Seems like this country is going down the drain.

[Vic]

This won't make you feel better. But there is a huge importance in understanding who your true enemy is.

The American Left is Beneath Contempt

Yeah, our 'true enemy' is other American citizens.

I support the 2nd amendment but seriously, YOU are what's wrong with this country.

 

[fskimospy]

I think we're seeing some evidence that, for the time being, we have plateaued economically while the rest of the world catches up (i.e. through off shoring). Decline in actual real wages is quite small, and we did just come out of a terrible recession. Certainly there has been an increase in income inequality, but statistics show that it is more to do with the rich getting richer while the rest of us stay about the same.

I think that's a bit over alarmist.

I think Subyman is essentially correct. We are obsessed with apocalyptic scenarios, be they economic, biblical, or natural. This has been true in every generation. For example, people as far back as the 70's were predicting hyperinflation and total economic collapse. I'm almost 50 and I can remember as far back as when I was a child, hearing adults complaining that "this country is going to hell in a hand basket." We're always predicting one form of doom or another. It's an American tradition.

Perhaps it is because when you're on top, the perception that there is no where to go but down. Also, those who have are always obsessed with losing what they have. And we are victims of over-inflated expectations, fantasies of wealth and power projected by popular culture and Madison Avenue. Hence, as adults we are are bound to be disappointed and cynical.

As always, this reminds me that The Paranoid Style in American Politics deserves a good read. I believe it is most prevalent in the extreme right, but it is not exclusive to it. Americans are just kind of nuts that way.

http://www.micciacorta.it/wp-conten...-Paranoid-Style-American-Politics-1-to-40.pdf

 

[Vic]

And what is wrong with this country is that we are nation gripped by an irrational fear of each other. Squabbling and fighting like children, taking away each other's rights in the name of freedom, with no vision for the future. Our enemies sit back and laugh at us as we destroy ourselves for them.

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is...fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. "

 

[nakedfrog]

Yeah, our 'true enemy' is other American citizens.

I support the 2nd amendment but seriously, YOU are what's wrong with this country.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[MajinCry]

Hey maybe if I get another chance to go to Scotland we can pick up this argument over a pint of 1880 or some cider.

Sounds like a plan, so long as ya dinnae mind drinkin' at the early hours of the morn'.

Tradition, and to a lesser extent me chronic nausea, sorta dictates me drinkin' schedule.

 

[Moonbeam]

boomerang: Quote:


The American Left is Beneath Contempt


Quote:
I have had firearms in my possession for virtually my entire life, as I have been fortunate to live in the one nation on earth that has embedded in its founding documents the right to bear arms.

M: I hear in this the very narcissism about which you complain, egotistical yapping about how patriotically fortunate this yahoo is that he is a true to the founding fathers idealism, that he is a gun toting protector of original Americanism. It's enough drivel to make one puke. But you brainwashed clowns on the right are totally tone deaf and never hear yourself as you actually sound.

Q: However, I also recognized that this right is, in many ways, the foundational basis of preserving and protecting freedom of speech, religion, assembly and private property ownership. In order for the American Left to establish a socialist oligarchy that foundational basis must be dramatically eroded along with individual freedom.

M: And here is where you present the evidence that you are too stupid to govern yourself by making imbecilic connections between two things that have nothing to do with each other.

Q: Those ego-centrics that self-identify as progressives, leftists, fascists, socialists or Marxists, have one overwhelming trait in common: they are narcissists who believe they are pre-ordained to rule the masses too ignorant to govern themselves. In order to achieve that end, no tactic is beneath consideration and no crisis can be allowed to go to waste as they make certain an ever-increasing percentage of the population becomes permanently indentured to the government they intend on controlling in perpetuity.

M: As the egotistical morons like yourself create law after law that favors the ruling class and forces them to go in that direction just to survive. How do you do this, by being deaf dumb blind stupid ignorant of how you are being used, you filthy egotistical fool.

Thought you should know what it looks like to demonize people, you stupid piece of filthy shit.

 

[PokerGuy]

I'm certain that your argument here would carry greater weight if it wasn't for the fact that your political faction, led by a wannabe Mussolini, is currently engaged in a full scale collective assault on anything and anyone that they do not consider to be 'real' Americans (gays, Muslims, liberals, etc), while it was Reagan's war on drugs that directly led to the increase in overhead costs you mentioned.

Learn to read and comprehend, it will do you good. My view is that the country is in decline and I provided some symptoms/examples of why I feel that way. You think my argument "would carry greater weight" if it wasn't for the fact that "my political faction" was at fault for those things. I know logic and reasoning are not your strong suit, but who is at fault for the decline has absolutely 0 to do with the strength of my argument as to whether the country is in decline.

