirit is broken. Like dogs at the shelter, you can see the tombstones in their eyes.

As u say OP--"To kill the spirit of America for corporate worship" is the plan and it's working.
They are not completely inhumane--they manufacture a variety of mood elevators to help us tolerate the decline of our dreams and the reduction to pigs at the end of the trough.

It is up to the stubborn and the brave now. That would be us. That would be anybody who has the nerve to acknowledge that what is going on is morally wrong. Anybody who can channel their lonely anger into useful group action is especially needed. Enlightened leadership--investing in people instead of exploiting them--may be a long way off now. Much damage has been done at the hands of these criminals and misfits. But we must realize that we DO have the numbers and we CAN turn this floundering ship around. Talk, write, complain, protest. Be an obstacle in the stream. Do not follow our so-called leaders over the cliff.