As we celebrate our great veterans on this day for all they have done to preserve our way of life I ask this simple question of my SkyBox friends. On this date in time, has the United States ever been in a more precarious position where it's very existence going forward in in serious doubt? Note: I ask only that anyone who answers think our current situation through in total from as many perspectives as possible; i.e social, economic, spiritual, geo-political, immigration, educational. Please consider the current state of law enforcement and our justice system in your evaluation as well. And finally, the quality of our current leaders and the potential of future political prospects. I really look forward to your unvarnished, non-partisan opinions. Give it a lot of thought.
I'd say the "doomsday clock" is as close to midnight as it's been since that almost little dust up down by Cuba in the early 60's. The difference is... as many of the threats are from within as they are from without.
I have never commented on this forum, but on Veterans Day 2023 I will make one comment and then leave. I think this country will survive as long as we adhere to the Constitution. If we ever decide that the Constitution can be ignored then we are lost. I'm out.
Tough one George, I'd echo TOK in that we're def not in a good place. That said, I think most of us remember well when the political leaders of our parents generation placed armed troops on University campuses - I wasn't involved but I could smell the tear gas from my front porch - and, in at least one case, opened fire and killed student protesters of our generation. That was not long after student protesters were clubbed like baby seals in Chicago during the DNC convention and when virtually every major city across our country was literally ablaze as racial tensions escalated out of control. It was a time when everybody in opposition to the incumbent party was a communist sympathizer and everybody in power was a jack-booted, swastika wearing thug. At the time we were deeply involved in a very unpopular foreign war, wherein our adversary was sponsored and funded by a strategic foe for whom we were in competition for world hegemony. Sounds familiar, at least to me. So what have we learned in the last half-century? For me it's that division, is the wrong course....we are a vastly more culturally diverse country than we there then. Back then 88% of the US population was white, today that number is 62%. The make up of our democracy has changed forever, there is no going back, but it is still our democracy. As our Founders structured the governance of this country, voices and positions about which we may be uncomfortable will necessarily have a more prominent place in society. It is the only way it can work, imho. Strong societies will adapt, accept and use the diversity inherent in their people to go forward, find common ground and weave a stronger fabric. I believe we are a strong society but I don't believe we currently have the strong leadership capable or even willing to find common ground and lead us. Worse yet, I don't see one anywhere on the horizon....right now, every political leader with a meaningful voice is seeking to gain influence by division, it is that path that will make us weaker yet. Name me one who's platform is to listen, find common ground, unify and build solutions. Just one.....
Your boy Biden ran on that BS...and plans on it again....because he thinks we're stupid...along with Nancy, Hillary, Michelle, Oprah, and the View.
I do remember the 60's very well. It was the decade of the birth of the War on Poverty under Lyndon Johnson that has proven to be a multi-trillion dollar total failure and placated no one as the race riots of 1968 highlighted.. The Vietnam war was the catalyst for all kinds of social unrest as you pointed out. Division amongst people is never productive. Our Congress is intractably divided at this point and has been dysfunctional for at least 15 years. This country is now run by Executive Order which brings temporary relief to the party in power but is wiped off the books without a trace the moment that power changes hands. Leadership on both sides of the aisle at this time is somewhere between non-existent and cartoonish. We have diluted the population here to such an extent through our open border policy that it would be impossible to determine just what the percentages of people are. Judging us by race is probably no longer applicable; a more accurate measure may be by political affiliation or tribe. In order to curry favor we now consider offering the full rights of citizenship to non-citizens, as if that will make them "good Americans" . We cater to the lowest common denominators in every facet of American life. Crimes up? Stop enforcing the laws, make the cops the criminals. We celebrate mental illness. Jails full? Get rid of bail requirements. Drug use off the charts? Let them camp out on the streets of every city, the parks, the beaches. Test scores down at all levels of education? No problem; just lower your standards. Stop assigning grades, don't teach cursive, make everything a pass/fail so nobody's feelings get hurt. Inflation got you down? Print more money, extend more credit, run up unfathomable debt. Give assembly line workers $150K comp packages with no work standards. This democracy is not sound in my view. In fact, I'm not sure it exists. We have become a melting pot for everything bad. We have no standards; just day to day concessions to any wacko that has a complaint. The American Dream has been replaced by Whatever is Best for Me and the Hell With You.
Marine, if you're pointing that weapon at me, you need to get back to the range cause your aim is way off the mark. I'm still where I've been my entire life, since I voted for Gerald Ford over Carter almost 50 years ago. I'm a moderate conservative which is where the mainstream roots of the Republican party has been for a century until being hijacked by a cult of personality that bred sycophants and zealots that abandoned their ties to conservatism for the siren call of nationalist populism. Their current relationship with conservative principles is "in name only". Just out of curiosity, if one is interested in solutions, exactly what is the BS about "listen, find common ground, unify and build solutions"? It should be self-evident that one cannot find effective solutions on the fringes as they cannot be implemented in a democracy. If they can't be implemented, it only stands to reason that they cannot be effective? Perhaps it's the whole democracy thing that is troubling to the radical right as the chosen one has been foreshadowing for some time now?