What day and year did the US start its final descent?

[kentuck]

The Nixon years were bad but, even then, I was confident we could recover. Then came Ford, Carter, and Reagan. Then the Bush Sr extended the Reagan Presidency by four years before Bill Clinton won the office. Followed by eight years of the disastrous Bush Jr, we now have Barack Obama.

Where and when did we go wrong?

[scheming daemons]

1. November 22, 1963

...

[dflprincess]

12. That's the date I pick too

[LakeSamish706]

16. Interesting time line... But GHW Bush was involved long before JFK was assassinated

In fact if you read "Family of secrets" by Russ Baker you will find that the Bush Crime Family goes back a long time before JFK's assassination (however that is not to say that Poppy Bush was not involved in this event, cause I think that he was actually) I also think that LBJ was involved in the events of November 22, 1963.

[pocoloco]

26. That was the day the MIC took complete control.

Ray Mcgovern from a couple weeks ago.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x506138

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/12/29-8




Obama in over his head??

[bemildred]

37. Yep. nt

[lib2DaBone]

42. Yes, 11-22-63.... and they got away with the cover-up...

.. just like they got away with 911

[peace frog]

52. Yes

Accountability of government to the people became a thing of the past starting that day.

[Art_from_Ark]

54. Another vote for 11-22-63

Although I would also include 6-6-68 as the day that put the finishing touches on things.

[EFerrari]

2. I'd say the day that old felon Raygun was inaugurated.

There's little that is wrong in this joint that doesn't have a through line back to that day, imho.

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Jan 20, 1981 - My Thought As Well

That's the day that war was officially declared on the working class.

[Terra Alta]

30. I was a fetus at the time.

little did I know I was about to be born into a country that had just taken a turn for the worse...

Reagan fucked up this country possibly beyond repair. Perhaps that is why he is so worshiped by the right? If there is a hell.. I hope Ray-gun is rotting in it...

[EFerrari]

41. I had a two year old. I'm glad I didn't know what we were in for.

But you never know. You guys just might kick @ss and turn this thing around. You sure were a handful, you might as well put it to good use. LOL

:)

[Zoeisright]

46. +1000

Raygun was definitely the official start.

[NOLALady]

3. November 4, 1980.

[donheld]

39. +1

[depakid]

59. That would be the mark historians will look back on

The rise of fundamentalism, the decline of education, the waning role of science and ethics in public policy making and the systematic dismantling of responsible regulation- in short, nearly every trend responsible for the decline and eventual fall of the nation from first world status can all be tracked to that point in time.

[babylonsister]

4. Jeezus, Mary, and the rest of the kids. We are all doomed? No. nt

[donheld]

40. What gives?

:shrug:

[DarthDem]

5. June 5, 1968

Los Angeles, California.

scheming daemons was close.

[EFerrari]

11. That was a bad damn day.

[Crabby Appleton]

6. 1492

[Mari333]

29. hah!!

[teamster633]

7. September 8, 1974

When Ford pardoned Nixon, the seeds of our current situation were sown. Almost all of the most flagrant rEpublican criminals got their start in the Nixon administration. If it had been properly discredited, we might not have had to endure this long string of political insults.

[NeeDeep]

9. One of the consequences of republicans is their destructivness

I first became aware of politics when the repubs went after Clinton using it as a stunt for political power an the tax payers expense. Who in their right mind would want to subject themselves to "that". We need more good, smart, caring talent in goverment, but anyone with any smarts would stay away. It all started with Reagan lowering the top tax rate and his demonizing and demoralizing and undermining goverment.

[Umbral]

10. When Ford pardoned Nixon. nt

[Bluebear]

13. December 12, 2000

[EFerrari]

18. We were pretty far gone by that time.

I went out on the job market in 1976 as did my young husband and we didn't know that we didn't have a prayer of making as much as our parents did even with a bit more ed and skills. It was difficult and then that felon Raygun made it impossible. And then they canonized him.

[sharesunited]

19. That's my choice too. And got 9/11/01 as an almost immediate reward.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

21. I was going to say that too.

It was also the day that GM axed Oldsmobile.

Really, that was the beginning of the end. People should have filled the streets, gone into the Supreme Court, and hauled the transgressors outside to be tarred and feathered. When that didn't happen, it was clear the US was gone.

I'd also suggest the day the US invaded Iraq. That event made it certain that the US was finished.

[jotsy]

27. If I had to go with a single event, this one's it.

The field had been pretty well cleared, but this was the ground breaker. Dubiously placing the reins of the nation in the hands of an over aged adolescent and an aging cowardly ruthless rabid dog of war to dismantle what remained of our perceived status as citizens.

[-..__...]

14. Whenever it was Nixon cozied up to China.

We got pandas and acupuncture... they got our labor force and economy.

[kath]

57. "We got pandas and acupuncture... they got our labor force and economy."

wow, what a great line. Sad and all-too-true.

[samrock]

15. November 5th, 1968

The day Richard Nixon was elected..

[Kaleva]

17. 4 July, 1776

[KittyWampus]

20. god, get some anti-depressants or something.

