What is the exact point in history?

[The Lone Liberal]

did this country start going to hell in a handbasket? Do we have the ability to correct what is happening? What can we do? Do we have the will?

[maine_raptor]

1. For me...........

12:30 PM CST November 22, 1963

5. I wasn't around

but I agree that was the peak of the system and it has been in a slow decline ever since together with intermitent crisis.

[hedda_foil]

8. For me too.

And I'm now quite convinced that when those shots rang out in Dealey Plaza our country was critically wounded.

[pnorman]

10. The Kennedy assassination

and all that followed. For all his faults, and shabby political moves, the Nation seemed to be coming to terms with it's past injustices ... but more importantly, realizing it's great potential to do so much GOOD; here and abroad. That's almost all gone now, and each stage in it's repudiating and dismantling, has left a bitter taste in my mouth. REGIME CHANGE ... NOW.

[greatauntoftriplets]

15. Yes, though the slide has accelerated dramatically

since 12/12/2000

[Brian Sweat]

2. Silly person

It was the night Bill Clinton got a blow job.

[David Zephyr]

3. Probably Around the Time of Bacon's Rebellion.

It's been pretty much downhill since then with a high point here and there.

[cherryperry]

4. January 20, 1981

I don't know if the majority has the will, but societies are never changed by majorities. We must keep that in mind as we never give up, never stop working for justice and, as Ghandi said "Even if it won't do anything, just do it anyway" because it all adds up and, at the very least, it's good for the soul! :toast:

[GreatAuntK]

12. Before the assassinations

Jack and Bobby, Martin Luther King ... Lyndon Johnson ... the Nixon era - they hated and feared young people, bashed their heads, prolonged the war. The overthrow of Sukarto by Suharno in Indonesia in the 60's was the prototype for regime change and divvying up the resources (Palast).

In the movie The Quiet American, supposedly based on a true story, Michael Caine/Brendan Fraser, American men in suits went to Vietnam in the early 50's bringing medical supplies that turned out to be weapons to give to terrorists. The rebel group was bombing civilians, and photos were blaming communists for the killings. Read Martin Luther King's extraordinary speech of April 4, 1967, about human rights abuses, particulary the part about Vietnam.

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/45a/058.html

He was dead a year later, April 8. Suspect the plot hatched within the Pentagon, with mob involvement. http://www.versobooks.com/books/nopqrs/nopq-titles/pepper_w_act_state.shtml

Perhaps Eisenhour's warnings were dead serious not only for the future, but for the era.

Clinton gave us a breather, and Carter was too nice. But what other administration was worthy of our trust since Ike?

[Resistance Is Futile]

6. VJ day

When WWII ended, American dreams of empire began.

[sandnsea]

13. The Truman Doctrine?

I've read Gore Vidal and it seems that's his take on the downfall. I don't think Truman meant anything bad by it, but I think when we decided we decided we had to control Communism at any cost, it was the beginning of the end. Everything we've done since has been directly related to stopping Communism or keeping the Communists from getting some resource we wanted. Terrorism is directly related to our proxy wars in the 80's.

I don't know if there was another solution, but it seems things went downhill in a hurry from that point.

[TacticalPeek]

7. Either/or

Don Kirchner's "Rock Concert" (76?)

Robin Leach's "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" (83?)

[Videlicet03]

9. October 23, 1976

When Three's Company hit #1 on the Nielsons

[Syrinx]

11. December 12, 2000?

[Lexingtonian]

14. August 14, 1945

Actually, we've had two contradictory impulses since the breakdown of the colonial social order coincident with Pearl Harbor. One impulse is imperialist, the other to become a civilization. (I crib/translate from Gore Vidal.)

We're presently in the throes of a decision as a society about which one we can afford and how much of it for how long before flipping again.

[stevebreeze]

16. it is hard to point to just one event

but some missing here are;
The passage of Taft -Hartly over Trumans veto
The overturning of the fairness doctrine during Reagan's first term


but yes we can still fix it, we the people still have the vote. We are just starting to use the internet as an effective orginizing tool to work around the corp media. The great masses of people who do not get involved will get mad as hell we we are still in a recession 12 months from now.
:kick:

[kentuck]

17. It was the moment when the Democratic Party left Jimmy Carter hang out...

to dry. When Ronald Reagan attacked the liberals and there was no response. The present environment grew from those moments.