A little mental exercise: In one sentence, state "What has led us to our present state of

[Atticus]

disintegration as a nation?

My offering: "Lying has no adverse consequences and is seen as a useful tool to be used by all 'serious' people."

[LiberalEsto]

1. Deliberate machinations by corporations

designed to cause us to disintegrate.

[HysteryDiagnosis]

2. Persisting in practices that are unsustainable, whether it be feeding the MIC,

tearing apart the environment and or poisoning it, or just infinite greed, we truly do exhibit the core values of insanity.

[snappyturtle]

3. Ambivalence and ignorance of too many citizens leading to voting

against their interest.

[90-percent]

4. All our institutions

All our institutions are failing us because they have all been taken over by greedy sociopaths.

-90% Jimmy

[baldguy]

5. Corporate personhood.

It's not just lying that has no consequences; a human being can get away with cheating, stealing, murder, tax evasion, exploitation of workers and a host of other crimes and sins - just as long as they can do it through a corporation.

[DavidDvorkin]

6. Media control by giant corporations.

[nxylas]

7. OK, I'll try

"Over the last half-century, the predator class has made a concerted effort to normalise far-right ideas in order to undo the New Deal; buying up media outlets, setting up think tanks and corrupting the political system".

[RandomThoughts]

8. There was a movie about that.

And a book, Machiavellianism.

Once life has no moral context, also part of profit motive life, then it seems easier to just lie about something.


and since most people think people are like them, they first trust most people, and liars take advantage of that.


On that note I try to comment on function not data since attaching any reporting in news to actual things done is just a guess. However the liar is a double fault, once for what they do, and once for lying about it.


The point is 'don't believe people when they have been lying to you for years.'

Or believe them so they can also have the debt of the lie and its consequences when people do trust someone based on better thoughts of what should happen. And you don't have to be part of trying to decide which set of liars is the actual story.

Is a news report lying about a politicians lie about a pollsters lie, about some question that was a lie on a poll?

Can you really get news from that?


On a side note, I heard Northrup Grumman the military contractor is doing some of the counting of the census, so expect that to be fudged for corrupt reason also. Anyone else heard that?

[randr]

9. You are on target

There are no longer any consequences for actions, be they lies, slander, or immoral character.
The party of "family values and personal responsibility" has swept any assemblage of duty to moral character under the rug. Insisting others live up to their Victorian standards of behavior, dominating any discussions of merit with lies and half truths, and blaming others for their own culpability for failed policies.
Accountability is entirely missing and the higher one is in national position or fame the less accountable they are.
Just could not put my thoughts in one sentence.

[ensho]

10. the rise of Barons - we got rid of them once but now the are back

and even more powerful.

[shraby]

11. Ronald Reagan showed us that deficits don't matter.

[Overseas]

17. He proved deficits don't matter to Republicans, they can cut taxes and get Democrats

to clean up those Terrible Awful Disgusting Deficits!

And it seems like we are falling for that all over again.

[Altoid_Cyclist]

12. We've become a country where far too many people obtain and abuse power

simply by taking credit for positives and deflecting blame for negatives.

[indepat]

13. The three major branches of government being effectively controlled by RW

interests which sacrifice the general welfare of we the people to the exclusive welfare of large corporations and the uber-wealthy. ;)

[barbiegeek]

14. Dumping Keynesian Economics for Trickle-Down Econ & Monetary practices

[purrFect]

15. free market orgies, disguised as being beneficial to most, by every institution in the land

[Skidmore]

16. Greed and the belief that everyone deserves to be

wealthy regardless of how they gain wealth while, at the same time, willingly embracing the idea that physical labor should be scorned.

[Occulus]

18. A legal doctrine called "corporate personhood". n/t

[Kip Humphrey]

19. Forcing globalization using America's wealth without Americans' consent while unrestrained

rapturists strive to end the world for Jesus does not a vibrant democracy make.

[rurallib]

20. The Repulican presidencies since 1980 plus the Democrats

unwillingness to stand up to them have led .........

[Odin2005]

21. Capitalism.

[Motown_Johnny]

22. .

A steady progression by the most powerful in America from punishment for immoral acts to rewards for immoral acts has led to our present state of disintegration as a nation.





My "bumper sticker" evidence for this would be:

Nixon had to resign in disgrace after covering up a break-in

Reagan had to make a non-apology apology after illegally supplying Iranian Hostage Takers (terrorists) with weapons.

G. W. Bush is hailed by many as a hero after prosecuting an illegal war and habitually violating our Constitution.


In each case the offense grew worse yet the consequences went from disgraceful to almost non-extent until they ended up at actually being a reward.