Why do people have to lose something to learn?

[bleedingheart]

When DU first started, I stated that I didn't think anything would change in this country until enough people got screwed. I recall to this very day that people thought I was a pessimist, they really felt that people would wake up.

and you know what...I wanted to be wrong..... I really wanted to be wrong.

yet we are now in the second term of * and

1. the War that may never end in Iraq....probably the biggest single mistake of the 21st century so far....
2. healthcare is being stripped or priced way to high for American workers who did have it...
3. bankruptcy reform was designed to screw Americans
4. the average income for Americans is not growing
5. American industry is dying and even the service jobs are going overseas...

so tell me...what will be the straw that breaks the back of the average American? What will finally wake them up?

I never intend to give up the fight but sometimes I just shake my head....

[lakeguy]

1. i don't think they have to lose it to learn, i think they have to

lose it before they act. i'm fairly certain most americans realize we aren't doing so well these days, but until a family loses the two cars in the garage, i don't see most people doing things differently.

[bleedingheart]

2. it is still rather pathetic...

[MADem]

3. In all seriousness, I think it will be economic realities

I often repeat Tip O'Neill's admonition, that all politics is local, because it is simply too true to ignore. People will wake up and smell the coffee when THEIR little wallets, THEIR little greedy lives, THEIR portfolios, are affected.

I sense a lot of "Well, THOSE kids WANTED to go off to war" (but not MY kid). And those Katrina victims, well "they" should have had a plan to get out of town....and "those Mexicans" who come across the border should be PUNISHED for doing what anyone would logically do--go get some cash to support their family....and the rightwingers continue to believe it's OUR fault, anything that goes wrong, all of it--when they aren't blaming Clinton's manly organ, that is!

People are friken MEAN, some of them. Mean as catshit! It's only when their "THEM" becomes their "US" that they will start to give a damn. It's what happened after Nixon--Ford couldn't, try as he might, to W.I.N. (Whip Inflation Now!!! Catchy, no? Why NO--it was STUPID! Handing out buttons doesn't help the rate of inflation!!!) and Carter got in on a massive, almost vomitous, wave of malaise, because he was honest, decent and not out to make a buck. And people were poor and getting poorer!!!

[bleedingheart]

4. people are mean, petty and greedy

and you are correct, until the "them" becomes the "us" we will continue to see everything slide down hill...

[napi21]

5. I think most people just don't think anything will affect THEM!

I actually think it's human nature. I grew up in Pgh. PA. and I can't tell you how many white collar folks just ignored what was happening to the steel industry. They just figured it would never affect them, and those guys will just have to get another job. Well, they ignored the fact that steel was the industry that kept Pgh. alive! Pgh. has been struggling for years now, and never did recover. Most young people move out of state, and the city now has the oldest population of any city in the US.

Then there were the textile workers in all the southern states. They didn't pay much attention either...until all THEIR jobs went overseas.

Look at all the tech workers. They believed THEY were safe...well, NO!

Decisions made by this admin. are now touching people who never thought they would be. Retirees who had a nice pension from IBM, of GE, or one of the Bells are now having those pension checks cut!

People live in their own little world, and until it's pierced, they just don't pay attention.

[RufusEarl]

6. It's the economy stupid! alway has been,

Of course health care is part of the economy, just like having a good job. When americans start really feeling it in their pocketbooks, they'll stand up. And me thinks it's about time.

[Nay]

7. Because there really IS such a thing as"The School of Hard

Knocks." Many a hardheaded idiot has gone to this school -- some repeat many grades -- and come out the other end a bit wiser. Don't ask me why people can't see that the hardship visited upon their friends or neighbors is just as likely to visit them. I don't know. It seems like a lack of both intelligence and empathy.

[bleedingheart]

8. you know...that was probably the best way to describe it..

"Many a hardheaded idiot has gone to this school -- some repeat many grades -- and come out the other end a bit wiser. "