Some thoughts about the terrifying trajectory in this country

[PlanetBev]

From November 2, 1980, when Reagan was elected, until the present, we have seen not only the Republicans but Democrats as well, being pushed farther and farther to the Right. Like an arrow, it's picked up a velocity that cannot be stopped. The only thing that will stop it is when it hits its target, that is, when every structural foundation in American is shattered and all the reforms of the 20th Century are completely destroyed. And that is not far off.

Save for a few progressives, our present day politicians remind me of what led to the fall of the Roman empire. One emperor was crazier than the next. The ancient Greeks and Romans proclaimed that their Gods created their empires, which made them infallible and exclusive. We claim the same thing. The only difference is that they were polytheistic and we're monotheistic.

A dumbed down populace and cowardly, bought-off news outlets will accelerates the downfall. I fear that one day the majority of the populace will look up from "Dancing with the Stars" and ask "what the hell happened to America" long after it has disappeared.

Bill Moyers said after the Citizens United ruling that democracy in America has been a series of near misses, but he was afraid that our luck had finally run out.

I'd love to hear other DU members thoughts on this as well.

[Uzybone]

1. Im still trying to remember when America was this great country that you speak of

Downward trajectory from what?

[PlanetBev]

4. Good question

American was built on slave labor and the slaughter of a million indigenous people. However, growing up in the Fifties and Sixties, I felt that the nation had a spirit to rise up and right a few wrongs. What I see now is all of that coming undone. Forty years ago, I don't think an idiot like Sarah Palin could have come a heartbeat away from the presidency, like she almost did.

[Uzybone]

8. but that is such a short span in this country's life

Plus the so called golden era of the 50s and 60s featured blatant discrimination at home, a brutal foreign policy that caused millions of deaths among other things.

Oh and about 40 years ago we elected an anti Semite, racist and political thug to the presidency. How far do you think Nixon would have gone in todays America?

[Ozymanithrax]

2. All nations, and all empires, fall ...

After we embraced imperialism following the Bretton Woods conference after WWII, we have more and more look out wards with the use of power rather than in wards after the welfare of our citizens. There were great strides made with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Medicare, Medicaid, and women's rights. By the time Reagan came to office, the attention was all on imperial power, and Reaganism actually was aimed at dismantling down the social advancements because an empire can not afford such things. The extreme doctrine of individualism, where the individual is responsible for everything from his retirement to health care just accelerated this move.

As the empire crumbles around it is quite possible we will see the end of the social safety net. We will see what happens after, when the successors to empire no longer worry about the reach of power.

[vaberella]

7. When you say fall---you make it seem as though our "empire" is falling.

Which is rather sad...we ended pretty quickly.

[Ozymanithrax]

10. I don't know that is is sad...but it is inevitbale.

The economic wrack and ruin of Reagan Conservatism has led us to this pass. It won't be pretty.

[AlinPA]

3. It's becoming crazier and you are right: America is watching "Dancing With The Stars" while

government is being taken over by the religious right and insane republicans. There is a lot of denying that Palin and Bachmann will lead the republicans ... but America is ripe for them and their ilk.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

5. I don't know the answer anymore

I used to think we were capable of making meaningful change through the electoral process, but I think those days are long gone. Obama's term was the final straw that convinced me of that.

Mass civil disobedince has worked for us in the past. Problem is, as you mentioned, Americans are sleepwalking right now. It is increasinly easy to filter out information from your life. There used to be a time when everyone read a newspaper or watched the evening news. No more. I fear we are all now Kevin McCarthy at the end of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" -- begging for sometime to listen, to take us seriously before it is too late.

Perhaps we should take our cue from the Baggers -- a handful of people managed to get the nations/medias attention by being loud enough. The more drama the more coverage. Egypt points us to a way, also. Shut shut shot down. Numbers so big they cannot be ignored. Maybe it's time to shut down DC. Stop being so damned polite. Get in some faces, get arrested en mass. That's what worked in the 60s.

Lunch counters. The '68 Democratic convention. Direct non-violent civil disobedience.

Short of completly "dropping out" and creating a parallel system of commerce and governance, I am not sure what else our choice is at this point.

[PlanetBev]

6. Good analogy about the Body Snatchers

Having come of age in the 60's, it's so painful to see the complacency now. I almost wish I could come home and find pods on the floor. It would probably be easier to join them.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

9. I'll drop out befiore I go pod.

People had skin in the game in the 60s. Now?, not so much. Or so they think.

[PlanetBev]

11. You're right

Just ask young women who don't vote and say they don't see a difference between the Republicans and Democrats.

Try explaining to them septicemia and gangrene from a botched illegal abortion, pre-1973. They can't relate. They think their right have been won, and are therefore permanent. Two generations have passed since them. Ancient history.

[Name removed]

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[PlanetBev]

15. Christ

Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning? When did I say that I longed for gay people to be arrested?

[dionysus]

16. way to blindly attack someone for no reason.

[AndyTiedye]

13. The Pendulum Only Moves in One Direction

[RaleighNCDUer]

14. It didn't just happen. It is by design. There is a book that lays it all out.

"Eternal Hostility: The Struggle Between Theocracy And Democracy" by Frederick Clarkson.

An older book - 1996 - but all the more relevant now because the trends he pointed out we have seen played out over the past 15 years. The dismantling of the public education system accomplished by the takeover of local school boards by people who want to see the school system dismantled. The continual advocating of mistrust of the federal government. Starving of the beast. Anti-democratic forces using the constitution to subvert the constitution.

When it came out it read like a conspiracy theory. Now that we've seen it in action, it is clear that a small, dedicated group working covertly, is working at, and succeeding at, overthrowing our democracy for a twisted Dominionist theocracy. Read it now, and you will be saying "Yep, that happened - and that - just like he said."

Scariest fucking book I've read in the last ten years.

[StarsInHerHair]

17. they already KNOW-that's why they voted like they did in '08, they KNOW

but they don't know HOW to fix America, so they turn to people who claim to know how to correct course. They can follow the convoluted plots of daytime soaps, they know, it's just they respond to emotional messages FIRST, and everywhere they turn they're told they need to quit thinking so much and start going with their feelings. Yes some of the 'stupid' is really blocking out the horror, denying what's happening because they feel helpless

[Bonobo]

18. My thoughts...

I left the country and am not coming back -because I agree with your fears and predictions.

[Honeycombe8]

19. If you think the trajectory is to the right, are you counting from the last 10 years?

20 years? 30 years? 50 years?

I was born in the 1950's. The country is definitely more liberal now than it was then and in the early 1960's. Ever since then, IMO, it has been left, then right, then left, then right, etc. The general trajectory being to the left.

The country has traditionally been a conservative one. Founded by conservatives, rules by the conservative business class and the wealthy upper class, but with a way up the ladder for some enterprising "common" men.

Prohibition. Laws against abortion, women owning property, anyone other than white men having the right to vote, homosexuality intolerance, intolerance for anything or anyone different, institutionalizing the mentally or physically disabled, anyone other than white men being allowed to earn a decent living, strict divorce laws, and on and on. The history of our country, as I see it, is one of conservatism. A populism started to arise in the 20th century, though, and certain rights and tolerances started gradually occurring. Change in a democracy is slow. But the trajectory has been to the left, generally.

I would agree that in the last 20 years, though, we have slid backwards (to the right) somewhat. The big ship took a left turn when Obama was elected, however. Not a sharp left turn. But still, a left turn. And although the conservatives now share power, which means that the left turn may not get increasingly left, the trajectory will remain left, as long as the W.H. and half of Congress is still on the left. Just because they aren't far left doesn't mean they aren't left.