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valiberal26

(41 posts)
115. The decline isn't irrevisible.
Fri Mar 1, 2013, 11:21 PM
Mar 2013

Certain measures can be taken to rectify the situation; they are harsh measures and not for the weak of heart. But those measures can ensure that the situation would be corrected and true equality granted to the common man. I've written a manifesto on the subject; but this is not the place to post it.

A list of possible measures would include the abolition of the two-party system; ideally placing the Democratic Party in ultimate control; reducing the remaining parties to clusters of a few hundred members at best with no real voice. Reducing the individual states to geographical regions for census and financial purposes, stripping them of their remaining powers to create and enforce legislation. A reduction of the military to a standing force of 25,000 personnel and moving the Department of Defense to a division of the Department of State would remove a large burden on the budget; freeing up funding for other purposes. A shifting of the population to more concentrated urban areas would alleviate our need for fossil fuels, if done so with the creation of a mass public transit system; (less vehicles = less pollution).

In short our Republic needs a reformation from the inside out.

I would say it started with Reagan. But the 2000 stolen election was a serious blow. nt raccoon Feb 2013 #1
So American was at it's height under Carter? hughee99 Feb 2013 #50
In some ways, yes Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #57
And everyone forgets Ford's campaign slogan. "WIN" for.... Lochloosa Feb 2013 #90
It was Orwellian double-speak for killing wages and little else. TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #98
When the media was bought by the right-wing. Not for the purpose of informing the populace... BlueJazz Feb 2013 #2
Yep libodem Feb 2013 #43
Exactly, watoos Feb 2013 #45
we will hopefully be saved by an astroid that can't come too soon... corkhead Feb 2013 #3
Answers, yes, and, 1970. Spider Jerusalem Feb 2013 #4
^this Tuesday Afternoon Feb 2013 #7
Yep Strelnikov_ Feb 2013 #22
"be ready for a 10 gal. month gas ration" CrispyQ Feb 2013 #28
I'm on rationing already! For years I used to just get ~10 gals at a time ... Now, RKP5637 Feb 2013 #33
I agree. Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #34
I admit, it is more my hope how things will be handled Strelnikov_ Feb 2013 #44
Well put. n/t customerserviceguy Feb 2013 #75
All governments/systems peak and decline madville Feb 2013 #5
It's going to be very good or very bad. My observation is that real change generally only RKP5637 Feb 2013 #25
We will probably get a preview madville Feb 2013 #29
I don't believe much good will come after major catastrophes... We People Feb 2013 #39
Nixon killed the Liberal Era. Reagan killed the Great Society. Bush killed the Constit/Mid Class. leveymg Feb 2013 #6
Agreed marions ghost Feb 2013 #76
yes steve2470 Feb 2013 #8
My gut feeling is the US will regionalize to survive. The divides are too great, and as RKP5637 Feb 2013 #18
1980 - when working class americans lost their collective minds and pulled the lever for reagan. KG Feb 2013 #9
I couldn't agree more... Dan Feb 2013 #105
no Coyotl Feb 2013 #10
It started with Reagan, election 2000 was the final nail in the coffin. JaneyVee Feb 2013 #11
Whoever made the first "free trade" deal. Don't know who it was, but that was the beginning of patricia92243 Feb 2013 #12
Nixon's Ambassador to China, George H.W. Bush, was the point man. leveymg Feb 2013 #17
I've thought about this topic and I do trace some of it back to that We People Feb 2013 #41
What's not so difficult to believe is how successful it was. Mission Accomplished. leveymg Feb 2013 #58
Interest rates are too low fadedrose Feb 2013 #13
Interest rates for savings are so low it's not even worth trying to save anything. And the banks are RKP5637 Feb 2013 #19
No Jumpin Jack Fletch Feb 2013 #14
Nnnnnnope cherokeeprogressive Feb 2013 #15
yes. blame entropy...all things go to disorder. NRaleighLiberal Feb 2013 #16
Thank you for posting this. Often I have tried to explain to people (off DU) that RKP5637 Feb 2013 #20
my chemistry PhD is worth something at last! NRaleighLiberal Feb 2013 #26
My background in physics helps me to understand! Now, I mostly take care of my cat! RKP5637 Feb 2013 #30
It may be a good thing to be a country in decline lunatica Feb 2013 #21
it's not irreversible, but it won't be reversed JVS Feb 2013 #23
I tend to think that way too Smll_Ax3 Feb 2013 #24
Yes. Reagan. jsr Feb 2013 #27
No more than it was in the late 1920s, IMO. MannyGoldstein Feb 2013 #31
I would also say that the fundamental decline continued through the Clinton years Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #37