If you want to start another thread full of drivel about mussolini, hitler, nazi's or whatever other moronic comparison you want to make to Trump, have at it, but it as nothing to do with the topic at hand.

 

[boomerang]

I support the 2nd amendment but seriously, YOU are what's wrong with this country.

How about Sanctuary Cities, do you support those?

How about the company that employed the Orlando shooter. The company that the government contracted with to transport people here illegally to various places around the country where they are then dropped off? No problems with that?

These are but two examples, and related ones at that, where our government under progressive control is in violation of the very laws that many within that government swore to protect, uphold or enforce upon assuming public office. For reasons based in ideology, they decided that they didn't actually have to take any of those oaths seriously.

Sanctuary city policies are in violation of federal law and the feds look the other way. The transportation of illegals is so obvious as to hopefully require no further explanation, even a brief one.

History is full of bleeding hearts that were either useful idiots or too mentally challenged to understand the role they played in the downfall of a nation and it's system of governance. What your role is in this repetition of history that is playing out in our nation I am not certain of. You probably feel that you are supporting the righteous and just causes and perhaps you are. But the consequences, they're not seriously considered to even a minor degree. There is no logic behind these decisions, only emotion. And these bad decisions are affecting us all at various levels. We cannot bear the burden of bad decision making based in emotional responses forever. Supposedly you have some understanding of math. I should think that alone would make it obvious to you.

We either capitulate to the desires of people that think and function on the intellectual level of teenagers and hasten the downfall or we fight back and possibly survive relatively intact. We all have choices. Hopefully the ballot box can get the job done.

Do we decide that maybe we really are a nation based in the rule of law or do we continue the progressive agenda that has no basis in law whatsoever? An important question IMO.

 

[umbrella39]

Yeah, our 'true enemy' is other American citizens.

I support the 2nd amendment but seriously, YOU are what's wrong with this country.

Indeed. The link he cited is pure hyperbolic shit that starts out with "The United States has just experienced the worst terrorist attack on its shores since September 11, 2001." then goes on to piss and moan about the "left", like the left was responsible for 9-11 or Mateen or that the left wants to ban guns and shit on the 2nd...

Totally ignoring that the person running for POTUS from the "right" couldn't get on the TV fast enough to try and use this tragedy to pat himself on the back erroneously then proceeds to bald face lie to bolster his talking point ban all Muslim policy:

“The killer, whose name I will not use or ever say, was born in Afghan, of Afghan parents, who immigrated to the United States,” Trump said during a press conference Monday afternoon.

Yeah, just what America needs... An orange turd lying to his sheep that Omar Mateen was an immigrant, a refugee and a foreign menace. Mateen never would have been in the U.S., Trump argues, if we had listened to him and enacted a ban on all Muslims entering the country... Yeah, the left is the "true enemy".... Facepalm...

 

[Moonbeam]

We're all getting a front row seat to the decline of a great country, just like every other great society / civilization has crumbled at some point in the past. The things that made this country great (freedom, individualism, success based on merit, economic mobility) are quickly being eroded and replaced with collectivism, political correctness, surveillance, moral relativism etc.

It is undeniable that we're spending more and more of our resources on overhead (incarceration, government, legal costs, policing etc) instead of on things that add value for the future. That's a sure indicator that things are heading the wrong way.

Learn to read and comprehend, it will do you good. My view is that the country is in decline and I provided some symptoms/examples of why I feel that way. You think my argument "would carry greater weight" if it wasn't for the fact that "my political faction" was at fault for those things. I know logic and reasoning are not your strong suit, but who is at fault for the decline has absolutely 0 to do with the strength of my argument as to whether the country is in decline.

If you want to start another thread full of drivel about mussolini, hitler, nazi's or whatever other moronic comparison you want to make to Trump, have at it, but it as nothing to do with the topic at hand.

It had everything to do with the topic at hand. You stated the reasons you feel America is in decline and the things that made us great from which we are now in decline. Vic said your argument would carry greater weight, meaning that in part he agrees, but pointed out that it is you fearful demonizing conservatives that have accelerated the causes for that decline. Before you criticize others for their ability to read and comprehend you should check out a mirror.

 

[PokerGuy]

I think we're seeing some evidence that, for the time being, we have plateaued economically while the rest of the world catches up (i.e. through off shoring). Decline in actual real wages is quite small, and we did just come out of a terrible recession.

I get that, but it doesn't change the point. The point is, for the first time in the history of this country, each successive generation does not do better than the one before it. That seems like a very strong indication that the country is either in decline or at the very least no longer going in the right direction. We're not talking about a blip over a few years of a bad economy, we're talking multiple decades now.

Certainly there has been an increase in income inequality, but statistics show that it is more to do with the rich getting richer while the rest of us stay about the same.

Agreed 100%.