[kentuck]

22. You are the best anti-depressant I can find.

:-)

[doc03]

23. August 5, 1981 it was the day that Reagan fired the

Air Traffic Controllers (PATCO) and the AFL-CIO leadership didn't have the backbone to shut the country down.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Professional_Air_Traffic_Controllers_Organization_(1968)

[timeforpeace]

24. The only date that can be ruled out is January 20, 2009.

[Quantess]

28. Transparent sarcasm. n/t

[jotsy]

25. As I am a long winded wordy wench, this may take awhile.

As a young adult in the early 80's, mine is the era guilty of yuppie-dom. Managed to turn my gift for gab and my back on writing into a specialized sales gig that paid pretty well. I didn't worry about where politics were, of course they were untrustworthy, all of them. What I had faith in was the system. That is what I think is the biggest difference between then and now. I let my society down and future generations as well, for not gaining a better understanding then of what I believe are the roots of how that system has been made to fail.

I can't go back an undo my unwarranted faith, but try taking as many steps as I can to return what has become an illusion to a more publicly viable reality. That's my take, but in the spring of 2004 I had a marvelous conversation with a man in his 70's. He suggested society did itself the greatest harm the day we started caring more about status and money than raising our kids.

Everybody has ideas on how and why we're here, what we have to talk about is how we prep the bird that ain't a city in the Arizona desert.

[kentuck]

32. I remember when Bush Jr. was running for the White House...

And he started talking about taxcuts and big government. He said, "It's not the government's money - it's the people money". Then he proceeded to take the $270 billion dollar surplus and the projected $5 trillion dollar surplus and give most of it to his wealthy friends in a trillion dollar tax cut. It took him a couple of years to get us back into the red. Now the sun is blood red and going down..

[jotsy]

51. And yes the light shall shine again, for there come other brighter days.

Hearts and heads need to be in play to open minds, which will enable us to see them.

Take care Mr. Tuck.

[Maru Kitteh]

31. yesterday. until yesterday we always had a chance to fix things.

[VPStoltz]

33. There are many turns not taken.

But the present crisis, in part, is because we allowed Clinton to have his way with the banks/investment firms.

[salguine]

34. September 2, 1945. On the deck of the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, when the

surrender of Japan was signed. At that moment the United States was essentially handed world domination on a silver platter. We could have used that power for good, or we could have used it for ill.

Sure, there was some of both. And the next fifteen or twenty years saw tremendous prosperity, like nothing the nation had ever seen. I suspect this is when complacency and cushiness first started to take root in the American character. We started to get lazy and careless and began neglecting the social fabric of our communities. A lot of people don't know that, within ten years of television becoming commonplace in American homes, new houses began to be built without front porches.

I could go on, blah blah blah, but it's late. You can see where I'm going with this...I'm going to bed.

[dysfunctional press]

56. i put it a few weeks earlier.

when we dropped the bomb on hiroshima, we SEIZED 'world domintion'. or so we thought.

but at least we had/have the military industrial complex to keep us warm.

[JanMichael]

35. When we went off the gold standard in 1973.

Nothing but a semi-graceful decline since.

The bottom is near too.

[lpbk2713]

36. When the Supremes threw the Florida selection in favor of Boosh over Gore.

There were highs and lows before that but you are asking about the final descent.

[Foo Fighter]

38. As soon as it was formed,.

Read Kevin Phillips "Wealth and Democracy: A Political History of the American Rich." That will give you everything you need to know regarding the US and its demise* which started long before any of us ever existed.

* of course the word "demise" doesn't hold true for those that are in the top .01% so those that are in that group can disregard this post.

[malaise]

43. The day the Soviet Union collapsed

Much of what is happening was predicted. It was all a hoax to appear better than the communists - it's back to pre-Russian Revolution tactics.

[Hugabear]

44. The day the US Constitution was ratified

Didn't take very long at all for partisanship (Democrats vs Federalists) and big business (Alexander Hamilton) to take over.

[mikehiggins]

45. Ronney Raygun.

without a doubt the most insidious president in my lifetime.

Even Dick Nixon was a better human being but everyone knew there was something off about him. RR managed to play his role convincingly until the very end.

No one knows the exact day things went wrong except the guys who got Khomeini to hold the hostages until Carter was defeated.

[begin_within]

47. The day Columbus arrived in the western hemisphere

[Kalun D]

48. LOLZ

yeah, that's about right

[Kalun D]

49. 1913, 1963, 2000, 2010

when they created the FED

when they killed Kennedy because he was trying to do away with the FED and the CIA

when the bush boy stole Florida

when the Supreme Clowns gave full bribing rights to multinational corporations.

[jotsy]

50. You're response has me seeing a bit green, but

that's what envy does.

Well said, I say as a fan, for I'm not likely qualified as a judge. A thorough and expedient post.

[Raine]

53. January 20, 1981

the day Raygun took office. x(

[dysfunctional press]

55. august 6, 1945.

we "lost our innocence" and gave unstoppable rise to the military-industrial complex.

and THAT has been our downfall.

[Libertas1776]

58. May 25th, 1992

the day Jay Leno took over The Tonight Show. May God have mercy on us all. :P

[bvar22]

60. Jan 20, 1992

The day Bill Clinton was inaugurated.

This election was the last real opportunity to roll back some of the damage done under Reagan, and give the Working Class some relief.
That didn't happen.

It was temping to go with Nov 23rd, 1963, but much of the Liberal/Progressive agenda advanced during the LBJ administration.
I personally consider the LBJ administration the last "Democratic" administration.

[LWolf]

61. Subjectively, based on events in my remembered lifetime, Ronald Reagan. nt