I agree. bvar22 Feb 2013 #68
Of course you do. Jackpine Radical Feb 2013 #86
I'd say the peak of our accomplishments was the moon landing truebluegreen Feb 2013 #32
The day the first Native American was killed so we could live on their land? n/t jtuck004 Feb 2013 #35
I'd go back further and say mgardener Feb 2013 #36
Only reason Nixon wasn't impeached was he resigned first. eShirl Feb 2013 #46
Yes. CrispyQ Feb 2013 #38
I've thought the same thing. truebluegreen Feb 2013 #52
It was a "trifecta." CrispyQ Feb 2013 #104
You forgot marions ghost Feb 2013 #83
I have a different view John2 Feb 2013 #40
For me it was the day Mockingjay Feb 2013 #42
The Powell Memo HomerRamone Feb 2013 #47
+100 nt truebluegreen Feb 2013 #53
Ronnie Raygun doubling the national debt kairos12 Feb 2013 #48
I'm with Hunter S. Thompson in thinking that Nixon killed the American dream. Snarkoleptic Feb 2013 #49
This started Livluvgrow Feb 2013 #51
America still has the capacity to do great things think Feb 2013 #54
American certainly has the capacity, but not the willpower. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #60
I remain optimistic that the tide is turning think Feb 2013 #64
America is in irreversible decline just like the Roman Empire. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #55
No. H2O Man Feb 2013 #56
I would exclude the 'spiritual' part. ronnie624 Feb 2013 #74
You would; I wouldn't. H2O Man Feb 2013 #87
You are mistaken. ronnie624 Feb 2013 #88
Spirituality does not H2O Man Feb 2013 #92
I can't accuse you of ignorance, as I have read many of your posts, ronnie624 Feb 2013 #110
SOME people had recovered from Reagan by 2000 Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #59
Not irreversible Benton D Struckcheon Feb 2013 #61
The main reason for America's decline is attitude, not circumstances. OceanEcosystem Feb 2013 #62
The Banksters and hedge fund managers and CEOs are the worst offenders Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #66
American exceptioalism is JEB Feb 2013 #79
No, but a rough patch treestar Feb 2013 #63
We would need three things to stop declining or at least to decline in a way that Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #65
DURec for Post #65 by Lydia Leftcoast! bvar22 Feb 2013 #69
That too, and we've seen all of those in our lifetimes Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #73
Being an empire is a hard act to perform. We're getting booed off the stage. That's showbiz. Tierra_y_Libertad Feb 2013 #67
No we have the tools to change... Kalidurga Feb 2013 #70
IMO yes. Started in the 1970s or at the latest 1980s. n/t ProfessionalLeftist Feb 2013 #71
It started when CalFresh Feb 2013 #72
It started when teenagers started going to co-ed dances Quantess Feb 2013 #78
bullshit. nebenaube Feb 2013 #109
I think TV's a bigger factor than most suppose. hay rick Feb 2013 #108
I blame Reagan. We've never totally recovered from the blows he dealt us. kestrel91316 Feb 2013 #77
We "could" have recovered from Reagan easily... bvar22 Feb 2013 #94
Ha, during the Reagan administration, Lydia Leftcoast Feb 2013 #95
If you let Conservative ideology Shankapotomus Feb 2013 #80
NAFTA, and failure in the 1970s and 80s for an energy policy davidn3600 Feb 2013 #81
When women JEB Feb 2013 #82
The country never recovered from Reagan, not even close. Motown_Johnny Feb 2013 #84
It began in the sixties Justpat Feb 2013 #85
I'm inclined to agree that it was the Sixties. Noam Chomsky reminds us that "historical amnesia" ancianita Feb 2013 #89
Dallas, November 22, 1963. Scuba Feb 2013 #91
not comatose media datasuspect Feb 2013 #93
Agreed... elzenmahn Mar 2013 #114
After WW II we had the world's only intact industry and all the gold in Fort Knox FarCenter Feb 2013 #96
Yes. lonestarnot Feb 2013 #97
Probably. moondust Feb 2013 #99
we can fix it just as easily as they fucked it up,by doing the exact opposite Fight2Win Feb 2013 #100
Yes to in decline, it was on the march by the 70's, and no it isn't actually irreversible TheKentuckian Feb 2013 #101
Name the date - August 15, 1971 OutNow Feb 2013 #102
Bluto/Animal House "Nothing is over until we decide it is! IADEMO2004 Feb 2013 #103
Different parts of our decline started at different times ShadowLiberal Feb 2013 #106
All humanity is. stuntcat Feb 2013 #107
it started with reagan Skittles Feb 2013 #111
Unless we can get the Republicans and the corporations under control and restart democracy… MrScorpio Feb 2013 #112
Definitely not FreeJoe Feb 2013 #113
The decline isn't irrevisible. valiberal26 Mar 2013 #115
irreversible? no. but have the economic & political masters of the universe targeted it for HiPointDem Mar 2013 #116
Since Katrina, and yes, a few years earlier.... Amonester Mar 2013 #117
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