I think that's a bit over alarmist.

"We're all doooomed, get in your bunker!" is alarmist, but why is saying we are heading in the wrong direction by pretty much every metric alarmist?

I think Subyman is essentially correct. We are obsessed with apocalyptic scenarios, be they economic, biblical, or natural. This has been true in every generation. For example, people as far back as the 70's were predicting hyperinflation and total economic collapse.

I haven't seen anyone talking about anything apocalyptic. What we're seeing is pretty much a country that's starting to slowly decay from within. It's in decline, we just don't know how quick that decline is going to be yet.

I'm almost 50 and I can remember as far back as when I was a child, hearing adults complaining that "this country is going to hell in a hand basket."

..... and in a lot of ways, they were right. In many other ways, they were not.

Perhaps it is because when you're on top, the perception that there is no where to go but down. Also, those who have are always obsessed with losing what they have. And we are victims of over-inflated expectations, fantasies of wealth and power projected by popular culture and Madison Avenue. Hence, as adults we are are bound to be disappointed and cynical.

I don't buy that for a second, it's not just perception or inflated expectations or imagined decline. Aside from the general notion that things are "going the wrong way" or not, there is very real measurable quantifiable decline in many ways. As an example, life expectancy increase has stalled in the US and has dropped considerably behind other developed nations. Another example is our levels of income have dropped compared to prior generations, and at the same time the amount of time available for parents to spend with their kids has decreased significantly because both parents now have to hold a full time job to achieve a similar income to what prior generations had from one parent. We have more people in jail now than ever before. We have more people in poverty now than ever before. These are just examples, but it shows this is not just imagination, expectations or some notion of wealth and power. This is real decline.

There are many areas of progress that one could point as a counter argument, but overall it's very hard to claim that the US isn't in decline.

The reasons for the decline is a whole other discussion of course

 

[boomerang]

Thought you should know what it looks like to demonize people, you stupid piece of filthy shit.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

But, you responded to the author and I'm not the author. The insult, that was to me but it's like water off a duck's ass. But hey, maybe today reality is not within your grasp as closely as it is some other days. Your brain defect, you know the one that science supports, (gotta trust in science) made you respond like you did. I understand that.

Tomorrow is another day and perhaps things will be more in balance for you tomorrow.

 

[PokerGuy]

And what is wrong with this country is that we are nation gripped by an irrational fear of each other. Squabbling and fighting like children, taking away each other's rights in the name of freedom, with no vision for the future.

Is it really an irrational fear? If people on the right and/or the left are actively working to erode your rights and impact your freedom (all in the name of freedom, progress etc of course), is it irrational to fear the consequences of their actions?

 

[Jhhnn]

Yeh, the country's been going to hell for ~60 years, depending on who you ask. I remember listening to a harangue from one of my fathers customers back in the 50's about big gubmint, the commies & the coloreds, about how we needed to do all the stupid shit that stupid people advocate today. I was only 8 or 9 years old but even then I knew the guy, a plumber, should really just stick to digging holes in the ground. After that it was the dirty hippies, draft dodgers, uppity blacks, so forth & so on.

It was a different time, and one of the things that was really different was that the range of wealth & income was compressed a lot more than today, more diffuse & less concentrated. There sure as Hell wasn't any reverence for the Capitalist Jerb Creators among older generations who'd lived through the Depression, either.

 

[Knowing]

The Scots Irish aren't Irish. They just passed through Ireland on their way to hell.

As far as disagreeing on everything, unthinking political tribalism is destroying our social cohesion. Good ideas are good ideas and bad one are bad but tribalism shuts off reasoning so the good, the bad, and the ugly are supported or destroyed based on no other criteria than who presented the idea.

Underrated post.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of {persyns} to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of {hus} own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

http://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/washing.asp

I changed the pronouns to be un-gendered, tongue only slightly in cheek.

 

[Vic]

Is it really an irrational fear? If people on the right and/or the left are actively working to erode your rights and impact your freedom (all in the name of freedom, progress etc of course), is it irrational to fear the consequences of their actions?

The irrationality lies in joining the process of eroding the rights and freedoms of others. IOW, you should start fearing the consequences of your own actions. Which you clearly are not doing, as you fear losing your 2nd amendment rights while simultaneously letting fear drive you to call for stripping the 1st amendment rights away from others.

 

[PokerGuy]

The irrationality lies in joining the process of eroding the rights and freedoms of others. IOW, you should start fearing the consequences of your own actions. Which you clearly are not doing, as you fear losing your 2nd amendment rights while simultaneously letting fear drive you to call for stripping the 1st amendment rights away from others.

Huh? Fear of losing 2nd amendment rights is completely well founded as many on the left have made it abundantly clear in word and deed that they fully intend to destroy the 2nd amendment rights.

I have no idea where you got the notion that I call for stripping away the 1st amendment rights of others. Please show me an example of me call for stripping away 1st amendment rights of others.

 

[Vic]

How about Sanctuary Cities, do you support those?

How about the company that employed the Orlando shooter. The company that the government contracted with to transport people here illegally to various places around the country where they are then dropped off? No problems with that?

These are but two examples, and related ones at that, where our government under progressive control is in violation of the very laws that many within that government swore to protect, uphold or enforce upon assuming public office. For reasons based in ideology, they decided that they didn't actually have to take any of those oaths seriously.

Sanctuary city policies are in violation of federal law and the feds look the other way. The transportation of illegals is so obvious as to hopefully require no further explanation, even a brief one.

History is full of bleeding hearts that were either useful idiots or too mentally challenged to understand the role they played in the downfall of a nation and it's system of governance. What your role is in this repetition of history that is playing out in our nation I am not certain of. You probably feel that you are supporting the righteous and just causes and perhaps you are. But the consequences, they're not seriously considered to even a minor degree. There is no logic behind these decisions, only emotion. And these bad decisions are affecting us all at various levels. We cannot bear the burden of bad decision making based in emotional responses forever. Supposedly you have some understanding of math. I should think that alone would make it obvious to you.

We either capitulate to the desires of people that think and function on the intellectual level of teenagers and hasten the downfall or we fight back and possibly survive relatively intact. We all have choices. Hopefully the ballot box can get the job done.

Do we decide that maybe we really are a nation based in the rule of law or do we continue the progressive agenda that has no basis in law whatsoever? An important question IMO.

You don't seem to understand how the law works in this country. The federal government cannot force the cities to enforce federal laws. Are you against states rights then?
The rest of your drivel sounds like the usual RWNJ conspiracy theories. Thanks, but I've already seen the infowars video purporting that Orlando was a false flag op.

 

[Vic]

Huh? Fear of losing 2nd amendment rights is completely well founded as many on the left have made it abundantly clear in word and deed that they fully intend to destroy the 2nd amendment rights.

I have no idea where you got the notion that I call for stripping away the 1st amendment rights of others. Please show me an example of me call for stripping away 1st amendment rights of others.

Are you not a Trump supporter? And is he not calling for every Muslim in America to have to register their religious affiliation with the government? Are you saying that this is not against the 1st amendment?

 

[Vic]

Here's a serious question. If Trump only wants to target illegals, then why does he keep using legal citizens as examples for his agenda? Think about it.
And never fear, Trump's ideology has a playbook, which he has thus far been following to a T. At the next crisis like this one, he will support strict gun control, but only for certain persons. And his supporters will cheer and say that he is protecting the 2nd.
We are repeating history. Useful idiots indeed.

 

[BxgJ]

You don't seem to understand how the law works in this country. The federal government cannot force the cities to enforce federal laws. Are you against states rights then?
The rest of your drivel sounds like the usual RWNJ conspiracy theories. Thanks, but I've already seen the infowars video purporting that Orlando was a false flag op.

They seriously did that already?

 

[PokerGuy]

Are you not a Trump supporter? And is he not calling for every Muslim in America to have to register their religious affiliation with the government? Are you saying that that is not against the 1st amendment?

First, no, I'm not a Trump supporter. I've said many times I'm not a fan of his at all. Given two horrible choices, I view him as the lesser of two evils, but that doesn't make me a Trump supporter.

The idea of forcing everyone of a certain religion to register is profoundly un-American IMO, and I'm assuming it would also be unconstitutional under the 1st amendment. That said, it's funny how many libs are quick to say how unconstitutional such a requirement would be, but then turn around and are perfectly fine with requiring forced registration of firearms.

 

[PokerGuy]

Here's a serious question. If Trump only wants to target illegals, then why does he keep using legal citizens as examples for his agenda? Think about it.

Very much like the lefty idiots (like the one in the white house and hildebeast) who push for gun control with each crisis when no amount of gun control would have prevented said crisis.

Two sides of a lousy coin.

 

[buckshot24]

Here's a serious question. If Trump only wants to target illegals, then why does he keep using legal citizens as examples for his agenda? Think about it.

People that come here have things called children which are then called citizens.

 

[umbrella39]

People that come here have things called children which are then called citizens.

That does not answer his question at all... Trump has gone to great lengths to lie about Mateen in an attempt to pat himself on the back and paint himself as the "See, I was right candidate". Despite the fact he was reading from a teleprompter, how did such a blatant lie make it into his scripted speech? According to a copy of his remarks, Trump ad-libbed the line... I'll quote it again:

“The killer, whose name I will not use or ever say, was born in Afghan, of Afghan parents, who immigrated to the United States"